Flamencura: 7th Annual Melissa Cruz Flamenco Showcase

The Cast:

Melissa Cruz
David Paez
Gina Giammanco
Christina Zanfagna
Rebecca Siegel
Nadia Dmytriw
Laurie Snow
Masako Numasaki
Mikelle Emmanuel
Jennifer Matus
Kumi Dews
Maria Sanchez
Krista Katsantonis
Vida Felsenfeld
Diana Ariza
Alice Glasner
Rebecca Prince
Yunyi Huang
Mitch Garber
Clery Villacrez
Kata Miletich
Ilan Cedillos
Bob Sanders

Melissa Cruz is a Bay Area-based flamenco professional and has been a full-time flamenco artist and instructor for the past 15 years. After being exposed to flamenco while studying Spanish at UC Berkeley, she began dancing with Rosa Montoya and soon thereafter, joined Ms. Montoya’s professional company. Apart from frequently performing in theatrical presentations, she teaches a full weekly schedule of flamenco dance classes and presents consistently in the local flamenco cabaret circuit. Melissa is also the dancer and percussionist for the band, LoCura, with who she performs and tours.

Melissa has performed as a soloist in the San Francisco International Arts Festival in 2012 and 2016 and has presented in eight San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festivals; in 2010 and 2011, as a featured soloist. She was commissioned to present a solo representing the genre of flamenco in the 2013 San Francisco Isadora Duncan Awards Ceremony.  Currently, she is principal dancer and choreographer for the San Francisco Flamenco Dance Company and Artistic Director of “The Flamenco Room,” a monthly flamenco cabaret show in San Francisco.

As described by Rachel Howard of the SF Chronicle: “Any dancer could make pained faces. But Cruz is clearly possessed by the duende — the spirit that drives this deeply introspective art.”