PORT ANGELES — Flamenco dancer Savannah Fuentes has embarked upon an unprecedented tour. It’s a dream realized, and an intense three weeks of traveling, dancing and inviting people onto the floor with her.
Fortunately for lovers of music and dance here, the third night of Fuentes’ tour of the Northwest will have her in the intimate Port Angeles Community Playhouse.
Tradition
And while Fuentes has herself danced in both Port Angeles and Port Townsend before, this time is different. To form the traditional flamenco cuadro of four performers, she brings with her Spanish-born flamenco singer Jesús Montoya, guitarist Bobby de Sofia and another dancer, Ricardo Chavez. They will take the stage together at 8 p.m. Friday at the playhouse at 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
This is to be “a presentation of pure, traditional flamenco,” Fuentes said: “cante, toque and baile,” song, guitar and dance.
Montoya, who Fuentes said is one of few flamenco singers in the United States, is from Seville in the south of Spain. Born into one of the region’s oldest Gypsy families, he grew up steeped in flamenco. He was called “El Rey Del Fandangos Grande” — king of the courtship dance — when he was still a boy, according to his website, JesusMontoya.net.
Since he was just 13, Montoya has been touring with professional companies.
“He has sung all over the world with legendary flamenco artists,” added Fuentes.
The two met in her home town of Seattle when both were hired for a flamenco performance there. “It was intimidating,” she said. But she and Montoya have gotten to know each other in the years since.
Fuentes, who grew up in Seattle, has long wanted to bring traditional flamenco dancing and singing — which is the soul of the art form, she said — to audiences beyond her home city. And this tour has 18 dates between this week and Nov. 6, including nights in Spokane, Sun Valley, Idaho, and Florence, Ore.
Fuentes has been dancing flamenco for 17 years now. The day she walked into a class, she was instantly smitten by flamenco’s one-two-three clapping rhythm. “Something about it just clicked,” she recalls.
The emotion of the dance has held her ever since.
“We’re so desensitized” by electronic media, Fuentes feels. “Every message in society is to push [emotion] down.
“I really hope to spark people’s emotions,” to have them feel something.
As an artist, Fuentes also feels she has come into a new, thrilling era of her life. The mother of a 14-year-old daughter, she is a mature woman, strong in her body. “I am much more connected to the Earth,” she added. “I feel like I am a much better dancer than I was … it’s such a journey. You see when there’s a change.” For a dancer, life is never stagnant.
Just last Friday night, Fuentes went outdoors to practice.
“I stayed up late dancing in my backyard,” she said, adding there’s a grass-less spot where she’s danced over the years.
Advance tickets to Fuentes’ evening of flamenco are $20 for general admission, $12 for students and $8 for children 12 and younger. They’re available at www.Brown
PaperTickets.com. At the door, general admission tickets will be $25. For more information, phone 360-457-0500.
