Despite her name, she is not Spanish. She was born in upstate New York and in 2023 she celebrates 40 years dedicated body and soul to flamenco. An art from which he makes a living in a successful company, but with which he also helps immigrants and disabled people.
Her name may not ring a bell, or maybe it does… Carlota Santana is New York’s “The Guardian of Flamenco” (a title given by Dance Magazine) and holds the Cross of the Order of Civil Merit of Spain for “all the years of passion, excellence and dedication to the art of flamenco”. His company, Flamenco Vivo, is the most important in the USA. but, above all, she is in love with flamenco, traditional flamenco, to be more precise.
Flamenco as a way of expressing oneself
For this New Yorker, flamenco changed her life when she first came into contact with it in the late 1970s. She signed up for a course with the American dancer María Alba (who died in 1992) and, as she explains in an interview, “it was the ability to express emotions through dance that attracted me”.
This ability that helped her “to bring out what is inside” was a turning point in her life. She left her career as a social worker and went to Spain to study this discipline in depth.
When he returned to the U.S., he teamed up with one of his teachers, Roberto Lorca, to form his own company, Spanish Dance Arts Company. Roberto was a well-known choreographer at the time, and that was Santana’s weak point, which made for a good team. She danced and managed; he directed and staged the shows. But his luck changed and, sadly, Lorca died of AIDS in 1987.
Carlota Santana and the scholarship from Madrid
From that difficult moment on, Carlota took over the management of the company and changed its name to Flamenco Vivo. Through institutional support, but above all through donations, the dance company has grown to become the TOP dance company in the USA. Part of her success is due to the fact that she is a practical woman. She was neither the best dancer nor, of course, the main choreographer. So he surrounded himself with the best, many, from Spain, such as José Maldonado and Emilio Ochando.
In fact, in her search for talent for Flamenco Vivo, Carlota Santana focused on the educational part. It does so by training and promoting new local artists, and by attracting emerging and established talents from Spain. Flamenco Vivo collaborates with the Certamen de Coreografía de Danza Española y Flamenco de Madrid with a scholarship that takes the winner to New York; from the North American city, the same, to Madrid.
Flamenco is healthy
He hasn’t danced for years. Carlota is focused on work in schools. “Working with children is very important,” she says excitedly.
The company created an innovative arts in education programme, which integrates Spanish dance and culture into academic programmes in public schools. It also pioneered bilingual education initiatives aimed at immigrant populations (for better adaptation) and initiated programmes that address the special needs of students with disabilities such as autism.
Considers thatflamenco music, dance and song present multiple entry points for young learners to improve literacy, communication and deepen cultural awareness. Flamenco strengthens students’ voices giving them the confidence to articulate a full range of emotions. flamenco-vivo.org