Sunday, May 11, 2008, 5pm
PAN Presents In-Studio Performance Series
An Afternoon of Modern Dance with Dance Now! Ensemble

Tickets $15 at the door/ $12 advance/ $8 students & seniors

Reserve by phone: 305-899-7730

Performing Arts Network announces Dance Now! Ensemble, as part of its In-Studio Performance Series. Dance Now! Ensemble returns to PAN to close their 2007-08 season with somber solos, passionate duets and group works by Hannah Baumgarten, Diego Salterini, and Michael Uthoff, including excerpts from Primary Colors, and Seat 23 B, a new piece by Choreographer/ Co-Artistic Director, Diego Salterini about chance encounters. The performance will be followed by a question & answer session. Headed by Diego Salterini, Roman born and trained Italian dancer and teacher, and Hannah Baumgarten, Juilliard graduate dancer and choreographer, who collaboratively choreograph and direct the company, the Ensemble is committed to bringing dance and the arts to their community.

Founded on Miami Beach in 2000, the Dance Now! Ensemble (DNE) is committed to the development of modern dance-theatre in South Florida . Co-directed by Hannah Baumgarten, a Julliard graduate dancer and choreographer, and Diego Salterini, a Roman born and trained Italian dancer and teacher, DNE has elaborated an emerging international style inspired by western dance traditions, but attracting and reaching younger, multi-national audiences through eclectic choices of music and contemporary themes. The ten member Ensemble's goals are to choreograph and perform high quality dance, build community, promote diversity, and through teaching and outreach, help audiences gain a deeper understanding of the creative process in dance. For more information regarding DNE, visit www.dancenowmiami.org .

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Sunday, April 13, 2008, 7pm
Ballet Flamenco La Rosa Presents Celtic Callings
Byron Caryle Theater as part of the Miami Beach Dance Festival

tickets available through Momentum Dance Company
500 71st St, Miami Beach, FL 33141

Ballet Flamenco La Rosa, a professional Flamenco company, based in North Miami , and made up of dancers and musicians from Spain , the U.S. and Latin America , will present a World Premiere new work on Sunday, April 13, 2008 , at 7:00 P.M. at the Byron Carlyle Theater, as part of the Miami Beach Dance Festival. Ballet Flamenco La Rosa Artistic Director Ilisa Rosal will collaborate with the Breffni Irish Dancers, and musicians from Spain and Ireland , to create an original full-evening Flamenco Ballet entitled “Celtic Callings�. Inspired by the influence Irish Dance and Music and Flamenco have had on each other throughout their histories, this work will explore the relationship between them, beginning with The Spanish Armada being stranded off the coast of Ireland in the 17 th Century, and developing through modern times in America, where both Flamenco and Irish and/or Celtic Music and Dance have been a fundamental part of the roots and inspiration for many styles of music, dance, art and fashion.

This compelling and beautiful work will feature pure Flamenco as well as Irish Step Dance, with their spectacular footwork, precise athleticism and vibrant energy. Exploring their common rhythms and techniques, as well as their differences, the choreographers will create new forms as well as showcase traditional forms. Few art forms captivate an audience as does Flamenco, with its spellbinding and earthy power, at once sensual and spiritual, raw and refined, filled with restrained passion and electrifying release.

Working closely with Michael and Nicola O'Hara, Artistic Directors, choreographers and soloists with The Breffni Irish Dancers, as well as an ensemble of first rate dancers and musicians, Ilisa Rosal will create an exciting collaboration highlighting each art form, while also combining, overlapping, layering and fusing them, which is one of the things her work is best known for.

In Ballet Flamenco La Rosa's 22 year history, Ms. Rosal has created Flamenco fusion with Jazz, Tap, Blues, Middle Eastern, Indian, African, Afro-Haitian, Afro-Cuban, and even American Country music and dance, as well as full-length Dramatic Flamenco Ballets such as The Trojan Women, Herodias, and Las Brujas de Salem. For “Celtic Callings�, Irish and Celtic music were the inspiration for a haunting and intense work, filled with enchanting melodies, evocative images, and rich cultural context, which will appeal to audiences of all ages and ethnicities. Flamenco singer/guitarist Paco Fonta will work with vocalists Samantha Garcia and Erin Williams, along with Fiddle player Jack Stamates and a Bagpipe player to arrange and perform live traditional music, as well as create original music for this work.

Ballet Flamenco La Rosa has been called “one of our cultural treasures� by The Miami Herald, with its brilliant artistry, gorgeous staging and costumes, and innovative creative work. This latest offering promises a new and fresh take on two of the world's most loved artistic traditions.

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