Symposium: The Passion of Flamenco

February 28, 2015 from 10 am until 2:30 pm in locations on East Campus, Duke University. Specific rooms listed below.

Free and Open to the Public

Schedule in White Lecture Hall:

10:00 - 10:45 am - Meira Goldberg - 100 Years of Flamenco.
10:45 - 10:55 - Questions

10:55 - 11:05 - Coffee Break 

11:05 - 11:50 am - Estela Zatania - Rich Harvest -- The proliferation of flamenco among migrant field workers after the Spanish Civil War.
11:50 - noon - Questions 

Noon - 12:10 pm - Coffee Break 

12:10 - 12:55 - Brook Zern - No-fun Flamenco -- Duende, Black Sounds and Tragedy Told in the First Person. 

12:55 -1:05 pm - Questions

1: 15 - 2:30 pm - Master Class in the Ark Dance Studio - with Antonio Hidalgo

Biographies

Meira Goldberg ("La Meira") The New York Times called the “purity and invention” of Meira's dancing “joyous, powerful."  Widely recognized as a master teacher and performer, Meira began her training in her native Los Angeles.  In Spain she performed in Flamenco festivals and renowned tablaos such as Manolo Caracol's “Los Canasteros” and Luisillo's “Los Cabales.” She has performed with many of the giants of Flamenco, including Antonio Canales, Diego Carrasco, Manolo Soler, La Repompa de Malaga and Juanito Habichuela “El Camborio.”  La Meira has been first dancer in Carlota Santana Flamenco Vivo, Fred Darsow Dance,  and Pasión y Arte. Meira has been awarded choreography grants from Pew Charitable Trusts, American Dance Festival, and the New York State Council on the Arts. As a scholar, K. Meira Goldberg (Weinzweig) holds an M.F.A. in choreography and an Ed.D in dance history from Temple University. She is currently working on a book entitled “Sonidos Negros:  Meditations on the Blackness of Flamenco.”  She was co-curator of the exhibit "100 Years of Flamenco in New York" exhibited for six months at the New York Public Library for the Performing Art, Lincoln Center, and co-author of the catalog.  She is currently co-editing an anthology of new Flamenco scholarship for McFarland.

Antonio Hidalgo is from Córdoba, Spain and had worked with the companies of Jose Antonio, Paco Romero, Jose Greco and Antonio Gades. Now Associate Artistic Director, he has been choreographer and principal dancer with Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana since 1998. With Inmaculada Ortega, he also directs the company Aroma Flamenca and works with the Fundacion Antonio Gades as Assistant Director, soloist and choreography assistant.

Estela Zatania began studying flamenco singing and guitar at the age of 11, eventually touring with the José Greco Company as lead singer before moving to Spain in 1970. After a decade singing for dance companies and in tablaos, she formed a traditional flamenco group that maintained an intense schedule through the year 2000.
In 2001, after writing for various specialized magazines, she was named managing editor of Deflamenco.com. In 2003 she was awarded a research grant from the Spanish government, and the resulting work, Flamencos de Gañanía, was voted best flamenco book of 2007. In 2004 she received Spain’s National Prize for Flamenco Journalism, and the following year, the same recognition went to Deflamenco.com, which also won the Flamenco Hoy prize for best flamenco publication.
Founding member of the cultural forum “Morón 2004”, she is a regular panel member of the flamenco radio program Los Caminos del Cante, and contributing writer for print publications such as Voz de Cádiz, Acordes de Flamenco, Nueva Alboreá (official publication of the Spanish Cultural Ministry), Sevilla Flamenca, Alma100 and El Olivo among others. She has collaborated on such books as Flamenco Project, una ventana a la visión extranjera, Cañeta de Málaga and 100 Years of flamenco in New York.  Settled in Jerez, she has been guest speaker at flamenco festivals in Albuquerque, Miami, Amsterdam, New Delhi, Nimes and Mont-de-Marsan (France), the Bienal de Sevilla, Festival de Jerez and numerous flamenco associations (peñas) throughout Spain.

Brook Zern, director of The Flamenco Experience, is widely considered a leading authority on flamenco, and his perspective also sheds light on Spain’s literature, poetry, art, traditions and fast-changing society. In November 2008, King Juan Carlos I of Spain knighted Brook with the Cruz de Isabel la Catolica for his extraordinary work in disseminating Spanish culture in the U.S. It is the first time that this rare honor – the highest that Spain can bestow upon a foreigner – has been awarded for the dissemination of insight and information about flamenco. Brook is Flamenco Editor of Guitar Review, and his articles have run in the New York Times, Music Journal and El Pais among many other American and Spanish publications. He also directs the Flamenco Center USA, providing resources and guidance to scholars and flamenco aficionados.

Go to Top of page