Not even those familiar with dance could easily guess which is the area's second-oldest company after 81-year-old San Francisco Ballet. The headline above provides a clue: it is Theatre Flamenco, offering its 48th annual home season. Founded in 1966 by Adela Clara, the company was created during a flowering of cultural pride in the 'Sixties that led to the revival of Latino arts.
After a performance in Mountain View last week, the show, called Solo Flamenco, will be at Fort Mason's Cowell Theatre, Nov. 15-16.
Company artistic director Carola Zertuche is choreographer and performer in the show of eight new original works, along with Gypsy singers Ismael Fernández and José Méndez, three dancers visiting from Spain — Manuela Ríos, Alfonso Losa, and Cristina Hall — and José Luis Rodríguez on guitar.
Hall, born and raised in San Francisco, but now a Seville resident and flamenco performer, says Solo Flamenco is "performed in the style as old as flamenco itself — a visceral, experiential journey for the human soul."
Pieces include Granaina/Tangos, Caña, Sole Apola, and Siguiriyas.