School children, service club members, and other local residents are learning this week about the dance and music of Spain. The Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater has come to the Quad Cities as part of this year's Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Program.
Principal dancer, Jose Torres, says the ensemble was founded 39 years ago, and is based at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. It features the three main types of dance from Spain - classical or ballet, folkloric, and flamenco.
He says flamenco is probably the best-known of the three, and tells the story of the gypsy people and their culture.
Torres joined the training company of the ensemble 20 years ago, as a teenager, and is now the principal dancer in the professional company.
This week, he and five others are presenting three educational programs each day. Then for their public performance Saturday night, they'll be joined by four musicians and 9 more dancers. It'll be held at Saint Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center, beginning at 7:30.
