Flamenco Superstar Makes North Miami Home

Siudy Flamenco is a cultural gem of North Miami.

Headquartered just minutes away from Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay campus, this small but significant community of flamenco dancers – one of the most globally prestigious companies around – offers educational programs for various ages and levels. And its spectacle and energy stem from its namesake founder and artistic director, Siudy Garrido, flamenco superstar and innovator of the genre.

Nonprofit Siudy Flamenco, according to Garrido, works to “cultivate the awareness that flamenco is an art that needs support just like ballet, opera or classical music, to continue creating and growing artistically.”

At Garrido’s school, students venture into an ancestral Ibero American art – a culture that includes Spanish-speaking countries of the Iberian Peninsula and the Americas – where they can literally tap into Hispanic heritage and celebrate a traditional perspective with modern practices. Flamenco is a dance that crossed the Atlantic with sounds of the colonizer and the colonized.

The history of flamenco is a centuries-long journey from India through Egypt and finally into Spain, where dancers were referred to as “gypsies” – now understood to be a derogatory term – because of their Egyptian or Middle Eastern background.

Both a musical genre and dance, flamenco first appeared in Andalusia, the center of Spain’s so-called gypsy communities. Informed by these Middle Eastern and Spanish musical histories, the dance is characterized by dynamic upper body movement, hand and finger choreography, and rhythmic clapping and feet tapping.

How It Began

A Venezuelan native, Garrido began dancing under the tutelage of her mother, Siudy Quintero, a celebrated flamenco performer and instructor who was awarded by the king of Spain for her contribution to the dissemination of the dance form.

Garrido dances in her mother’s footsteps, exploring new ways to perform flamenco that emphasize a cross-cultural experimentation with genres such as jazz, classical and contemporary.

Over the course of her career, Garrido and her company have performed on prestigious stages on Broadway, with Cirque du Soleil and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at Disney and the Latin Grammys. She also has shared the stage with such globally renowned artists as Marc Anthony, Diego el Cigala and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Garrido’s goal is to continue touring with her company in theaters across the United States, Latin America and Canada.

She is a dominating force, on stage and within her own company, as its principal “bailaora” (principal dancer) and choreographer. The company includes eight professional dancers and an ensemble of musicians.

Garrido works most often as a soloist rather than in flamenco’s traditional male-female couple form. When she dances with her all-female ensemble, she emphasizes individuality – both by dressing in striking contrast to her dancers and challenging cultural norms with provocative costume choices. These include the masculine and rigid look of “gitano” (male dancer) garments or nothing but thin lines of fabric slashed across her chest.

Among the company’s many enthralling productions are “Amor Brujo” and “Bailaora: Dentro de mi, dentro de tí.” When “Bailaora” premiered at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in 2019, Garrido was officially named an arts partner of the venue. This new production also saw the release of a musical album of the same name, which is available on all digital platforms, including Spotify, Amazon Prime, YouTube Music, Apple Music and Deezer.

A Long-Running Tour

In 2013, Garrido created and choreographed “Flamenco íntimo” in collaboration with award-winning composer and flamenco guitarist José Luis de la Paz, which premiered in 2016. Since then, the project continues to tour globally and has grown with her over time, weaving past and present seamlessly with faithfully fresh performances.

“Each production has a process of creating original music, choreography, costume design, and intense seasons of rehearsals for the band of musicians and dancers that have very high costs,” Garrido said.

She later shared in written correspondence that her productions are only made possible because of the company’s dedicated fan base, which keeps buying tickets to see the work again and again. One of the institution's priority goals is to afford increased salaries for its dancers and musicians to continue creating new productions for the public without forfeiting the essence of flamenco.

“Continuing to grow Siudy Flamenco as an institution is very important to me,” said Garrido.

This year, the company continues to tour with “Flamenco íntimo” and in 2023 will stage Garrido’s latest production, “Bailaora – Mis pies son mi voz.”

“The educational portion of our company is also very important in that it develops a more knowledgeable audience of flamenco art and fosters a new generation of professionals of flamenco art,” Garrido explained.

20 years ago, Flamenco was a very gendered and rigid art form, but in recent years, cultural exchanges are allowing flamenco to develop with a new world perspective.

“Flamenco has grown and evolved by leaps and bounds in recent years,” according to Garrido.

The Siudy Flamenco School in North Miami is part of that movement, and strives to make flamenco more accessible and appreciated beyond Spain. The school strives to disseminate flamenco for the exploration and enjoyment of people of all cultures so that a new, more international, generation of flamenco practitioners arise.

“From the depths of my heart, I work hard every day so that flamenco continues to evolve,” said Garrido.

For information about upcoming Siudy Flamenco performances and dance programs, visit SiudyFlamenco.org.