The Vancouver International Flamenco Festival announces its spellbinding 2017 lineup of local and international flamenco artists, September 11 – 24, 2017, with free workshops and ticketed performances at various Vancouver venues.

The 2017 Festival proudly presents the local debut of La Moneta at the Vancouver Playhouse on September 23. Hailing from Granada, Spain, Fuensanta "La Moneta" possesses a deep expressive dramatic quality and an incredible mastering of compás (the intricate flamenco rhythm). Her innate talent allows her to dance even the most difficult styles as easily as she breathes the ancient form of art. Although her approach seems contemporary, her dancing style seems as ancient as the flamenco that flows through her veins. La Moneta consists of dancer/choreographer Fuensanta “La Moneta”; cantaors, Juan Ángel Tirado and Sergio Gómez “El Colarao”; and guitarist, Luis Mariano.

The Festival also features some of the finest Canadian Flamenco artists including performances by Calle Verde (Vancouver) & Christina Tremblay (Quebec) in an exciting mixed bill, Fin de Fiesta (Toronto) and Vancouver's own Flamenco Rosario performing Nuevo, New, Noveau at the Waterfront Theatre.

“We return for the 27th season with a passionate and fiery lineup of some of the most innovative and revered flamenco artists of our time,” says Rosario Ancer, Artistic Director and Founder, Vancouver International Flamenco Festival. “Furthering our legacy of exposing audiences to premiere traditional & contemporary flamenco, we proudly present Spain’s La Moneta as the festival’s headline event.

As one of few celebrated festivals devoted to Flamenco Art outside of Spain, the VIFF has since its beginnings in 1990 grown to a mature understanding of Vancouver’s multicultural audiences by nurturing the form’s hybridized roots in Sephardic, Persian, Gypsy and Indian cultures and by striving to reflect and connect its diverse sociocultural identity through work narratives underlining flamenco’s universal message of humanistic tolerance. Now a two week long annual event, the festival lends its visibility throughout multiple venues and locales in Vancouver, from Granville Island’s Waterfront Theatre to downtown’s Vancouver Playhouse, Scotiabank Dance Centre, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre and Vancouver Public Library, and Lower Mainland’s Centro Flamenco. With over a quarter century of flamenco presence behind it, the festival brings the city into stronger light for younger generations of dancers all around the world, while tying new relationships with growing sister organizations across the nation through its eastern border, helping to forge a more integrated Canadian identity of flamenco.