FLAMENCO
We have been honored to present the following Flamenco artists on the stage of Strings.
NOCHE DE FLAMENCO 2017-2020
Yaelisa (Artistic Director/ Choreographer) is one of the most gifted Flamenco artists of her generation. She performs with Jason McGuire and many of her students.
She was surrounded from birth by the rhythms, gestures and vocal laments of the art in its purest form, where her unique improvisational abilities began to flourish. In 1995, she was one of eleven international choreographers in Spain invited to present her choreography at the prestigious Certámen de Coreografía in Madrid, and the only American choreographer chosen among them. In 1996, she returned to the U.S. where she continues to develop and train dancers for her company. She is the recipient of an Emmy Award for Choreography in 1993 and an NEA Choreography Fellowship. In 2005, Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for excellence in the category of “Best Company Performance,” and in 2006 she was chosen as one of ABC-7’s “Profiles in Excellence” Hispanic leadership awardees.
Flamenco guitarist Jason McGuire 
“El Rubio” began playing at the age of nine. Jason has been awarded a California Arts Council Music Fellowship and has been nominated three times for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award. Jason currently serves as Music Director for both Caminos Flamencos and The New World Flamenco Festival. Jason released his second album in 2016 with the new progressive flamenco group Terceto Kali, entitled “Terceto Kali,” to rave reviews by music critics nationally and internationally. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote that “McGuire’s solo managed to be atmospheric and fiendishly complex at the same time.”
Yaelisa and McGuire have brought many other Flamenco artists to the stage of Strings.
Melissa Cruz Flamenco 2013, 2015-2017, 2019
Melissa Cruz is a full-time professional flamenco dancer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has performed at Strings with many artists including her students. Flamenco artist Melissa brought to Strings are listed below.
Kerensa De Mars, international performer, is known for her unique synthesis of flamenco and Arabic dance.
Clare Rodriquez Stanley
Kina Mendez grew up in the Mendez clan of Gypsy artists from Jerez. She studied with her aunt, the legendary La Paquera de Jerez. She has shared the stage with Agujetas, El Grilo, Mancanita and others.
Azriel “El Moreno” began performing as a flamenco singer and dancer with group Aire Flamenco in 1998. A native of Buenos Aires, in 1999 he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and has since been performing as a singer with many local artists.
Roberto Aguilar began his professional flamenco guitar career at ‘La Bodega’, one of the first flamenco venues in the Bay Area. In 2008 he formed part of the Juan Siddi Flamenco Theater Company in the 7th annual International Cultural Festival in Doha, Qatar. He is currently a member of La Tania Baile Flamenco and one of the Bay Area’s most sought after flamenco guitarists.
Antonia Jiménez is from Cádiz, Spain. She began at a young age with Antonio Villar and has played with Arrietos and Nuevo Ballet Español. She has toured as a concert Flamenco classical guitarist and performed at Suma Flamenco, Flamenco Festival Esch and Comme un Festiva. She received the award for best original score at the 2016 Flamenco Choreography Competition in Madrid. She makes her San Francisco debut with the SF Flamenco Dance Co. in September 2016.
Itmar Shapiro (Flamenco Guitar)
David McLean (Flamenco Guitar)
Shows at Strings
