Stamp your feet for the Toronto International Flamenco Festival

John Colburn
August 5, 2007

Chances are, not a lot of us are waking up in Toronto this summer thinking: "You know, what this city needs is more summer festivals."

Seems every weekend -- not to mention most of the weekdays in between – is simply loaded with festivals, celebrating everything from alternative theatre to alternative sexuality to alternative culture and cuisine.

And the list just keeps on growing.

One of the latest entries is the Toronto International Flamenco Festival, slated to run at the Music Hall on the Danforth next weekend, showcasing the talents of international flamenco star Alicia Marquez.

To hear producer Alexandra Felix tell it, the whole idea of a flamenco festival here in Hogtown is not just an idea whose time has come, it's an idea that is long overdue. "Toronto is such a cosmopolitan city and flamenco is such a cosmopolitan dance," she insists.

"Flamenco festivals are popping up around the world. People get into more than the dance. They get into the culture, the music, the food."

Felix and husband Lionel, who imports flamenco materials, are particularly heartened by the success of major festivals in New York and Albaquerque, and they are convinced they can find echoes of that success right here on the banks of the Don, where fanciers of the dance find little to feed their appetites.

"We want to bring people who are already into (flamenco) world class artists," she explains, adding that, even though they are bringing in high calibre entertainers, the forthcoming festival is not just for fans of the medium. Neophytes will find something to stomp their feet about too.

"The minute you see flamenco, you are intrigued by it," she says. "It's a very welcoming dance. You don't have to have a formal dance background."

And while they acknowledge that the vast majority of Toronto's flamenco aficionados are of the female persuasion, they are doing their best to change that, showcasing Marquez's talents alongside one of the leading male dancers in her company.

"This is a really strong masculine dance and we really wanted to add the influence of a strong male figure," she explains. And even though the festival will be followed by three days of intensive workshops in dance structure, technique, choreography, singing (with Jesus Corbach) and guitar (with Manuel Perez), the cream of the festival will be showcased at the Music Hall.

And the fact that it will be competing with the wildly successful Taste of the Danforth will simply add to the flavour, according to its optimistic organizers, who insist that the two festivals really have a lot in common -- and not just the Spanish restaurants that are springing up on the Danforth.

"To enjoy the show, you don't need to be able to dance at all. It's really about culture," Felix insists. "It's passionate. It's alive. It brings you to life."

For tix and further info, visit torontoflamencofestival.com or call (905) 660-9417.

Ole! Flamenco festival to do more than just tease

PAULA CITRON
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
August 8, 2007

Lionel and Alexandra Felix are following their dream. They have quit their day jobs and put up $70,000 of their own money to mount what they hope will become the annual Toronto International Flamenco Festival. Running Aug. 10 to 15, their festival is the first of its kind in Canada, and only the third in North America after New York City and Albuquerque, N.M.

Flamenco festivals are very specific in nature, be they in France, England, Germany, Italy, Japan or Spain. Concerts by top-notch and emerging flamenco artists anchor the evenings, but the days are devoted to intensive workshops. Says Lionel Felix: "Touring flamenco shows are teasers. They come to town for a single concert, but leave nothing in the local market. A flamenco festival showcases top artists not only as performers, but as teachers who provide professional development and personal enrichment."

As the Felixes point out, however, not all superstar flamenco dancers are gifted teachers. Their research led them to Alicia Marquez, who has not only performed with the greatest flamenco companies in Spain, but whose Seville studio is regarded as one of the top flamenco training centres in that country. Marquez's career reads like a who's who of flamenco. She has danced for Jose Antonio, Antonio Gades, Paco Pena, and filmmaker Carlos Saura.

This first festival is, understandably, of modest proportions.

Marquez has put together an original show, Aire Flamenco, which kicks off the festival with shows Aug. 10 and 11 at The Music Hall.

The following week, Marquez, her dance partner Nano, singer Jesus Corbacho Vasquez and guitarist Manuel Perez will each give intensive classes in their specialties. Of particular note is a Felix innovation. Nano will be teaching a styling class for men only. The curated evening concerts at a local watering hole will feature performances by dancers, singers and guitarists attending the festival.

With Toronto flamenco star Carmen Romero acting as interpreter, Marquez was reached by phone in Seville. As she says about her beginnings: "I started taking dance classes when I was 4, and by 11, flamenco was my life."

Marquez, who is 35, was born in Seville. Her father was a perfume salesman and her mother a housewife. Marquez was exposed to all things artistic and creative, including painting, singing and dance. While Marquez excelled at everything, it was in dance that she found the greatest freedom to express herself. When asked what inspires her in flamenco, Marquez points to the philosophical lyrics of the songs. "It's their profound verses and musicality that touch my heart," she says.

Her mother chose her teachers very carefully. When she was 8, Marquez was put with the legendary Matilde Coral, who gave her a solid technique because along with flamenco, she also taught regional and classical Spanish dance. Marquez remained with Coral until she was 18.

Every flamenco dancer has his or herown personality. Marquez's trademark is her consummate elegance, powerful expressiveness and exquisite femininity.

Her specialty is the alegrias, a dance performed with a long train, or the bata de cola, which involves great technical skill. According to Marquez, the train must become an extension of the dancer's own body as a manifestation of her womanly wiles.

In 2000, Marquez started to put together her own shows, although she still continues to work with others when the great ones call. "I wanted to see what I had, what I was made of. I had to find out if I had my own vision," she says. In fact, she was an instant success; Aire Flamenco is Marquez's North American debut under her own name.

The title of the show was chosen by Marquez and Nano as they were creating the solos and duets they are bringing to Toronto. Because they both breathe flamenco differently, they thought the title expressed their individualities. Valencia-born Nano, who started dance training in 1991, represents the new generation of flamenco artists. He cut his teeth in the company of the great Cristina Hoyos, and in 1998 won first prize in Madrid's prestigious Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography Competition. Says Marquez: "I chose Nano to work with me because of his heart."

Marquez is married to her first boyfriend, whom she met when she was 14. His business is dental prostheses, and the couple have a four-year-old daughter, Gabriela. Marquez opened up her own teaching studio when she was 24 and her focus is building strong technique in her students.

When asked why this Toronto flamenco festival is important, Marquez says it is a way of communicating first-hand the strength, the power and the passion of flamenco from people who live it and breathe it.

Romero agrees. "Canadian dancers, guitarists and singers have to diversify their training. It is essential for growth in any art form, and this festival means they can do that here in Canada. While the festival is importing Spain to Toronto, Toronto, in a way, is exporting Spain to all the people who come here to study. It makes the city a top flamenco centre."

And a final word about the ambitious Lionel and Alexandra Felix, who are as unlikely candidates to start a flamenco festival as could be imagined.

Lionel was born in Haiti, grew up in Montreal, and was a star football player at the University of Waterloo, where he graduated in actuarial science. Toronto-born Alexandra is of Italian heritage. She got her masters in French translation at the University of Montreal and worked in marketing for a French company. They have two children, Jenna, 4, and Jonas, 2.

When a knee injury sidelined Lionel in his third year of university, he took up ballroom dancing as rehabilitation. The couple met at a Toronto salsa club and became dance partners, good enough to reach the gold level in competition. However, Lionel was so driven by dance that he wanted to pursue the art form intensively on his own and not be dependent on a partner. That led him to flamenco. "I don't look like a traditional flamenco dancer," he says with a laugh. "I have the build of a football player."

The enterprising Lionel began a company, The Art of Expression, in 1996 to fill a need in the flamenco community. He imports top-quality, handmade flamenco shoes and portable dance floors from Spain, and now has customers all over North America.

Alexandra has been the nuts-and-bolts organizer who has devoted a year and a half of her life putting the festival together. Lionel is the artistic arm and resident dreamer. Says Lionel: "You could say our passion outstrips our budget."

The performances of Alicia Marquez's Aire Flamenco take place at the Music Hall, Aug. 10 and 11 (416-870-8000). For festival details, visit http://www.torontoflamencofestival.com.

Toronto International Flamenco Festival--Alicia Márquez’s Aire Flamenco

Classical 96
Monday August 13, 2007
By Paula Citron

The first Toronto International Flamenco Festival began modestly with two performances by Seville-based Alicia Márquez and friends over the weekend. The dancers, singers and guitarists are staying in town to give flamenco workshops until Wed. The premise of the new festival is to bring in top international flamenco stars who will both perform and teach.

Márquez's show at the Danforth Music Hall called Aire Flamenco was outstanding. In fact, it was one of the best flamenco puro shows I've seen. The format was a mix of solos, duets and musical interludes by both the singers and musicians. It was brilliantly put together to highlight the drama of flamenco.

Márquez was charismatic yet full of feminine grace, while the male dancer Nano was macho and sultry. The chemistry was so strong between them that it jumped off the stage. The four singers and musicians propelled the exciting music with their intensity.

Workshops by Márquez and company continue at the Toronto International Flamenco Festival until Wed.

Flamenco First

NOW Magazine
August 16, 2007
By Glenn Sumi

Greek tragedy wasn't the only culture people got to taste on the Danforth. Inside the Music Hall Friday and Saturday (August 10 and 11), hundreds of lucky viewers sampled some of Spain's finest flamenco artists.

As the headliners of the first Toronto International Flamenco Festival, dancers Alicia Marquez and Nano burned up the stage with their colourful, foot-stamping show. Flamenco's not an art form for the meek or shy, and in their passionate duets the two offered a melodrama in miniature with jaw-dropping technique and confidence.

Márquez, proud and extroverted, commanded the stage, most impressively in the Alegrias section, where she effortlessly flipped her dress's long (and very heavy) train.

Nano, hair drenched with perspiration, was Márquez's poised partner and a slyly erotic figure in his bravura solos.

Musicians are as important a part of a flamenco show as the dancers. Manuel Pérez and Jordi Albarran created haunting harmonies with their guitars, while David Lagos and the young Spanish sensation Jésus Corvacho showed what flamenco singing, with its mournful outpouring of emotion, is all about.

Let's hope the festival, the brainchild of Lionel and Alexandra Félix, returns next year bigger and (if possible) even better.

Alicia Márquez presentó su show en el Music Hall de Danforth

Abriendo la primera edición del Toronto International Flamenco Festival, este Viernes 10 y Sábado 11 de Agosto en el escenario del Music Hall de Danforth, hizo su debut en Norteamérica la reconocida figura del flamenco Alicia Márquez.

"Aire Flamenco", una producción original de esta talentosa sevillana, es una bella muestra de lo elegante y conmovedor que puede ser el flamenco en su estado puro, así como un tributo a los elementos y disciplinas que componen este apasionado género artístico.

El espectáculo arrancó con las guitarras y las voces del cante flamenco que desde la penumbra invadieron todos los rincones del teatro. Luego se les unieron los "bailaores", dándonos una muestra de lo que estaba por venir y terminando de encender el ánimo de todos los asistentes que recompensaron a los ejecutantes con un sincero aplauso.

El virtuosismo de los músicos se puso a continuación en evidencia, en un duelo de guitarras en el que la fuerza y sensualidad de la música por unos minutos parecía detener el paso del tiempo. Luego fue el turno de los "cantaores", con toda la pasión, con "palos" llenos de tristeza y melancolía que paradojicamente encantan, emocionan y hasta alegran.

Luego, la tradición del flamenco sevillano se vio reflejada en la gracia, elegancia y desenfado de los movimientos de la Márquez, y de Nano quien la acompaña en el tablado. De las más básicas hasta las mas complicados rutinas fueron presentadas de una forma tan natural y a la vez llena de sensualidad, en un espectáculo en el que la fluidez y la atención dada hasta al más pequeño detalle demostró el control que los ejecutantes tienen de su arte.

Dar a conocer, generar interés, conmover y lograr que más público en Toronto se involucre en este bello género artístico, son los objetivos de este festival, que también contó con talleres de baile, canto y música impartidos por los talentosos artistas que pudimos ver en el escenario.

Nos despedimos de los organizadores, quienes se mostraron visiblemente emocionados al ver la nutrida asistencia y los rostros satisfechos del público, augurando un exitoso futuro para este festival que busca poner a Toronto en el mapa del Flamenco internacional.