MPC Spring Dance Concert 2011

A Celebration of Community

Friday, April 29, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 8:00 pm
The Morgan Stock Stage, Monterey Peninsula College (MPC)
980 Fremont St., Monterey, CA 93940
Tickets $10 for general admission, $8 for students and seniors.

Accompanied by live guitar, we are performing in the MPC Spring Dance Concert 2011. The concert takes place at MPC's Morgan Stock Stage on Friday, April 29 at 8pm, and Saturday, April 30 at 8pm. (The Morgan Stock Stage is the building marked "THEATRE" on the campus map.) Tickets are $10 for general admission, and $8 for students and seniors, and are sold at the door.

Accompanied by guitarist Eric Walberg, Sarah Vasey is performing the Peteneras. This solo dance and guitar interface expresses the Sephardic-multicultural roots of flamenco. The music of the Peteneras echoes medieval Spain. The abanico (fan), mantón de Manila (Manila silk shawl), and bata de cola (dress with a train) are featured accoutrements of flamenco fashion in this piece.

We are also performing the Farruca (meaning "brave and courageous"), a popular flamenco dance traditionally performed by men. The women's expression of it was made famous by Carmen Amaya. We are performing a choreography adapted from Teresita Osta, who was taught her Farruca by El Chino, Carmen Amaya's father. Probably Asturian or Galician in origin, the dance was converted by Andalucian Gypsies into a flamenco dance befitting their taste and temperament.

The Farruca has been influenced by the tangos of Cádiz and is sometimes described as a stylization of a bullfighter's attitudes. The dance has a static, grave, cadenced quality, tinged with sadness, moving to its tanguillo ("little tango") ending.

For general MPC Spring Dance Concert info, please call (831) 646-4220.