Arts Alive San Antonio

Interview with TAMARA ADIRA, founder of ARTE Y Pasion Flamenco Company

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Tell us about how you discovered flamenco?

I first saw something resembling flamenco in 1997. I was stationed in Okinawa as a Captain in the Air Force. I was gifted a videotape of Riverdance with Maria Pages. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but I was captivated.

And then in 1999, I was studying at Tulane University in New Orleans when I happened upon a club called the Red Room. It was actually a building made, literally, from the former top of the Eiffel Tower. The Parisians had removed it from the Eiffel Tower because it caused too much deflection; they passed this piece down from place to place until one day it somehow ended up in New Orleans, on Saint Charles Ave. This building remains to this day and resembles a spaceship.

I went into this club. True to its name, there were red velvet curtains, red carpet, a signature red wine called “Red.” One detail I remember from this amazing restaurant was a dessert of a candied orange peel and chocolate mousse on the inside. New Orleans was known not only for her parties and clubs, but for her culinary treasures. There was nothing that was not over the top about this place, and I will never forget the experience.

But the most unforgettable part of all in this club was the flamenco show. I saw Solangel Calix Miranda “Lali” and I saw Michelle “Micaela” Paule dance. While I didn’t know it at the time, these dancers would be my first teachers.

The feeling I had was like a mosquito bite at first, imperceptible. There was something about the performance that moved me to the edge of tears, wonder, awe, joy, grief, love, all at once. My emotions made me want to jump out of my skin. After the performance, I went up to Lali and I asked her about classes. She told me that I could start tomorrow if I wanted.

So, I started class once a week; then once a week turned into twice a week, and then twice a week yielded to three times a week until I was dancing five times a week. I would go home exhausted. There was so much information, so many things to do at the same time. But I was fascinated with the rhythms and wanted to keep trying. I picked up the castanets and practiced them relentlessly. I never imagined I would continue dancing flamenco beyond New Orleans, but it became an obsession for me. I had been dancing ballet since age 3, but it never felt like a sacrifice to trade in my pointe shoes for flamenco shoes. As soon as I started flamenco, I never wanted to stop.

How would you describe flamenco dance and singing?

There are probably two ways to describe flamenco dance and singing. There is the way to describe it from the place of having seen it for the first time; then there is the way to describe it from having some knowledge about it. So, I will try to describe it both ways.

At first glance, flamenco dance and singing may appear to be wild, spontaneous, savage. A result of emotions. Something that sprouts up organically from the moment as a reaction to a surge of emotion. The movement and song become an incarnation of emotional outbursts. However, this is only the first impression from someone who has never seen it before.

From the standpoint of studying flamenco dance and singing for years, you learn that it is a paradox. Flamenco dance and singing requires significant precision and planning. Some artists must study for years to learn, craft, and perfect a single piece. Every single song, every single dance has the structure with an infinity of variations and precision. Once the craft is developed, then the art must emerge through it. Each artist must find their way to express it. The emotion finds its way through the technique, but first the technique must be developed.

Each palo, or song, is like a recipe. But the way each person does it is a variation of the individual. Once the dance or song has been released into the world it disappears. This makes the art form intangible. Perhaps this is why flamenco appears to be savage or wild; because this art form is oral and a storytelling art form and disappears once it’s released into the world. Therefore, this art form can only live in the people who share it. We become living incarnations of the art.

You have created a company, Arte y Pasion. Who is in the company and is there a special form of flamenco that y’all dance? Are any shows coming up in San Antonio?

The Arte y Pasión Flamenco and Spanish Performing Arts Company, also known as Arte y Pasión, is a Texas 501c3 nonprofit. We have conceived, produced and performed artistic direction for over 30 theatrical flamenco productions between 2010 and the present. The company is made of independent artists in their own right on both sides of the Atlantic who participate at will, and each production is unique based on the makeup of the production because each artist brings their special gifts to make each production different.

We have nurtured the connection between San Antonio and Spain for over a decade, bringing flamenco artists from Spain to work with American artists since before 2010, fostering the continued growth and evolution of the art of flamenco in San Antonio and greater Texas, and connections between the US and Spain.

While  Arte y Pasión is known for pushing the boundaries of flamenco and Spanish dance, as one of the most contemporary Spanish dance companies in the United States, our goal is to explore evolution of flamenco while preserving tradition. Therefore, we use flamenco as a medium in a way that artists might use paint and canvas, to explore specific subject matter and promote the restoration of the individual.

While the company is comprised of the basic elements of flamenco such as dance, guitar and flamenco singing, Arte y Pasión is known for having weaved into its artistic vocabulary disciplines such as modern dance, spoken word, fine and performance art to generate juxtapositions and contrasts. 

We engage in cultural and artistic exchanges on an ongoing basis with acclaimed flamenco artists from Spain, France and around the world, enabling us to improve our craft. The result of our work is flamenco and performance art with a message, imbuing each project with human significance.  

We are working on several projects right now, including a continuation of our project SONIDOS DE LIBERTAD, which is a story of the history of punk as told through the language of flamenco. We premiered this project at the Carver Community Cultural Center in March 2025, and we are building additional works to build on this unified theme.

As part of our mission to nurture restoration of the individual, we plan to continue our grassroots work performing across the community, making the art of flamenco available to populations who might not otherwise have the opportunity to go out and see a flamenco show. We plan to continue our work performing at women’s shelters, schools, health and human services facilities, veterans’ centers, and areas with undeserved communities.

Where outside of San Antonio and Texas, has the company performed?

In addition to San Antonio, throughout Texas, we have performed in collaborations in McAllen, Austin, Houston, and throughout Bexar County.

In Morocco, we performed in Marrakech, at the 6th Marrakech International Conference on Tourism Research, discussing sustainability, cultural tourism, and biodiversity conservation.  We were introduced by Fullbright Scholar Dr. Claudia Green, who presented the paper “Sustaining the Cultural Art of Flamenco: A Case Study of International Social Entrepreneurship,” a study on how Arte y Pasion has fostered the art of flamenco across oceans and borders, playing its role to continue transmittal and evolution of flamenco from Spain to the United States via Texas.

In Spain, we have performed three times so far: in Sevilla, at both Tablao Puerta Sol and Espacio Caracoles, nurturing cultural exchanges between artists from Spain, Texas and beyond. We develop our technique in the tablaos and learn to enjoy ourselves and our work. We are now fostering film and theatrical collaborations in Madrid, with multimedia collaboration between Texan, Spanish and international artists.

Our continued goal is to nurture and foster the continued growth and evolution of flamenco in San Antonio, while fostering relationships and connections between Texan artists and Spanish artists. Now that I am traveling through Spain and this side of the word, it’s an opportunity to let the world get to know Texan artists better. I’m grateful for this experience and am excited to see what the future will bring.

There’s apparently an International Day of Flamenco. Explain its significance and how is the Day marked/celebrated in different places? And here, in San Antonio?

On November 16 2010, Flamenco was inscribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of Humanity.

Originating from the Andalusia Region in southern Spain, Flamenco is an art form that encompasses and transmits the full range of human expression. The Roma, Moor, and Jewish communities played key roles in the development and evolution of flamenco, which has been performed during such occasions as religious ceremonies, festivals, rituals, and private celebrations, which remain so vital to preserving and propagating the art form.

In San Antonio, we celebrate We Flamenco Fest, a month-long celebration of our own very vibrant flamenco community that showcases, celebrates, educates and invigorates the art of flamenco, centering around the International Day of Flamenco on November 16. This festival remains an enduring source of cultural enrichment, diversity and vitality for our city.

San Antonio is at a critical stage of growth, shaping our cultural identity as we continue to develop on the international stage.  An ocean away from Spain, San Antonio plays its part in carrying the unique storytelling tradition of the art form of flamenco, ensuring its careful preservation for generations to come. 

International Day of Flamenco has been celebrated internationally since 2010 but in 2023, Mayor Nirenberg signed the proclamation to celebrate this day for the first time in San Antonio. We repeated the ceremony in 2024 and 2025; and we hope to make this an annual tradition, as Flamenco artists have held a distinct role in building our city’s cultural fabric for almost a century.

With San Antonio’s recognition of this special day, flamenco artists can advance our work knowing we have the City’s support, as we continue to contribute to the artistic infrastructure and trajectory of our incredible and beloved San Antonio.

Tell us about your Morocco experience. 

I traveled with Daniel Caballero and Nerea Carrasco to present at the conference in Marrakech in support of Fullbright Scholar Dr. Claudia Green’s presentation “Sustaining the Cultural Art of Flamenco: A Case Study of International Social Entrepreneurship.” There, I presented a short lecture about the art form, and Daniel and Nerea performed as guest artists.

From there, we explored the souk at the Medina, where we saw jewels, silks, rugs, textiles, gold, perfumes, sweets. We met Bedouins and learned about their culture. We visited the desert of Afagay, where we rode camels and zoomed across the dunes in ATVs. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.

There was an open-hearted kindness and curiosity about the people at Marrakech. We never lacked for conversation and new friends. One thing that was funny. I was expecting everyone to speak Spanish, but most of them spoke French and English. So, I was speaking three languages the whole time. It was exhausting but fun. I hope I can go back soon.

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