Arts Activities Support

95% of audiences (937 attendees) expressed interest in attending another Zorongo event in the future; many new names were added to our mailing list. The number of students attending (over 450) has made us re-consider the number of matinee performances offered and how to reach even more schools that might benefit by seeing our work. Artistic goals for LORCA’S WOMEN were to: 1) engage Twin Cities’ audiences with consummate flamenco dance and music and; 2) provide local dancers and musicians with the opportunity to work closely with artists who have reached the apex of skill and artistry in flamenco voice, guitar, dance, and choreography. “Throughout, di Palma drives the connections between stories… It is her shouts of “Silencio” at the beginning and end of the show that draw our attention, but also captivating is her lifelong commitment to finding new ways to showcase flamenco as a mesmerizing form of creative expression.” –Caroline Palmer, Minneapolis Star Tribune. Zorongo’s much-anticipated production of LORCA’s WOMEN performed at the Cowles Center in April 2016 was enthusiastically received and regarded as one of Susana di Palma’s “strongest to date.” The quote above is indicative of the response by audiences who reacted spontaneously—viscerally and loudly—to the passionate and “riveting” movement on stage. Our 5 guest artists included dancer Omayra Amaya, guitarists Jose Valle “Chuscales” and Roberto Castellon, and singers La Conja and Kina Mendez. Local performers included Susana di Palma, AJ Frenzel, Deborah Elias, and Colette Illarde who were joined by Zorongo’s 8 apprentice dancers. New creative challenges were successfully met by Zorongo company dancers as the piece presented multiple soloist opportunities. Zorongo’s apprentices excelled, reaching the next level of artistry and involvement with the company, a few even dancing in lead roles. The participation of our guest artists pushed all Zorongo artists to new heights technically and performatively. The success of Omayra’s involvement continued off stage. Her workshops resulted in record attendance for Zorongo and were strongly supported by the Twin Cities’ flamenco community including support from other companies such as Anda Flamenco. A pleasant surprise to us, Zorongo’s student matinee performance was sold out prior to the opening weekend. However due to time constraints, we were not able to add another student showing. This is something we wish to add next year. We also hope to provide more rehearsal time for the artists and include more musicians in the production. We saw many opportunities for future artistic collaborations. Overall, our biggest strengths for the project included: a fantastic review by the Star Tribune that mentioned all performers in a positive light, record attendance at our guest artist workshops, and a well-attended meaningful talk back event. Artists and audience members were engaged in new ways with the art form. In our proposal, we wrote that success for this project will mean that a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the art of flamenco will be gained by participants, that more interest in attending Zorongo’s activities will develop, and that increased visibility and recognition will occur—these goals were all met. Zorongo was successful in reaching our intended community including the local flamenco artists, students, Spanish language and cultural enthusiasts, and Lorca scholars. Our audiences were diverse as expected in terms of age, gender, and ethnicity. We did experience a greater number of students than originally anticipated—the student matinee was sold out two months prior to the performance. Exploring the idea of expanding our student performance schedule is on the table for next year. The post-performance talk back session was a draw for those interested in learning more about the production, artists, and Lorca. About 70 individuals participated in the discussion led by Susana di Palma and Carleton College professor Silvia Lopez. New partnerships with 3M and Anchor Bank, each sponsoring the performance, provided rich resources for promotion. 3M’s “Newsroom” created a promo video for the performance. The video aired at 3M the week prior to show time and currently has over 30,000 views; it is currently 3M Newsroom's most viewed video. In the future, Zorongo will seek additional corporate partnerships to attract new audiences. Attendance goals for performances and workshops were met and we feel that we were successful in making our project’s accessible to all who wished to participate including through the ADA compliancy of the spaces used, (The Cowles Center and Zorongo Studio), and through admission prices and low workshop fees. The new channels of performance promotion (see above), and methods for promoting workshops also helped us to meet our accessibility and diversity goals.