By: Noeka Nimmervoll, Staff Writer
Oscar: Homage to the Rebel Maestro of Flamenco will hit the stage of the Cultch Historic Theatre this fall, from November 6 to 9. This flamenco performance will feature significant works from the life of Oscar Nieto, acclaimed flamenco dancer, teacher, and mentor based in Vancouver. His incredible journey has had a global impact on flamenco, extending past his life in Texas, Los Angeles, Spain, and Vancouver. Flamenco is an art form and lifestyle that combines dance, singing, and guitar. It encompasses “the range of human emotion,” and it is “an endless journey of learning,” shared Lia Grainger, dancer and co-producer of Oscar. The Peak spoke to Grainger and Michelle Harding, co-producers, to learn more. The Peak also spoke to Oscar Nieto himself, the subject, creative director, and choreographer of the production.
Grainger approached Harding with the concept of a show honouring Nieto, who was a mentor to both of them. “We thought it would be a fitting time to do something while Oscar can help us and when we can have access to his archival material — and his brain,” quipped Harding. The cast is composed of five acclaimed dancers and five musicians who will share the stage in presenting Nieto’s work — nine of whom have worked with Nieto closely in the past.
Nieto has had the journey of an outsider who later became the center of the flamenco scene in Vancouver. As a Mexican, gay, male dancer born in Texas in the ‘50s, Nieto faced prejudice and discrimination for many facets of his identity. Since he was five, Nieto was closeted. He faced racism as a Mexican in Texas, despite being born American. “Then there was a discrimination of being a dancer. What’s a guy doing dancing flamenco?” asked Nieto. Even though Nieto built a lively flamenco community and family in Vancouver, it was not easy for a Mexican person to dance in this style. Harding explained that, traditionally in flamenco, “if you don’t come from Spain, if you don’t come from a lineage of flamenco people, then you’re always going to be an outsider.” The show highlights his struggles and remarkable resilience in continuing to do what he loves despite facing significant prejudice.
In 2019, Nieto’s life changed yet again. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that greatly affects his ability to take care of himself and to dance flamenco. “Dance movements, turns, remembering choreographies, teaching choreographies, teaching new ideas that I have in my head, [my] body doesn’t respond the way it used to,” reflected Nieto. Still, he finds inspiration through his dance community and the work of the show.
The show will be a multimedia archive of Nieto’s life. Grainger shared that the show will feature “archival videos of him from the ‘60s until now, some of him dancing, but mostly of him talking and other people talking about him.” Additionally, there will be ten of Nieto’s original choreographies from his career, which are “interwoven with the stories of his life path.”
Grainger also shared how special this production is. The cast of dancers and musicians join Nieto from across the country to “honour this guy who really changed the art form in the country,” shared Grainger. She promises that you won’t be bored watching the production.
It’s more than a dance show. It’s like a theatrical story filled with all of these really incredible images and films and texts and stories. — Lia Grainger, dancer and co-producer
Watch Oscar: Homage to the Rebel Maestro of Flamenco at the Cultch from November 6 to 9.
