Fin de Fiesta, the professional flamenco dancing tour group is making an exciting stop in Golden touring Salvaje.
The Golden Civic Centre will be lit up with an evening of live music and dance performances by the six members on the 2018 tour on July 26 at 7:30 p.m.
The performers spend the majority of their time in Spain, practising their art, but they come from all over the globe from Canada to France and Cuba.
The executive director and dancer of the group, Lia Grainger, is from Vancouver, where she began her flamenco career in her early 20s. She slowly relocated to Spain, where she honed her craft and immersed herself in the life of dance. Most of the time, she has been the only dancer in the group she founded six years ago.
“There will be lots of improvisation. The dance and music interacts, it’s really lively and intense,” she said about the group she performs with. “We’ve all learned to speak a language of motion.”
Although the group was formed around 14 years ago, Grainger says she has been dancing for a long time prior to moving to Spain and creating Fin de Fiesta Flamenco.
The group will be busy this summer, touring around Canada. With around 40 shows total, Golden is only the fourth stop on the tour, which takes Fin de Fiesta from B.C., across the prairies to Manitoba, then on to Ontario and Quebec.
“It’s our biggest tour yet,” she said. “I’m really excited to be with the group again.”
Fin de Fiesta spent some time rehearsing in Madrid a few months ago, but given that many of the members are from around the globe, they hadn’t had much recent practise before heading to Canada, where they were reunited for rehearsals before beginning the tour.
“We get to this really high level, and it’s awesome to bring it back to Canada to share it,” Grainger said.
Vocals by Alejandro Mendia, from France, are accompanied by delicate and intricate guitar arpeggios of Dennis Duffin, from Canada, and brought together by flute melodies from Lara Wong, from Vancouver and Madrid. Hanser Gomez, from Cuba, brings the rhythm on the cajon. Grainger is a 2017 Certamen New York flamenco competition finalist, and brings the stage to life with choreographies and improvisations, and is joined by special guest dancer Deborah “La Carmelita,” who is joining the flamenco group for this tour only.
Catch Fin de Fiesta Flamenco at the Civic Centre on July 26. Tickets are available at the Art Gallery of Golden.
