The encounters

Her contact with Manolo Marin, Mario Maya, the gypsy Sara, Cristina Hojos, Carmen Clavel, Manuel Moreno, Rosa Merced inspired Bettina and influenced
the development of her own unique style.

The work

Bettina explores flamenco as the confluence of different cultures. She delves into the Indian, Persian, and Moorish sides of flamenco, bringing them to life in her productions. She melds flamenco with Hungarian gypsy music or with Appenzeller string music while retaining the individuality of the individual cultures. That is the genius of her flamenco.

The place

Palacio de Cultura, Seville. This is where Bettina Castaño lives and works.
Flamenco groups from all over the world meet here, share ideas,
bring productions to life. Seville, a place of encounters, a place of inspiration.

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about Bettina CastaÑo

A Heavenly Blend of Flamenco and World Music
There are those flamenco dancers whose strength lies in their brilliant technique – as limpid, pristine and polished as a diamond. There are those whose power comes from the intensity of their interpretation and expression, from their ability to make a traditional phrase that the audience has seen or heard thousands of times appear new and fresh. And then there are those who take your breath away by taking risks – pounding their heels to a breakneck zapateado beat, or creating unexpected, exciting timbres with their feet.

Bettina La Castaño does all this and more. She experiments with world music, moving away from traditional flamenco, integrating the new elements and then coming back to her roots, in one smooth motion that has the world of flamenco enthralled. She belongs to the new generation of outstanding flamenco dancers in Seville. Her apparently inexhaustible wealth of choreography and her enormous dance repertoire compel her to deliver flamenco performances like no other.

She follows a special approach, combining her creativity and arrangements to provide performances that constantly alternate dance pieces with instrumental music.

In addition to her FLAMENCO PURO program, she collaborates with the outstanding percussionist Hakim Ludin (Kabul) to enact multicultural and intercultural performances that are nothing less than extraordinary. The collaboration has borne fruit such as the FLAMENCO AND AFGHAN PERCUSSION show as well as the sensational HANDS & FEET duo show, where Bettina Castaño and Hakin Ludin present wildly dynamic rhythms never before heard nor seen.

Five years ago, La Castaño presented a new program, FLAMENCO MEETS APPENZELL (music for strings from the Swiss region of Appenzell), followed two years later by FLAMENCO MEETS CIGAN, in which the flamenco artist collaborated with the Berky Devil’s Violin, a violin septet from Bratislava. Indeed, Castaño’s creativity is so boundless that it even begat the CELLO:FACTORY MEETS BETTINA CASTAÑO show, which she developed together with the renowned cellist Thomas Demenga. This show includes not only Bach, Brahms and Stravinsky, but also melodies and rhythms from ragtime, charlestons, waltzes, and tangos argentinos – and Castaño dances flamenco to it all. And, last but by no means least, there is her choreography for classical Spanish music for chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra.

She is supported by a "core" group of musicians – the brilliant guitarists Miguel Pérez, José Manolo Tudela, Monolo Pérez and El Espina as well as one of the most dynamic voices of Seville, Antonio Saavedra, and Manuel Salgado, the group’s palmero.

To a great extent, Castaño’s artistic vision consists of feeling the music and turning it into dance. Ever since she was a child, she has maintained her discipline and opened up new artistic vistas by playing the cello daily. Castaño is a serious dancer with an astonishing musical mind and an unerring sense of determination. For many dancers, La Castaño is a name that stands for the " vigor and love of dancing", a "whirlwind of motion"
as deep as the dark blue sea.

Contact:
Flamencomanagement
Klaus-Peter Dorrn
Tel. + Fax: 0034-95-490 1001 oder 0049-171 545 1500
email: b.castano@interbook.net
www.castano-flamenco.com

Various events in the past years (selecionl)

Soloshow at BIENAL DE ARTE FLAMENCO (Sevilla)
Guggenheimmuseum of Bilbao (organized by Diputación de Sevilla)
Lucerne Festival
Yehudi Menuhin Festival Gstaad
Musikfestival Davon
Klassikfestival Boswil
Philharmonie in Bratislava
Opernhaus Halle
Tonhalle St. Gallen,
Various flamencofestivals
New year concert with the Basler Sinfonieorchester
Tour with solists of the Teatro alla Scala at La Traviata
World exhibition at Sevilla 1992 as "spezial guest"
Arena at Sevilla LA MAESTRANZA
Rheingau-Musikfestival
Kulturarena Jena
Theaterkahn Dresden
Kulturufer Friedrichshafen
Muffathalle München
Mozartsaal Stuttgart
KKL in Luzern
Schlossfestspiele Ettingen, Auerbach, Heidelberg
Burg von Alicante
Jazzfestival Worms
Moods und Volkshaus in Zürich
Impulsfestival Bregenz
Zeltfestival Kassel, Tuttlingen, Karlsruhe, Offenburg
Alfonso XIII. Arabisches Stilhotel in Sevilla
Hotel Palace Montreux
Granhotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastián
Hotel Giardino in Ascona

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