Encuentro musical ensemble features flamenco dance A musical ensemble, Encuentro, wil perform a fiery blend of traditional flamenco and world music at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, at the Chester Fritz Auditorium. Encuentro provides a glimpse into diverse musical cultures in an innovative experience. Featuring some of the most talented artists performing flamenco guitar, singing, and dance, Encuentro is a powerhouse experience which takes the listener from the most delicate melody to a rabblerousing stunning crescendo. Encuentro features flamenco dance at its best! Experience the intricate rhythms of Andulcian culture fused with percussion instruments from the Caribbean, Africa, and South America as they blend cante jondo (deep song), guitar, and dance into an artistic experience of rare intensity. Many of the artists have lived for years in Spain, studying the art form of flamenco while deepening their understanding of its historically rich cultural heritage. Encuentro is a ensemble of musicians, singers, and flamenco dancers comprised of featured national and international performers. This exciting and dynamic performance is funded by the Multicultural Awareness Committee. Encuentro has performed in such venues as the John Anson Ford Theatre in Hollywood, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angles, and the Fountain Theater, also in Hollywood, Calif. Performance is focused on rhythm, guitar, voice and dance based on traditional flamenco from Andalucia, the southern province of Spain. Although Encuentro is strongly rooted in flamenco, the group is not limited to this complex art form, but incorporates many musical and artistic forms in a natural flow. A variety of instruments have been featured in performances, including the sitar (a Hindustani classical stringed instrument), flute, guitar, African and Cuban percussion instruments, and upright bass. Members of Encuentro have collaborated with a wide variety of artists incorporating hip-hop, poetry, modern dance, Native American dance and song, jazz, Latin American music, and even traditional painting and graffiti. Elena and Gabriel Osuna along with Vicente Griego participated in the production ”The Roots Of Hip-Hop,” in which they performed on many occasions in New Mexico as well as in New York City. Individual members have performed and thrilled audiences in various locations around the globe that include Madrid, Seville, and Granada Spain, Cairo, Japan, Germany, Paris, Canada, and Mexico. In the United States, performance venues include Los Angles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington State, Oregon, Seattle, Dallas, New Mexico, and New York. Encuentro members have performed in many university and college settings that include the University of Missouri, California State University at Long Beach, and the University of New Mexico, and several Encuentro artists have been in-residence artists at numerous other colleges and universities that include Stephens College (Columbia, Mo.), Pomona College in California, University of Southern California, and the University of California in Los Angles. Their work with university and college students brings them close to emerging youth cultures and music, and at the same time, allows them to impart the richness and diversity of Flamenco dance and music to American youth. Many awards and accolades have been won and achieved by individual performers in Encuentro, including first place winner of the Flamenco Expo Competition of Festival Flamenco Internacional de Albuquerque 2005 (Elena Osuna), Choreographer Fellowships from the California Arts Council (1995) and the National Endowment for the Arts (1995), Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Artistic Excellence, and the John Simon Gugenheim Foundation (La Tanya), touring performances with Grammy Award Winning Ozomatli, Cristina Aguilera, Cypress Hill, and Kanye West (Gerardo Morales Deharo), Flamenco Festival at the University of New Mexico and with Yjastros Flamenco Company (Ricardo Anglada), and a variety of films and network television appearances with Andy Garcia, Don Knotts, Claude Atkins, and John Wayne (Juan Talavera). The up-coming dance performance will feature various palos (dance forms) and compás (musical meter or rhythm) that include Tango Guitano, Solea por Buleria (solo dance form), Alegria (joy or happiness), and Solea (deeply traditional and passionate dance form). Interspersed between fiery dance performances, the audience will be enthralled with intense, vibrant, and furious guitar ensemble work and solo performances, as well as with lyrical, sonorous singing and chanting. Encuentro has thrilled audiences around the country and abroad with their depth, intensity, and emotionally profound artistic performances of dynamic Flamenco dance forms and music. -- Marcia Mikulak, anthropology.