FLAMENCO RESIDENCY (July 14-15)

Workshop Instructor: Melinda Hedgecorth

Zorongo is pleased to welcome Melinda Hedgecorth to Minneapolis and the Zorongo Studio. Her workshop series include:

Beginners II Alegrías & Int/Adv Tangos con Manton

Immerse yourself in a weekend of flamenco in the Twin Cities!

• • • • • $100 Friday & Saturday REGISTER NOW before June 30 and save $20

Beginners II Alegrías (90-180 minutes)

Students with some flamenco experience will learn how to do basic marking and footwork to a fun and upbeat 12-count rhythm.  All choreography will reinforce basic techniques and practices to improve how to use gravity and weight into the floor, how to fire and/or relax muscles needed to make the desired shapes/sounds with our bodies, and how to express the open happiness of the song form Alegrías.

• • • • • 6:00 p.m. Friday, July 14 (90-minutes)
        • 4:00 p.m. Saturday, July 15 (90-minutes)
        • $50 for both sessions (180-minutes); select Slot #1
          REGISTER NOW before June 30 and save $10!
        • $30 Single session (90-minutes) REGISTER NOW
          Friday (select Slot #1) or Saturday (select Slot #2)

Int/Adv Tangos con Manton (90-180 minutes)

Higher-level students will learn a Tangos choreography with a manton that works on key transitions to help move the manton successfully.  We will study arm/elbow placement as well as how to feel rooted into the floor while projecting the manton where you desire it to go. And of course, we will practice our musicality and expression with this fun flamenco prop.

• • • • • 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 14 (90-minutes)
        • 2:15 p.m. Saturday, July 15 (90-minutes)
        • $50 for both sessions (180-minutes); select Slot #2
          REGISTER NOW before June 30 and save $10!
        • $30 Single session (90-minutes) REGISTER NOW
          Friday (select Slot #1) or Saturday (select Slot #2)

Flamenco Kids 6 & Up (60-Minutes)

• • • • • 5:30 Saturday, July 15
        • $15 fee REGISTER NOW

Melinda Hedgecorth grew up on the outskirts of Kansas City, Missouri, producing performances in her living room in which her little brother and cat often held supporting roles. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UMKC, where teachers like Paula Weber (ballet), Leni Wylliams (modern), and Tamara Carson (flamenco) helped her get closer to finding her own mode of movement. Rhythm and weight became important areas to explore, as well as working with musicians in the studio and on stage.

In 1998 she journeyed to Spain for the first time, not knowing Spanish or how to find her way around a big city like Madrid. At the legendary flamenco school “Amor de Dios” she studied intensely for five hours a day, with a different teacher each hour, until her feet bled and her lungs hurt from breathing in the air from cigarettes always smoked in the dressing rooms. Flamenco is a deep and overwhelming art form, and so she went to Spain every year for as long as she could afford until it became necessary to stay long-term.

Melinda lived for 14 years in one of the capital cities of Flamenco and a sister city to Kansas City, Sevilla, Spain. She spent her time performing in order to gain experience with local guitarists and singers practicing the codes and signals which make up the language of flamenco. She developed her skills in flamenco clubs, cultural centers, museums, and theatres, learning more onstage with her able musicians than she had ever learned in a studio setting. Melinda is once again a Kansas City resident and is inspired to pass on the precious information shared with her during those years. She teaches students from all over the US in her online classes and locally at studios in Waldo, Missouri, Lawrence, and Shawnee, KS. She is currently choreographing for Manuel de Falla´s “Siete Canciones Populares Españolas” for an upcoming performance with “Ensemble Iberica.”

45° is the name of her LLC which promotes the sharing of culture between Kansas City and Sevilla, with organized events like the Feria de Kansas or the Midwest Flamenco Festival, guided tours to experience Sevilla, Spain, and performances by “FlamenKcmo” with guitarist Beau Bledsoe and singer/guitarist Antonio Rojas. A lifelong learner, she continues to study in Sevilla each year, travels to give workshops, and performs traditional and original work.