SEQUIM — American flamenco dancer Savannah Fuentes will start her 35-city Northern Lights tour — her biggest ever — at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., this coming Thursday night.
Fuentes, who is based in Seattle, will have with her two more artists of differing flamenco styles: Bulgarian guitarist Bobby de Sofia and singer Juanarito, who is traveling from Spain to make his American debut during this tour.
The music and dance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in OTA’s gathering hall, with tickets at $23 for general admission, $15 for students and low-income patrons, $35 for VIP seating and $8 for children. Advance purchase is available at brownpapertickets.com (search for Savannah Fuentes). If still available, tickets also will be sold at the door.
While de Sofia has “an organic relaxed style,” Fuentes said, Juanarito is a fiery young talent. He comes from a long line of Spanish Roma flamenco singers from the Andalusian province of Jerez de La Frontera, known as the cradle of flamenco.
“The son of the famed singer Juanares and the nephew of flamenco legend Jose Merce, Juanarito gained national acclaim in Spain,” she added, “as a result of his incredible performances on ‘The Voice’ [La Voz Espana on Spanish television] — this year.”
Fuentes, for her part, is a woman of Irish and Puerto Rican heritage who dances flamenco in a distinctly American style.
Fuentes came to the North Olympic Peninsula earlier this year on her “La Primavera: Flamenco en Vivo” (Spring: Live Flamenco”) tour, and said she’s delighted to return. She finds the audiences here, if small, give her art form a warm reception.
This part of the country is not known as a flamenco hotbed, Fuentes has said. So she seeks to bring it to more and more communities, always stretching to give her patrons an experience unlike anything they’ve witnessed before.
After Sequim, Fuentes, de Sofia and Juanarito will take the Northern Lights show to Orcas, San Juan, Vashon and Whidbey islands; Florence, Portland, Eugene and Bend, Ore.; Moscow, Idaho; Missoula, Mont.; Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Reno, Nev.; and Arcata, Windsor, Sacramento, Fresno and Twentynine Palms, Calif., among other cities across the West.
For details about their concert Thursday, phone Olympic Theatre Arts at 360-683-7326; for more about the Northern Lights tour, see www.savannahflamenko.com.
