Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco is turning 60, and the company founded by Adela Clara in 1966 is marking the milestone the way it has built its reputation for decades: by bending the rules of its own art form. On October 17, the troupe premieres “De Ayer a Hoy / From Yesterday to Today” at Herbst Theatre, a production built around nine works that mix three brand-new pieces with six reimagined ones pulled from the company's long history.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Theatre Flamenco is the oldest continuously operating flamenco company in the United States, a distinction that sits alongside other descriptions of its standing. Ticket seller cityboxoffice.com calls it the Bay Area's oldest flamenco dance company, while broadwayworld.com describes it as the second-oldest dance company in the Bay Area overall, after San Francisco Ballet. Either way, the company's roots run deep: the East Bay Times reported that Theatre Flamenco was the first U.S.-based company to stage full productions of Spanish dance when Clara launched it in 1966.
A Rehearsal Room Full of History
The Chronicle's Rachel Howard reported attending the company's 60th-anniversary rehearsal on September 29 in San Francisco, where artistic director Carola Zertuche ran the ensemble through choreography using a Programma 900 harmonic computer, with Pascual Martinez operating the device alongside her. The company rehearses out of a rented studio near South Van Ness and 17th streets, according to the Chronicle, and its wardrobe includes costumes spanning all six decades of its history.
Zertuche has run the company for roughly two decades, though sources disagree on the exact handoff date. The nonprofit arts site sfarts.org, citing the company, reports that former artistic director Miguel Santos asked her to take the reins in 2006, while cityboxoffice.com's event listing states she has led the company since 2008. The Chronicle reports that Santos transferred leadership to Zertuche 20 years before his death; Santos died in 2024 at age 99, and founder Adela Clara died in May 2026 at age 93. The anniversary program is built in part to honor both of their legacies, according to sfarts.org and broadwayworld.com.
Guest Artists and Signature Pieces
Among the special guests is Cristina Hall, a San Francisco-bred dancer who started flamenco at age 16 and later moved to Seville as a teenager, where she became a solo artist, per sfarts.org. The Chronicle reports Hall studied and choreographed with Zertuche and will make a special guest appearance performing a caracoles with dramatic shawl work. Hall told the Chronicle that authenticity is difficult to find in flamenco today, but said Zertuche can step outside tradition precisely because she knows it so well.
Also featured is Adrián Santana, described by the Chronicle as a celebrated dancer from Spain, who performs Miguel Santos's choreography for the farruca — a dance Adela Clara was reportedly among the first women to perform, per the Chronicle's reporting. The program also includes a 12-beat dance with canes and an opening duet performed by Zertuche and Nol Simonse in long bata de cola skirts, the Chronicle reports. Cityboxoffice.com lists 15 artists on stage total, including Hall, Santana, Simonse and Nevarez Encinias, with sfarts.org adding that guitarist Jesse Torre and visiting artists from Spain round out the music alongside Martinez's electronic contributions.
Decades of Genre-Bending
Under Zertuche, the company has alternated traditional programs with genre-fusing works, per cityboxoffice.com's event description. The Chronicle reports that recent Theatre Flamenco shows have integrated modern dance and challenged gender norms, while sfarts.org notes Zertuche has folded in collaborations with Glide Memorial's gospel choir and injected flashes of heavy metal and cumbia into the company's work. The Chronicle also reports she has worked with oud and violin players on a production dedicated to children in the Middle East and has incorporated electric guitar and trumpet into other productions. Zertuche told the Chronicle simply that the music helps.
That fusion-minded approach isn't new for the company. A 2023 production at Herbst — the company's first home-season show since the pandemic — fused flamenco with live electronic music, violin, trumpet and electric guitar, according to sfcv.org. That near-sellout, one-night performance at what datebook.sfchronicle.com described as the 916-seat Herbst Theatre stood out partly because, as that outlet reported, San Francisco's flamenco performance scene has become rare in recent years — a trend not solely attributable to the pandemic. The same report noted people were returning both to shows and to flamenco classes as the city's arts scene recovered.
A Scene Under Pressure, and a Possible Resurgence
Sfarts.org reports that many of Zertuche's flamenco contemporaries have been forced to leave San Francisco because of the city's high cost of living, and the Chronicle similarly reports that flamenco artists in the city struggle to maintain a foothold. Rosa Visalli, who danced with Theatre Flamenco from 1982 to 2000, told the Chronicle that Santos and Clara were good visionaries for the form.
The Chronicle also points to Marina Elana's Flamenco Arts International as bringing the possibility of a flamenco resurgence to San Francisco. That organization describes its mission, on its own site, as combining unexpected technology with artists to honor flamenco's origins while looking toward its future, and it says it is teaming up with Stanford University to digitize flamenco lyrics and widen access to the art form. Flamenco Arts International's production “Songs From A Sinking Ship,” which won three Isadora Duncan Dance Awards according to presidiotheatre.org, folds in projections, video and lighting effects alongside a storyline, as gramilano.com reports. The Chronicle frames this as part of a broader international shift in which flamenco has gravitated from nightclub entertainment toward conceptual theater.
Tickets and Show Details
Theatre Flamenco's anniversary performance is set for 7:30 p.m. on October 17 at Herbst Theatre, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue, with the Chronicle reporting ticket prices ranging from $50 to $91. Other listings describe a different pricing structure tied to a post-show gala: sfarts.org reports a $250 gala ticket and a $309 VIP ticket, each including a $200 tax-deductible donation, while the gala is set to begin at 9:30 p.m. following the performance, also per sfarts.org. Broadwayworld.com, meanwhile, lists general admission starting at $45 with VIP tickets at $300. Sfarts.org reports Zertuche hopes to sell out the 900-seat venue.
