$28 ADVANCE / $33 DAY OF SHOW
5PM DOORS / 7PM SHOWTIME
ALL AGES
Zorongo Flamenco returns to the Icehouse with flamenco music, song, and dance. Guest singer Alfonso Cid joins the Zorongo Dancers directed by Susana di Palma and music performed by Juanito Pascual and Ben Abrahamson.
Susana di Palma (Artistic Director), having studied Spanish dance and flamenco since childhood, Susana continued her apprenticeship with maestros such as Ciro, Manolo Marin, Manolete, Carmen Mora, and Merche Esmeralda. She performed throughout Spain in tablaos and with companies such as La Singla. In 1982 she founded Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theater in Minneapolis. Its mission has been to create innovative theater works that expand on traditional flamenco to reflect on controversial contemporary issues.
A devoted teacher, di Palma taught in the University of Minnesota, Department of Dance for over 25 years. She currently teaches in The Cowles Center’s Distance Learning Program and directs classes at the Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theater School. As an individual artist, she has received grants and fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, National Endowment for the Arts, The McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and The Bush Foundation. In 2017 she was awarded a McKnight Fellowship for Choreography and a Minnesota Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. Read Susana’s entire bio at: https://zorongo.org/about/#susana_di_palma
Alfonso Cid (Flamenco Singer / Flute Player) was born and raised in Sevilla, the heartland of flamenco music. His mother, an amateur singer from Triana, a flamenco enclave in Seville, and his grandfather, an aficionado of flamenco, were his earliest influences. He also had the opportunity of attending the activities of one of the most significant flamenco clubs in Andalusia, the Peña Flamenca Torres-Macarena in Seville. He was awarded two scholarships to attend the intensive summer course at the Cristina Heeren Foundation for Flamenco Art in July 2007 and 2008. He had the honor of recording backing vocals in the song titled “Mi Santa” by popular Latin artist Romeo Santos featuring the great flamenco guitarist Tomatito. Alfonso has toured extensively throughout the USA, Latin America, Israel, and Europe, and toured Spain, France, and Italy in 2017 and 2018 with the jazz/flamenco band New Bojaira by pianist Jesús Hernández from Granada. This band has just released a new album titled “Zorongo Blu.” He released his first CD titled “Flamenco de vuelta e ida” in 2006 with the flamenco fusion project “Gazpacho Andalú”. He has also released an album with his own Spanish indie rock band “Dientes de Caramelo” titled “Pulpo” (Octopus) in March of 2012, as well as three singles throughout the summer of 2015. Read Alfonso’s entire bio: here.
Jonathan “Juanito” Pascual (Guest Guitarist) is an internationally recognized guitarist and “flamenco phenom” (The Boston Globe). His sound is a truly organic blend of masterful traditional and contemporary flamenco with influences ranging from Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead to Miles Davis and J.S. Bach. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1973, Juanito Pascual is recognized in both Spain and the United States as a unique and creative flamenco and jazz performer. Juanito has performed in many of the internationally best-known fine arts centers, clubs, and festivals, including Lincoln Center, the 92nd St. Y, Blue Note Jazz Club, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame University, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, Panama Jazz Festival, and Madrid’s Casa Patas.
A talented educator, Juanito regularly hosts workshops in various cities in the United States, the Middle East, Europe, and Central America. Juanito created and directed the annual summer Flamenco Institute at the New England Conservatory in Boston from 2005-2009. Read Juanito’s entire bio, here.
Ben Abrahamson (Guitarist) is a fresh, dynamic voice on the acoustic guitar. His compositions evoke the dexterity of flamenco and the harmonic storytelling of jazz. His passion for flamenco guitar drove him to Taller de Músics School of Music in Barcelona, where he studied under Juan Ramón Caro. He has composed works for the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre, Mac Jazz big band, and Muhlenberg College Theatre and Dance Dept. Ben has shared the stage with mentors like Michael and Tony Hauser, Susana di Palma, La Conja, Chuscales, Billy Steele, Tonia Hughes, Pedro Cortes Jr., Joan Griffith, and Gary Lee Joyner. In 2019, he recorded his latest record, “Neolithic.”