Contact
Questions about the Fest? Send us an email!
Courtyard Waterloo St. Jacobs is offering a discount for FlamFest-goers.
A Curated Collection, featuring Q&A with the Fest Ensemble and a live accompaniment by Ben Barrile, composer and guitarist.
Curated to showcase various flamenco choreographies and compositions, ranging from the traditional to the flamenco “inspired.” Screened works will be primarily by Canadian artists.
Includes a short film featuring the principal guest dancer for this year’s Fest Fest, as well as a video created by our resident artists for our 2020 “Covid” Flamenco Fest.
Juney Yetkiner will perform with violinist Günhan at an evening outdoor performance. Meet the Flamenco Fest ensemble who will be in attendance and participating with some palmas and jaleo (percussive, flamenco-style clapping and rhythmic clapping).
Our guest singer and flautist will guide attendees through an exploration of the many musical influences on this art-form. These include both the well-documented cultural influences in flamenco’s history, as well as influences from Africa and Latin America.
Flamenco in the Market with a little flamenco market.
Come try the delicious Spanish food by La Lola Catering, local craft beer by Descendants, and a traditional flamenco concert.
The show will feature 3 international guests: dancer and choreographer, Irene Álvarez; guitarist and composer, Alexander Gavilán; and flautist-singer and composer Alfonso Cid. These guest artist will perform alongside resident arists, Claudia Aguirre and Julian Berg, a.k.a., “Calú” & “Jules.”
July 31st
August 1st
Flamenco Dance Sampler
Led by resident flamenco dance instructor, Claudia Aguirre, this workshop will provide those brand-new to flamenco with a general idea of what flamenco dance entails. In this class, you will be get an intro some of the basic footwork strokes, arms and hands movements, rhythms, and the different subgenres of flamenco. The class will conclude with a short and easy-to-follow routine set to singing and live guitar. All ages and dance levels are welcome!
Musicians’ clinic
This class is open to instrumentalists of all kinds. The aim of this workshop is to introduce musicians who are new to flamenco to the musical elements of flamenco playing and singing: the melodic modes/scales, rhythms, and musical aesthetic. This class is equally open to musicians who have formal, musical training, and those who have learned their instruments via more grassroots, self-taught methods. The two main instructors, Alexander Gavilán and Alfonso Cid, will aim to speak across various ways of studying music, referring to musical transcriptions and analyzing melodies and harmonies for those who prefer to read music and have formal ear-training, as well as teaching via listening and repetition. Fundamentals are nevertheless required to get the most out this clinic, e.g., baseline knowledge of different scales and modes, chord-building, how to count in different rhythmic meters, and hands-on experience as a musician.
Please let us know your what instrument you play or if you sing, and notify us in advance if your instrument needs (i.e., amplification).
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions about your suitability for this workshop! artisticdirectors@flamfest.ca
Experienced flamenco dance
This class will aim to meet the needs of a dancers at a variety of levels, including those who have been studying flamenco dance for several years, and those who may only have a few months of cumulative experience with flamenco dance classes. The workshop will be led by guest dancer/choreographer, Irene Álvarez, with teaching assistance by Claudia Aguirre if/where needed. Advanced dancers will be expected to follow Irene, and those newer to flamenco will have the option of following Claudia in more simplified versions of certain movements. Nevertheless, all registrants are expected to have appropriate dance shoes and to have acquired the fundamentals of flamenco dance: the footwork strokes, arm movements and positions, a sense of how the dancing complements flamenco singing, and to be able to follow rhythmic counts in 4, 6, and 12. The emphasis of this class will be on technique, pulling from specific rhythms or palos (TBD) for inspiration. This is a 2-day workshop with Day 2 building on the material from Day 1.
Cuadro (flamenco ensemble)
This class is for dancers, singers, and guitarists who have several years of experience, are ready to start working with an ensemble, and who have pre-learned material to bring to the class. The workshop will be led by guitarist, Alexander Gavilán; singer-flautist, Alfonso Cid; and dancer, Irene Álvarez, with assistance by Julian Berg and Claudia Aguirre where needed. At the beginning of the workshop on Day 1, different players (guitarists, singers, and dancers) will be asked to show the guests instructors what they can play, sing, or dance so that corrections can be made. In this way, this workshop will function much like a master class. Respective players will then be guided on how the different parts can come together to form ensemble work. Knowledge of one or all of the following palos is required for this class: Tangos flamencos, Bulerías, Fandangos, and Sevillanas.
*Note: Click an artist’s picture to read their full bio on their website. Only the first paragraph is displayed here.
Born in Triana, Seville (1975) flamenco dancer Irene Álvarez began her training at the age of 9 under the guidance of the renowned Maestra Matilde Coral, as well as the Real Conservatorio de Danza de Sevilla. In addition to obtaining her diploma in Classical Spanish Dance and Flamenco, Irene has continued to complement and improve her training, studying and working with well-known maestros of flamenco such as: El Güito, Manolo Marin, Javier Latorre, José Galván, Pilar Ogalla, Angel Atienza, Manuel Betanzos, and Isabel Bayón. She acted as assistant to maestra Isabel Bayon in the Flamenco Festival Jerez in the years 2009, 2010, 2012 and currently combines her love for the stage with her job as a guest teacher and choreographer for the flamenco department at Codarts, Rotterdam...
Bio coming soon.
Alfonso Mogaburo Cid was born on September 25th, 1969 and raised in Seville, 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 the most significant Flamenco clubs in Andalusia, the Peña Flamenca Torres-Macarena since 1987. There he had the wonderful opportunity of attending performances by some the greatest flamenco artists of all times: José Mercé, Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera, Chocolate, Chano Lobato, Rancapino, El Pele as well as the dancer Javier Latorre and Carmen Ledesma among many others. He also was a member as flute player of the resident flamenco fusion band of the Peña Torres-Macarrena called "Al Baño María¨ which toured throughout Andalusia in venues such as "La Carbonería" and festivals in Málaga, Alcalá de Guadaira, Utrera and Lebrija...
*Note: Click an artist’s picture to read their full bio on their website. Only the first paragraph is displayed here.
It was at Codarts Conservatory in The Netherlands where Julian refined his skills as a dance accompanist through the formal guitar accompaniment classes and through extra-curricular training. During the summers, he would seek out additional training in the heartland of flamenco, in Andalusia, Spain. Summer programs included training at the Academy of Cristina Herren, and at a summer intensive with flamenco guitarist and composer, Gerardo Nuñez, to name a few. While at Codarts, Julian was under the direction of instructors such as: world renowned guitarist, Paco Peña; dancers, Irene Álvarez and “Flamenkika;” flamenco singer, Carmen Fernandez; and flamenco guitarists, Alexander Gávilan, and Ricardo Mendeville. At Codarts, he was also given the opportunity to receive guest workshops with some of the finest flamenco artists on the international circuit, such as Diego del Morao, Chiquelo, José Manuel León, and Arcángel. Through the Conservatory training, Julian was also exposed to formal composition classes which ignited an interest studying Baroque style composition. He continues to develop his knowledge of composition and music theory through self-study and mentorship with composition instructors when possible...
Claudia Aguirre’s training in Spanish dance began with one of Toronto’s flamenco and Spanish dance pioneers, at Paula Moreno’s School of Spanish Dance. She later spent several happy years training as a vocalist at Carmen Romero’s School of Flamenco Dance Arts. More recently, Claudia has taken classes with Toronto’s newest flamenca on scene—Maria Serrano—and was part of the musical ensemble in her academy’s 2017 showcase of Memorias de Tablao and for the company’s Toronto-debut of Por Derecho, 2019. In the interim of these endeavours, Claudia has gone on trips to Spain where she has taken classes with master flamenco dancers and singers, including Laura Roman, Soraya Clavijo, Jesus Corbacho, and taken workshops with visiting artists in Toronto, including Carmen Ledesma, Alba Serrano, and Ali de la Tota.
Apart from training in flamenco, Claudia has practiced various dance and music genres, including jazz vocals, musical theatre, Bollywood dance, hip-hop, bass guitar and upright bass. She holds a Certificate from the triple-threat Commercial Dance Program from George College, as well as a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree from York University’s Department of Dance, with a Minor in Music...
Questions about the Fest? Send us an email!
The Grand River Flamenco Fest was founded by two committed flamenco enthusiasts: Claudia Aguirre & Julian Berg, a.k.a. CalúJules. In 2016, the couple moved to Waterloo and brought with them their love of the art form. Julian had studied flamenco guitar at Codarts Conservatory in the Netherlands, and Claudia had been studying the dance since her adolescence. They noticed that KW’s small but budding flamenco community needed more support for it to grow, and so founded the Little KW Flamenco Fest in hopes of garnering more interest.
Through the Fest, they have worked alongside guest artists: Welsh dancer, now primarily living in Spain, Josie Sinnadurai; Ronaldo Monge from Puerto Rico / Chicago; guitarist, David Sinclair—a Wilfrid Laurier music alumnus now a resident of Spain; and local nuevo flamenco sensation, Juneyt Yetkiner. In spite of the pandemic, the Fest has kept operating during these past two years with virtual workshops, a digital dance competition, a dance video release, outdoor “pop-up” shows, and more.
We recently incorporated into official not-for-profit status with the new name of The Grand River Flamenco Fest. This year’s guests once again include Juneyt, who will this time be performing a concert of his own, accompanied by violinist, Günhan. Then, for the Flamenco in the Market main stage show, we’ll be featuring Julian Berg’s former instructors from Codarts Conservatory: Irene Álvarez and Alexander Gavilán; as well as New York based Spanish singer and flautist, Alfonso Cid. This will be followed by a weekend of workshops at the Neruda Arts Centre in St. Jacobs. Additional events include a flamenco history presentation at the Kitchener Public Library, a flamenco films night at the Twin Princess Cinema, and a “Taste of Flamenco” restaurant campaign in which local restaurants will feature Spanish-inspired dishes and drinks as part of our Fest.
We hope you can join us!
Tell your friends about the flamfest!
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
OKWe may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them: