Flamenco – classical – world music all of the highest standard.

Most flamenco dancers fascinate with their blinding technique, so pure and clean, as smooth as a diamond. Others with the intensity of their interpretation, expression, through the gift of using a traditional phrase, which the listener or spectator has heard thousands of times before, to say something new. Others impress with their willingness to take a risk – for example when they choose a bold Zapateado tempo, or create unusual, exciting timbres with the foot. Bettina Castaño does all of this and much more. For example, she experiments with world music - distancing herself a little from traditional flamenco - integrates these elements, finds her way back, and fascinates the flamenco world. She is one of the most amazing new generation flamenco dancers in Sevilla. Her seemingly inexhaustable wealth of coreographs and her huge dance repertoir motivate her to create a special type of performance

The conception, her wealth of ideas, and her arrangements appear so, that every programme constantly alternates instrumental performance and dance pieces.

In addition to her programme FLAMENCO PURO, with traditional flamenco instrumentation, she offers an intercultural performance with the excellent percussionist Hakim Ludin (Kabul) extraordinarily. The programmes FLAMENCO AND AFGHAN PERCUSSION and a sensational duo programme HANDS AND FEET where Bettina Castaño and Hakim Ludin present highly dynamic rhythms, never before been seen or heard, emerged from this.

For years, Bettina Castaño has performed the programme FLAMENCO & APPENZELL (Appenzell string music) where she once performed solely with the Alder Buebe and another time with the band and her flamenco group

FLAMENCO MEETS CIGAN is one of her most successful programmes, in which the flamenco artists withBettina Castaño, and the gypsy musicians JanBerky and his group from Bratislava play the programme "Diabolske Flamenco".

La Castaño created the duet programme ARGENTINA FLAMENCA with the argentinian guitar virtuoso Juan Gotán.

Castaño created a particularly special programme - PULSE OF INDIA - with the world's two best percussionists from Kerala (south India), Karuna Moorthy (Tavil) and Mattanur Sankarankutty.

Independantly of the above programmes, Bettina Castaño has developed 'classical programmes'. She dances 'El Armor Brujo' and 'Zarzuelas' with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra of Cairo and the Badenwürttemberg Philharmonic from Reutlingen for example. 'Classical variants' includes the work with 'casal Quartett' and some of the most different soloists of the classical scene; Anamaria Kappus, Karel Beschoeten, Paul Giger and CELLEBERIA from the symphonie Orchestra of Seville. Also included are conductors like Miguel Roa and Thomas Herzog.

Castaño's wealth of ideas extends so far, that she has created the programme CELLO: FACOTRY MEETS Bettina Castaño - together with the famous celloist Thomas Demenga. In this programme, Bach, Brahms, Stravinsky, Ragtime, Charleston, Waltz and Tango Argentino are played, and Bettina Castaño dances to this music in flamenco style. (not to be forgotten are her coreographs to spanish classical music, chamber music and symphony orchestra. And it doesn't stop there – she created an extraordinary programme with Thomas Demenga: BACH AL COMPÁS – in which she dances flamenco style to the Bach Suites.

Bettina Castaño performs increasingly more frequently as a choreographer – for emaple for the famous TV show 'So you think you can dance'

Of course her 'core' musicians are involved; the excellent guitarrists Jesús Torres, Miguel Pérez, Rafael Rodriguez, José Manuel Tudela, El Espina and Mariano Campallo, as well as the singers Antonio Saavedra, Emilio Cabello and David Hornillo, and the Palmero Manuel Salgado. The top dancers Clarissa Wedding and Cristina Hall are also part of the main flamenco programme. Essential for Castaño is her artistic ability to feel music, and translate these feelings into dance. The daily cello practice which she has carried out since her teenage years has helped her greatly in this.

We are dealing with a serious dancer with an astounding musical intelleigence and an admirable ambitiousness. For many dancers, the name La Castaño signifies 'Vivacity and joy in dance', for a dance 'giant' with so much depth to her.

Bettina Castaño runs her international dance studio in the centre of Sevilla. She is a fantastic dance teacher, who impresses her students with her didactic ability and her own dance material. She regularly gives dance courses in Sevilla, Zürich, Bern, Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Mainz, New Delhi, Antwerp etc.

Soloshow at BIENAL DE ARTE FLAMENCO (Sevilla)
Guggenheimmuseum of Bilbao (organized by Diputación de Sevilla)
Lucerne Festival /Kuhmo Festival Finland
Yehudi Menuhin Festival Gstaad
Musikfestival Davos, Mosel Musikfestival                                                                     Teatro Solis Montevideo/Uruguay
Klassikfestival Boswil /Art Festival Seoul/Korea
Philharmonie in Bratislava /TATA Theatre Mumbai/India/ WIWA Festival Trivandrum India
Opernhaus Halle, Opere Caire/Egypt
Tonhalle St. Gallen, Casino Zug
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"
Bullfight Arena at Sevilla LA MAESTRANZA
Rheingau-Musikfestival
Kulturarena Jena/ Tamburi Mundi Festival Germany
Theaterkahn Dresden / CSIO Switzerland
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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