Direct from Seville, Flamenco dancer Lakshmi Basile returns to Atlanta to fire up the tablao at Red Light Café, with Cristian Puig also returning on vocals and guitar, in a show produced by Berdolé Flamenco.
$12 Adv – $15 Door
Doors @ 8 PM
All ticket sales are final. No refunds.
Lakshmi Basile began performing at age six with her parents’ band “The Electrocarpathians”. She studied dance through primary, middle, and secondary school at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts. She grew up within San Diego flamenco scene, where her passionate artistic persona began to form. After performing regularly as a flamenco dancer in California and studying classical dance at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Lakshmi moved to Spain at age 20 to further her flamenco studies. She was fortunate to quickly be embraced by artists there and has come to work aside great artists such as Manuel Molina, Remedios Amaya, Joselito Mendez, Antonio Moya, La Hermenia, Carmen Ledesma, Antonio Rey and La Tona. She was given the nickname La Chimi (which is simply her own name re-pronounced). In recent years, Lakshmi Basile “La Chimi” made history, being the first non-Spanish artist to win an award in the central Flamenco contest, Concurso de las Minas de La Unión, in 2011. She also was granted an award in another primary contest, the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco e Córdoba. There she surprised flamenco critics and received stunning reviews; “-un desgarrador homenaje a los románticos de lo jondo” (a heart-wrenching homage to the romantics of pure Flamenco) Alberto García Reyes, ABC. Within ten years, Lakshmi has solidly founded her career in Sevilla, the cradle of Flamenco. She performs daily as a soloist at El Palacio Andaluz in Sevilla and appears with major Flamenco artists at private parties and festivals throughout the year. She has also performed in Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Great Britain and Denmark, and produced her own theatrical show in Spain, entitled “Zarabanda, Lo Que Duerme en el Cuerpo de los Gitanos.” She is much sought after as a teacher by Flamenco students in Spain. Lakshmi Basile has founded a substantial artistic career as a Flamenco dancer, because that is what she is at heart. “Su baile es de una alegría conquistada (her dance is a conquered happiness)” Felix Grande, poeta and Flamencoligist. “La unica cosa Americana que tiene es su pasaporte (the only American thing about her is her passport)”- Angel Ojeda, former minister of La Junta de Andalucía.
Cristian Puig is a Flamenco guitarist, composer, and singer with Gypsy roots in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, and a string of artistic successes in film, in the recording studio, and live on stage. He played the role of guitarist and singer “Joaquin” in the Alliance Theatre’s 2013 production of “Zorro”, and he has worked in films, such as “A Late Quartet”, for which he composed Flamenco music for the soundtrack. He performs as a Flamenco singer and guitarist across the United States of America and with his Flamenco trio Puig-Sanchez-Moreno in his hometown of New York. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cristian Puig is the son of flamenco singer Gloria Monreal and Flamenco guitarist Pablo Puig. As a teenager, Cristian began his studies in classical guitar at the conservatory of Manuel de Falla as well as Flamenco guitar with his father. Soon he took classes in Flamenco guitar with Quique de Cordoba and furthered his studies in jazz, bossa nova and contemporary music. In 1990 he formed and toured South America with his group Rabat, fusing jazz, bossa nova and Flamenco. Cristian released the CD “Entre Cuerdas” featuring Flamenco-jazz fusion and has just released a new CD entitled “Inflam Project”, which crosses Indian and Flamenco styles.