Caminos Flamencos, lead by Emmy Award winning choreographer/dancer Yaelisa and master musician Jason McGuire “El Rubio,” present an evening of raw, masterful flamenco with an amazing cast of performers. Guest Dancer Marina Elana, original member of Caminos Flamencos 25-year run in the Bay Area, brings her powerhouse dancing to the Fountain Theatre, as well as Guest singer/percussionist/dancer Jose Moreno. A second-generation flamenco from a distinguished flamenco family, Jose Moreno makes his debut at the Fountain as a triple threat performer with a long career. Rounding out the cast is singer/dancer Reyes Barrios, originally from Sevilla, whose performances with Yaelisa and Jason bring the vibe and spice so necessary in our world today.
Caminando, Caminando
by Yaelisa
Featuring
Jason McGuire “El Rubio” - Guitar
Yaelisa - Dancer / Singer / Director
Jose Moreno - Singer / Percussionist / Dancer
Marina Elana - Dancer
Reyes Barrios - Singer / Dancer
About the Artists
Flamenco guitarist Jason McGuire “El Rubio” began playing at the age of nine. He received formal training in Dallas, Texas from the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While in high school he was given the prestigious "DEE-BEE" award from Down Beat magazine in the category of "Instrumental Jazz Soloist" and later was one of four finalists in the 1988 American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Classic Guitar Competition. He began performing as a flamenco guitarist in New York playing alongside the legendary Pedro Cortes Jr. In 1995, Jason recorded with famed Gypsy guitarist Carlos Heredia on his CD "Gypsy Flamenco," and released a recording of his own composition "Distancias" in 2005, which has received unanimous critical praise. He has accompanied and collaborated with many great artists, including Savion Glover, Yaelisa, Alejandro Granados, Andres Peña, Antonio El Pipa, Enrique El Extremeño, Carmela Greco, Jose Cortes, Manuel and Antonio Malena, among others. Jason has been awarded a California Arts Council Music Fellowship and has been nominated three times for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award. Jason currently serves as Music Director for both Caminos Flamencos and The New World Flamenco Festival. He is also an accomplished recording engineer and producer. He shares producer/engineer credits with David Schiffman (Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash etc.) on the latest Powerslave Records CD release "What's In Your Mind" from the band Zeromind. Jason released his second album in 2016 with the new progressive flamenco group Terceto Kali, entitled “Terceto Kali,” to rave reviews by music critics nationally and internationally. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote that “McGuire’s solo managed to be atmospheric and fiendishly complex at the same time.” In 2021 he produced and arranged a new album titled “Pathetique,” mixing genres such as flamenco, classical, rock and blues, and a second album entitled “Zardoz” which was up for a Grammy nomination. Jason is considered by many in Spain and the U.S. to be the most accomplished guitarist and musician currently in flamenco. His performances and teaching videos are very popular on YouTube, with over 3 million views.
Yaelisa (Artistic Director/ Choreographer) is one of the most gifted Flamenco artists of her generation. Raised by a Spanish flamenco artist, she was surrounded from birth by the rhythms, gestures and vocal laments of the art in its purest form, where her unique improvisational abilities began to flourish. At the age of 4 she danced on the stage of the famous Casa Madrid, and her immersion in flamenco culture became a part of her life because of her mother, the renowned singer/dancer Isa Mura. She has performed with many of Spain’s finest artists, including Alejandro Granados, Antonio “El Pipa,” Manuel and Antonio Malena, Domingo Ortega, Enrique “El Extremeno,” Yeye de Cádiz, Mateo Soleá, El Junco, Juan Ogalla, Geronimo, Felipe Maya and others. Since 1986, Yaelisa has spent extensive periods of time living and performing in Spain, presenting her choreography there and in the U.S. Her choreographies have been commissioned by several modern dance companies, including John Malashock & Company, Rose Polsky and Collage Dance Theatre, and she choreographed and performed in the San Jose Repertory Theater production of “Twelfth Night.” In 1995, she was one of eleven international choreographers in Spain invited to present her choreography at the prestigious Certámen de Coreografía in Madrid, and the only American choreographer chosen among them. In 1996, she returned to the U.S. where she continues to develop and train dancers for her company. She has choreographed and appeared in several feature films and music videos. Internationally recognized as a master teacher, Yaelisa has developed a teaching style that emphasizes cultural understanding and knowledge of the cante. Her unique improvisational knowledge and history lend an authority to her workshops and classes, and many of her students and dancers have gone on to study and perform in Spain and the U.S.
She is the recipient of an Emmy Award for Choreography in 1993 for the PBS program, "Desde Cádiz a Sevilla," and an NEA Choreography Fellowship. In 2005, Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for excellence in the category of “Best Company Performance,” and in 2006 she was chosen as one of ABC-7’s “Profiles in Excellence” Hispanic leadership awardees. In 2007, Yaelisa choreographed and consulted on a production of Garcia Lorca’s ‘Blood Wedding’ for Shotgun Players Theater group. Yaelisa has been honored with 4 Izzie Dance nominations over the two decades she has been producing new work and collaborations in the Bay Area. As a choreographer, she has worked in film, music video and television, and also choregraphed for the Pacific Symphony in Irvine and the California Symphony orchestras.
Yaelisa is the co-founder and artistic director of the New World Flamenco Festival held at the Irvine Barclay Theater in Irvine, California. Since its inception in 2001, the Festival has been recognized as a international model of success, both critically and artistically. Yaelisa’s vision and curatorial skills provide the groundwork which makes the NWFF unique from the majority of flamenco festivals as an artistic project with a point of view, one which explores concepts, themes and uncovers new talents for American audiences to discover. After a 3 year hiatus, the Festival returned in 2011 with Yaelisa at the helm, directing a 14 artist international ensemble in “Semana Flamenka”, an outstanding production which was critically acknowledged by the LA Times as “something Bach would have admired.” Following that success, she was asked byt the Irvine Barclay Theater to create a community project featuring California artists and Flamenco Abierto was presented two years in a row as a successful homage to the cultural aspects of flamenco and Spanish dance with great attendance. In 2014 she was selected as choreographer for the San Francisco Opera’s production of “La Traviata,” which was awarded her 2nd Izzie Dance Award. Since then she has produced and created her yearly season performances at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco with guests from Spain, and in 2022 relocated to Southern Calfornia where she resides and teaches currently.
Jose Moreno (Dancer/ Percussionist / Guitarrist / Singer) was born into a family of famous flamenco artists Estrella Morena (dancer) and Pepe de Málaga (singer), Jose began his flamenco career during his childhood years. His debut was at the famous Tablao flamenco “Costa Vasca”. Jose continued his studies with the Great Manolete, Farruquito, and Andres Marin and Cajon Percussion with Manuel Soler. Jose has been invited to perform in various companies around the world, and with distinguished artists such as: The Great Manolete, Joaquin Ruiz, Pastora Galvan, Jose Cortes “Pansequito”, Jose Luis Rodriquez, Roberto Castellon, Pedro Cortes, Jose Valle “Chuscales”, Juanito Pascual, Basilio Garcia, Paco Heredia, Carmen Ledesma, Jesus Montoya, Zorongo Flamenco Dance, Flamenco Vivo Dance Company, La Tania, Miguel Vargas, Nelida Tirado, Antonio Hidalgo, Curro Cueto, Gonzalo Grau, Edwin Aparicio, Amparo Heredia, Raquel Heredia, Adrian Galia, Antonio Granjero, Angel Muñoz, Charo Espino, Belen Maya, Omayra Amaya, Jorge Pardo, Chano Dominguez and many other outstanding performers…
In 2001, Jose choreographed and performed a collaborative work with his mother Estrella Morena, and with renowned flamenco singer Carmen Linares with the New World Symphony Orquestra at Lincoln Theater. In 2004 choreographed works and performed with the Boston Flamenco Ballet, In 2007, Jose performed with the internationally known Isabel Pantoja, and with David Bisbal in “Premios lo Nuestro”. In 2010 performed in the 7th annual Panama Jazz Festival, also that same year at the prestigious “Carnegie Hall” in New York City, in 2013 in “Zorro” The Musical at the Alliance Theatre. At BAM theatre in New York City with Flamenco Vivo Dance Company , in 2015 the TV series called “Los Descendientes de Andalucia” produced by Canal Sur in Seville, Spain, at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the 2015-2016 season of “Carmen” at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for the Washington National Opera, The NYC Winter Jazzfest in 2017 and at “The Jazz Standard” in NYC with Chano Dominguez, and the 2014-2019 season of “Carmen” at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. www.josemorenoflamenco.com
Marina Elana was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Marina Elana has been hailed as a “dancer of distinction” by The New York Times. She began her flamenco studies with Adela Clara and launched her career with Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco, La Mónica, and Yaelisa and Caminos Flamencos before going on to tour nationally and internationally for over a decade with Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca.
Marina has presented her choreography at Jacob’s Pillow, the New York International Fringe Festival, the Queensboro Dance Festival, and Stanford University, her alma mater. In 2019, her production Tattooed, created in collaboration with Fanny Ara, premiered at San Francisco’s historic Presidio Theatre to critical acclaim and was lauded by dance critic René Renouf as “one of the most effective flamenco performances I have ever seen.”
Her upcoming work, Songs from a Sinking Ship, recently received an early work-in-progress presentation that critics described as “a thunderous success” and “hypnotic.” The full production will world premiere at the Presidio Theatre on May 23, 2026.