Artistic Director - Rebeca Tomás

Rebeca has been described as “awesomely fiery” (New York Times), “masterful” (Eva YaaAsentawaa), and “a postcard image of the feminine Flamenco dancer” (Kansas City Metropolis).  After years of performing and touring with such companies as Noche Flamenca and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, she founded A Palo Seco Flamenco Company (2010), for which she directs and choreographs her own original productions. An up and coming voice in the U.S. Flamenco community with an artistic vision deeply rooted in Flamenco tradition, yet relevant in a modern urban context, her productions have been proclaimed “a feast for the eyes and the ears” (Theatre Online).

For her choreographic work, Tomas has received support from Arts Westchester, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Jerome Foundation, Connecticut Office of the Arts, and was awarded a 2013 fellowship in choreography by the New York Foundation for the Arts.  Tomas and company have performed throughout the U.S. at venues such as Central Park Summer Stage, (le) Poisson Rouge, Jacob’s Pillow, the Chicago Flamenco Festival, Eastman School of Music’s World Music Series, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund at the Pocantico Center, and they will appear in the New Victory Theater’s “Victory Dance Festival” in July 2018.  

In addition to her work with A Palo Seco, Tomas works as a dancer, instructor, and choreographer throughout the country. Past projects include Lincoln Center's production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, R.evolución Latina's Choreographer's Festival, and Yaron Zilberman’s A Late Quartet. She has served as faculty at the University of Rochester and presented programs at Wesleyan, Vassar, and NYU. In 2012, her piece "El Lenguaje del Abanico" was featured by La Caixa Foundation/Vitra Design Museu in Barcelona, and was featured in the NYC Library of Performing Arts' exhibition 100 years of Flamenco.  She particularly delights in bringing Flamenco to young audiences throughout the northeast with interactive performances in which students of all ages learn about the Spanish art.  Rebeca began her formal dance training in Granada, Spain and later moved to Madrid, where she studied at the internationally renowned Flamenco Academy Amor de Dios.