Flamenco dancer Siudy Garrido to perform at The Straz in Tampa

Read the story in Spanish here.

TAMPA — Venezuelan artist, choreographer and dancer Siudy Garrido returns to the area Saturday to perform “Flamenco Intimo (Intimate Flamenco)” at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

Garrido broke a record this year by becoming the first Latin American flamenco artist to receive two Latin Grammy nominations thanks to her documentary feature film, “Bailaora – Mis pies son mi voz.”

“It is an honor to receive recognition from the Academy in a project where we are really breaking with many paradigms,” she told CENTRO Tampa.

“The fact that I am a non-Spanish flamenco dancer ... there are many barriers that are being broken with this nomination, or rather many doors that are being opened,” she added.

The documentary recorded at the height of the pandemic is even more special for Garrido, her flamenco company and her husband, the filmmaker Pablo Croce, who directed the film.

“We premiered this show in November 2019, and in 2020 we were going to start the tour and the pandemic paralyzed us all in that process ... and we realized that we really had a quite unique piece, very avant-garde music,” Garrido said.

Garrido comes from an artistic family. Her mother, Siudy Quintero, is also an artist. Garrido began practicing flamenco as a child and became an international choreographer who has advised Cirque du Soleil and has been invited to take part in concerts by Alejandro Sanz and El Cigala.

Garrido in 2015 made the decision to settle in the United States, but she has been an international artist since she was a teenager.

“I left Venezuela when I was 16 years old and went to live in Spain,” said the 43-year-old. “When I set up my company in the year 2000, the base was Venezuela.”

In Venezuela, Garrido had the infrastructure because her mother had a school with a 50-year tradition, classrooms, a rehearsal studio, set designs and equipment. Thanks to that school, Garrido was able to catapult herself internationally when she created “Entre Mundos (Between Worlds),” a play she did in Venezuela in 2011 and then began to present in the United States.

With “Entre Mundos,” the choreographer and dancer received accolades in New York, and the play was nominated for best choreography at the 2011 Drama Desk Awards.

She said she’s excited to return to perform in Tampa.

“I am in love with Tampa,” she said. “The truth is that it impressed me and that it is a very cultural city, that art is valued,” she said.

Her home country is always close to her heart in her performances.

“I am the artist that I am thanks to my country, and thanks to the artistic influence that Venezuela has given me.”

Want to go?

What: “Flamenco Intimo”

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: The Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa

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To learn more about the artist, visit Siudyflamenco.org or SiudyGarridoFanPage on Facebook.