Name: DIA INTERNACIONAL DE FLAMENCO
Start: 2025-11-16T15:00:00-06:00
Location: Main Plaza

Arte y Pasion is honored to announce the proclamation of November 16 2025 “International Day of Flamenco.” The proclamation ceremony and performance, “The Silk Road,” will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 16 2025, at the Main Plaza “Plaza De Las Islas Canarias,” 115 N. Main Avenue, San Antonio, Texas.
This proclamation ceremony is a weaving of cultures and textures echoed by the Silk Road, whose trade routes connected the East to the West and touched countries such as Spain, India, and Mexico. With the trade of textiles, spices, art, and gold came the trade of cultures, music, language and movement. This coming together of artists for International Day of Flamenco honors the cultural confluence that came into fruition through the Silk Road.
Opening for the ceremony is San Antonio’s own Viva Tejana Dance Company. Founded by Sophia Salgado in 2020, the team performs to Tejano, Conjunto, and Chicano music. The dance group features women of diverse ages and backgrounds, and they take tremendous pride in showcasing their heritage and culture, to educate, inspire, and bring joy.
The ceremony will begin with a reading of the proclamation by Poet Laureate Emeritus Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson. Following the ceremony is a performance by Arte y Pasión, with Genevieve Obregon, Jose Manuel Tejeda, Celia Corrales, and Roberto Paolo Riggio, with special guest Dr. Tamanna O’Dea, artistic director of Rhythmics School of Kathak Dance.
Following the performance, dancers throughout the community are invited to dance with us.
This project is called “The Silk Road” in honor of the different colors of flamenco along the trade routes that have culminated in the flamenco we know today. The traditions of the Philippines, North Africa, and India came to influence the musicality, color and expression of flamenco through their own threads of spirituality, rhythm and resilience. As Indian movement flowed through trade routes into Spain, its storytelling gestures of India evolved into expressions of grace or sobriety. These influences made their way to the New World via Mexico, shown by the textiles used in flamenco inspired by the silk trade route, which in turn influenced the textiles in Mexico. This is demonstrated by the similarities between the mantón in Spain and the rebozo in Mexico. Over time, these dances intertwined, their rhythms and gestures a thread of movement, music, and memory, carrying centuries of history.
On November 16 2010, Flamenco was inscribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of Humanity. Originating from the Andalusia Region in southern Spain, Flamenco is an art form that encompasses and transmits the full range of human expression. Here in San Antonio, we celebrate We Flamenco Fest, a month-long celebration of our own very vibrant flamenco community that showcases, celebrates, educates and invigorates the art of flamenco, centering around the International Day of Flamenco on November 16. This festival remains an enduring source of cultural enrichment, diversity and vitality for our city. San Antonio plays her part in carrying the unique storytelling tradition of the art form of flamenco, ensuring its careful preservation for generations to come. Arte y Pasión has played a key role in this festival and beyond for over 16 years in carrying the unique storytelling tradition of this art form, taking a lead in ensuring flamenco’s preservation in the United States.
We Flamenco Fest is a month-long celebration in San Antonio that showcases, celebrates, educates and invigorates the art of flamenco, centering around International Day of Flamenco on November 16, 2025. With over three million tourists expected to attend this festival and beyond, We Flamenco Fest remains an enduring source of cultural enrichment, diversity and vitality for the Alamo City.
Flamenco artists have played a distinct role in building our city’s cultural fabric for almost a century, and we are honored to continue to contribute to the artistic infrastructure and trajectory of San Antonio. For more information on We Flamenco Fest, please visit https://www.facebook.com/WeFlamencoFest. For more information on Arte y Pasion, please visit https://www.arte-y-pasion.com. For more information about Rhythmics School of Kathak Dance, please visit https://rhythmicskathak.com. For more information on Main Plaza Conservancy, please visit https://www.mainplaza.org.
The ceremony and performance is a We Flamenco Fest event and is made possible in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts, City of San Antonio, Main Plaza Conservancy, and Arte y Pasion. This event is free to the public.