Paco & Celia Fonta
2016 Florida Folk Heritage Awards
Paco and Celia Fonta are nationally recognized performers of Spanish flamenco song and dance. Paco Fonta was born in the small town of Jaen, Spain, where he learned flamenco singing and guitar from the town’s traditional musicians. He performed professionally in Madrid before touring Europe with the Kurt Savoy Trio.
A native of Chicago, Celia studied flamenco guitar before discovering dance. She went on to pursue Flamenco, Spanish Classical and Folkloric dance at Madrid's world famous Amor de Dios dance studio. While in Spain, she met Paco and they began their professional career together touring the United States with the Boston Flamenco Ballet. In 1986, they settled in Miami where they continued to work for many well-known dance companies, most notably, Ballet Flamenco La Rosa. Mrs. Fonta participated as a master artist in the Florida Folklife Apprenticeship Program in 2000, and later received the Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Award.
In 2002, the Fontas formed Siempre Flamenco, a not-for-profit company dedicated to promoting and preserving flamenco music and dance. As Artistic Directors of Siempre Flamenco, they have produced the Festival of Flamenco Song annually since 2006, as well as numerous collaborative shows that explore flamenco’s traditional roots and promote cross cultural understanding.
(Photo by Zizi Zabaneh)
