Pasion y Arte Conservatory Summer Schedule

About Elba Hevia y Vaca/Pasion y Arte

Elba Hevia y Vaca, Artistic/Executive Director and Founder of Pasion y Arte became enthralled with the power of Flamenco from her first studies of classical Spanish dance as a child in La Paz, Bolivia, where she was born. These studies brought her to Spain at the age of fifteen to train with renowned Flamenco masters Isabel Bayon, Rafaela Carrasco, Alejandro Granados and Rosario Toledo, to name a few. She continues her yearly pilgrimage to Sevilla to immerse herself deeply in the study of tradition of classical Flamenco dance. While attending college at Georgetown in Washington, D.C., Hevia y Vaca studied and danced with master dancer Ana Martinez of the Ana Martinez Flamenco Dance Company, including touring nationally. Later, Hevia y Vaca danced with Washington’s Raquel Peña Spanish Dance Company, appearing as a soloist at venues throughout the U.S., most notably the Kennedy Center. Hevia y Vaca moved to Philadelphia where she has studied modern dance, choreography, jazz and other dance forms throughout the years with various artists in the Philadelphia area.

In 2000, Hevia y Vaca founded Pasión y Arte out of a strong and intensely personal conviction that highly-stylized traditional Spanish flamenco dance is a perfect vessel to empower women. Through the art of flamenco – music, dance, song, as well as the visual arts and other related art forms – Pasión y Arte’s programs reflect the rich artistic heritage of the South of Spain and explore themes that extend beyond flamenco’s traditional repertoire. Her works explore specific themes relating to her own exploration as a Latina woman and her passion for the Flamenco language. These values have been reflected in the five original, critically acclaimed works she has created for PyA.