Event

Tablao Artichoke: Espacio Flamenco with Elena Villa

Come enjoy live flamenco at Portland's premier flamenco listening room! Our April tablao features the Espacio Flamenco company musicians and dancers with special guest dancer Elena Villa.

Elena Villa is a lifelong dancer whose parents introduced her to Middle Eastern music and belly dance in the late 1970s. She began flamenco studies in 1991 and has pursued flamenco and belly dance with equal devotion, often seeking out intensive study with native teachers in the U.S. and abroad. Elena began teaching belly dance in 1996 and flamenco in 2001. She performs with several professional live music groups, including Flamenco Pacifico and The Bedouin Spice Orchestra of the OCFs legendary Caravan Stage, where she coordinates the talent. Elena travels regionally to teach regular workshops, perform in theaters and at festivals, and work in educational music and dance residencies in schools and colleges with Flamenco Pacifico (www.flamencopacifico.com). Elena pursued her love of dance academically by looking at dance through the fields of literature, cultural studies, and performance studies and has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Oregon, where she taught from 19982012. Elena currently divides her time between teaching flamenco and belly dance, collaborating with other professional performing artists, and teaching writing at Portland Community College.

Al Baile (dance): Montserrat Andreys, Nela McGuire, Elena Villa
Al cante (voice): Randa BenAziz
Al toque (guitar): Brenna McDonald
Percusión: Nick Hutch

Tablao Artichoke is presented by Espacio Flamenco and Artichoke Music. The project aims to create space for regular flamenco performances in Portland in an intimate tablao setting.