<\/p>\n
Susana di Palma\u2019s fascinating story<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
I first began Spanish classical dance when I was 5 years old with a former vaudeville dancer who danced with La Meri. She taught me how to play castanets and I began performing \u201cSpanish Eyes\u201d all over the northland. Being Italian and Ojibwe [Native American ethnic group], I was considered exotic in the North American Midwest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the early 1970s I went to New York to study with Mariquita Flores and Mar\u00eda Alba. I was intrigued that Mar\u00eda was doing a theater work called Yerma <\/em>based on the play by Federico Garcia Lorca. On returning home I immediately went to the library and got all of Lorca\u2019s plays.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
My future was decided, and thus the adventure got underway. I went to Madrid and began studying with Rosario [former partner of Antonio el Bailar\u00edn] and then to Sevilla to study with Enrique \u201cEl Cojo\u201d. Those were still Franco years and a single female foreigner raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/expoflamenco-susana-di-palma-conVivir-7-Dances-to-a-more-Compasionate-World-zorongo.jpg\")
<\/a>ConVivir 7 Dances to a more Compasionate World’ – Zorongo<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Madrid in 1974, I was hired to dance in the tablaos Cuevas de Nemesio and Canasteros which was an immersive learning experience! I studied at the original Amor de Dios with Maria Magdalena, jota with Pedro Azor\u00edn, Tomas de Madrid, Paco Fern\u00e1ndez and others.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One day in 1977, La Singla appeared at the studios looking for a dancer for her Costa Brava tour. She was talking outside of Ciro\u2019s class as I entered, and Ciro told her to take me in the next studio for an audition. Somehow I got it right and she hired me for a five-month tour. The company was small: dancers Antonia La Singla, Pepa Coral from Sevilla [sister of Matilde], Isidro El Mono from Madrid, singer El Bo\u00edna from C\u00e1diz, guitarist Juan Maya Marote and myself. I was a soloist and had to hide being a foreigner. Antonia La Singla was a great inspiration.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Madrid in 1978 I saw the production of Andalucia Amarga<\/em> by La Cuadra de Sevilla directed by Salvador T\u00e1vora. That changed my life! I realized that flamenco could address social concerns and make sense of our universe. The suffering of the pueblos, universal lamentation, movements against repression, no glamor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I eventually returned to Minnesota drawn by the state\u2019s funding for the arts. I had just read Do\u00f1a Flor and Her Two Husbands <\/em>by Jorge Amado, and decided to create a theater flamenco work. However, I had gone to meet with T\u00e1vora in Sevilla and begged him to let me apprentice with him. He agreed, but then the Joyce Theater agreed to present my production Do\u00f1a Flor.<\/em> I faced the dilemma of devoting my life to another\u2019s artistic vision, or following my own madness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I kept going back and forth from Minnesota to Madrid, and in 1982 bought a flat in Madrid planning to have the \u201cbest of both worlds\u201d. I studied intensively with Carmen Mora, Merche Esmeralda and Manolete. I also went to Sevilla to study with Manolo Marin whom I consider one of my most inspirational maestros along with Pepa Coral.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 1982 I founded the non-profit organization Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theater in Minneapolis. Since then I\u2019ve created over twenty-five theater flamenco works. Most were conceived to help me make sense of our world and reflect on sociopolitical issues such as Garden of Names<\/em> dealing with political torture in Argentina and Guantanamo, Zorro,<\/em> on Native American boarding-school abductions (my grandmother\u2019s story), Encuentros<\/em>, an imaginary meeting between African American actor Paul Robeson and Garc\u00eda Lorca, Tra Ti Ti Tran Tran Toro<\/em>, a flamenco puppet show on immigration, Tales of the Inquisition<\/em> on political and religious oppression, Romer\u00eda<\/em>, about environmental conservation, Gernika<\/em>, which was antiwar and Casita<\/em> incorporating American gospel and blues with flamenco to tell stories of homeless women that I heard while volunteering at a shelter. I also created works on Frida Kahlo, Sadja<\/em>, San Juan de la Cruz, Noche Oscura<\/em>, Sor Juana de La Cruz and many others inspired by Lorca. My next work is going to be Conference of the Birds<\/em> inspired by the Persian mystic Attar on transcendence, and a work on stolen babies in Spain\u2019s history, and the need for choice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Having Zorongo as a non-profit, allows us to get funding to bring in guest artists and create work. I\u2019ve also been awarded funds to return to Spain to study and attend the Bienal de Sevilla and Festival de Jerez, although I\u2019ve never applied for financial support from Spain.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Over the years we\u2019ve brought Spanish artists such as Manolete, Domingo Ortega, Bel\u00e9n Maya and Manolo Mar\u00edn among others. Recently, getting visas has been very difficult, so bringing artists from Spain is on hold unless they have visas. There are no professional flamenco singers in Minnesota so we bring in singers residing in the USA.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This pandemic time has been wonderfully wild. I was at the 2020 Festival de Jerez and left Spain on March 11th<\/sup> \u2013 just in time! With the world shut down, I immediately got busy and created Decameron 20:20<\/em> inspired in the work of Giovanni Boccaccio. I created this with flamenco artists isolated in varios places: Bel\u00e9n Maya, who was stuck in Rome, Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez in Miami, Emilio Ochando and Jeanne d\u2019Arc Casas in Madrid, Fanny Ara in San Francisco, Isaac Tovar in Sevilla, Jes\u00fas Mu\u00f1\u00f3z in Santa Fe and myself. We met every day for 10 days via Zoom, and each created two minutes a day of choreography to Jos\u00e9 Luis\u2019 music on how we were coping with the pandemic isolation. I also created a work called Requiem for Lost Dreams<\/em> in which I took the part of Death who is exhausted after all this. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
We just finished a Minnesota State tour of Casita<\/em> and performances in St. Paul. Zorongo school has continued with classes and we look forward to once again having guest artists from Spain here to inspire us. I hope to be at the Bienal de Sevilla in September without fail!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My future was decided, and thus the adventure got underway. I went to Madrid and began studying with Rosario [former partner of Antonio el Bailar\u00edn] and then to Sevilla to study with Enrique \u201cEl Cojo\u201d. Those were still Franco years and a single female foreigner raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>ConVivir 7 Dances to a more Compasionate World’ – Zorongo<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Madrid in 1974, I was hired to dance in the tablaos Cuevas de Nemesio and Canasteros which was an immersive learning experience! I studied at the original Amor de Dios with Maria Magdalena, jota with Pedro Azor\u00edn, Tomas de Madrid, Paco Fern\u00e1ndez and others.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One day in 1977, La Singla appeared at the studios looking for a dancer for her Costa Brava tour. She was talking outside of Ciro\u2019s class as I entered, and Ciro told her to take me in the next studio for an audition. Somehow I got it right and she hired me for a five-month tour. The company was small: dancers Antonia La Singla, Pepa Coral from Sevilla [sister of Matilde], Isidro El Mono from Madrid, singer El Bo\u00edna from C\u00e1diz, guitarist Juan Maya Marote and myself. I was a soloist and had to hide being a foreigner. Antonia La Singla was a great inspiration.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Madrid in 1978 I saw the production of Andalucia Amarga<\/em> by La Cuadra de Sevilla directed by Salvador T\u00e1vora. That changed my life! I realized that flamenco could address social concerns and make sense of our universe. The suffering of the pueblos, universal lamentation, movements against repression, no glamor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I eventually returned to Minnesota drawn by the state\u2019s funding for the arts. I had just read Do\u00f1a Flor and Her Two Husbands <\/em>by Jorge Amado, and decided to create a theater flamenco work. However, I had gone to meet with T\u00e1vora in Sevilla and begged him to let me apprentice with him. He agreed, but then the Joyce Theater agreed to present my production Do\u00f1a Flor.<\/em> I faced the dilemma of devoting my life to another\u2019s artistic vision, or following my own madness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I kept going back and forth from Minnesota to Madrid, and in 1982 bought a flat in Madrid planning to have the \u201cbest of both worlds\u201d. I studied intensively with Carmen Mora, Merche Esmeralda and Manolete. I also went to Sevilla to study with Manolo Marin whom I consider one of my most inspirational maestros along with Pepa Coral.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1982 I founded the non-profit organization Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theater in Minneapolis. Since then I\u2019ve created over twenty-five theater flamenco works. Most were conceived to help me make sense of our world and reflect on sociopolitical issues such as Garden of Names<\/em> dealing with political torture in Argentina and Guantanamo, Zorro,<\/em> on Native American boarding-school abductions (my grandmother\u2019s story), Encuentros<\/em>, an imaginary meeting between African American actor Paul Robeson and Garc\u00eda Lorca, Tra Ti Ti Tran Tran Toro<\/em>, a flamenco puppet show on immigration, Tales of the Inquisition<\/em> on political and religious oppression, Romer\u00eda<\/em>, about environmental conservation, Gernika<\/em>, which was antiwar and Casita<\/em> incorporating American gospel and blues with flamenco to tell stories of homeless women that I heard while volunteering at a shelter. I also created works on Frida Kahlo, Sadja<\/em>, San Juan de la Cruz, Noche Oscura<\/em>, Sor Juana de La Cruz and many others inspired by Lorca. My next work is going to be Conference of the Birds<\/em> inspired by the Persian mystic Attar on transcendence, and a work on stolen babies in Spain\u2019s history, and the need for choice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Having Zorongo as a non-profit, allows us to get funding to bring in guest artists and create work. I\u2019ve also been awarded funds to return to Spain to study and attend the Bienal de Sevilla and Festival de Jerez, although I\u2019ve never applied for financial support from Spain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the years we\u2019ve brought Spanish artists such as Manolete, Domingo Ortega, Bel\u00e9n Maya and Manolo Mar\u00edn among others. Recently, getting visas has been very difficult, so bringing artists from Spain is on hold unless they have visas. There are no professional flamenco singers in Minnesota so we bring in singers residing in the USA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This pandemic time has been wonderfully wild. I was at the 2020 Festival de Jerez and left Spain on March 11th<\/sup> \u2013 just in time! With the world shut down, I immediately got busy and created Decameron 20:20<\/em> inspired in the work of Giovanni Boccaccio. I created this with flamenco artists isolated in varios places: Bel\u00e9n Maya, who was stuck in Rome, Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez in Miami, Emilio Ochando and Jeanne d\u2019Arc Casas in Madrid, Fanny Ara in San Francisco, Isaac Tovar in Sevilla, Jes\u00fas Mu\u00f1\u00f3z in Santa Fe and myself. We met every day for 10 days via Zoom, and each created two minutes a day of choreography to Jos\u00e9 Luis\u2019 music on how we were coping with the pandemic isolation. I also created a work called Requiem for Lost Dreams<\/em> in which I took the part of Death who is exhausted after all this. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We just finished a Minnesota State tour of Casita<\/em> and performances in St. Paul. Zorongo school has continued with classes and we look forward to once again having guest artists from Spain here to inspire us. I hope to be at the Bienal de Sevilla in September without fail!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n