The Flame Foundation get a jump on Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) this weekend with its new exhibition. The nonprofit dedicated to preserving and promoting flamenco arts, will present its new exhibition Flamenco in the Golden Age of Hollywood, a two-day cultural exhibit celebrating the influence of flamenco on classic American cinema. The event opens Friday, Sept. 5 through Saturday, Sept. 6 at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas.
Inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood and Spain’s flamenco tradition of dance and fashion, the exhibit will showcase rare film stills, archival photography, costumes, and artifacts that highlight flamenco’s cinematic legacy.
Among the featured costumes is a historic black-and-green bata de cola contritbuted by Maestra Mina Gutierrez Hachar, the first flamenco teacher and mentor to The Flame Foundation’s founder Delilah Buitrón. This same gown was photographed on flamenco dancer Illeana Gomez, pictured, who trained under Mina in her early years before studying flamenco in Spain.
Another centerpiece of the exhibit is a dress on loan from The Dallas Opera, designed by Alan Kline, built by ABC Costumes in Miami, and hand-painted in Dallas for the 1992–93 production of La Vida Breve. This dress, worn by dancer Maria Benetiz, adds a unique link to Dallas’s own performing arts history.
The exhibition was co-curated by Fernando Hernandez who combined his expertise in both dance and costuming for this event.
Originally from Monterrey, Mexico, he studied both architecture and dance. Amid his professional dance career, he discovered his talents for costume designing. He relocated to Dallas and ultimately became part of the dance faculty at Booker T. Washington School for Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, where he designed and made costumes for many of its productions and has worked with Dallas Black Dance theatre, Orchestra of New Spain, Denton Contemporary Dance Company in Ohio and Red Clay Dance Company.
He worked alongside The Dallas Opera’s Tommy Bourgeois on the exhibition.
And in true Hollywood fashion, Flamenco opens with a party.
Guests are invited to a ticketed kickoff celebration that will include live flamenco performances, Spanish guitar music and cocktails with light bites inspired by vintage Hollywood at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The evening will also debut a fashion vignette with Dallas art students modeling pieces influenced by flamenco’s classic styles.
On Saturday, guests can take a self-guided tour of the exhibit from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tickets for the opening night event and for the exhibition can be purchased here.
–Rich Lopez