Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater | Casting for Nov 15, 2025

Ecos de España

The inexhaustible vitality and distinctly individual qualities of Spanish folk music, its rhythms and colors have fascinated composers in Europe and worldwide throughout the twentieth century. Dame Libby was inspired by paintings from Francisco de Goya’s “Black Period” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical creations. The celebrated Russian composer and music teacher Rimsky-Korsakov is famous for his popular symphonic suites and imaginative blend of orchestral sounds. Ecos de España has also been a company favorite performed with symphony orchestras, including the Evanston Symphony, the Skokie Valley Symphony, the Northwest Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Center.

Choreography & Lighting Design (1983): Dame Libby Komaiko
Choreographic Collaboration: Edo (Fandango Asturiano)
Music: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 (1887)
Scene y Cante Gitano (4th Mvt.) and Fandango Asturiano (Jota) (5th Mvt.)
Costume Design: Dame Libby Komaiko (Scene y Cante Gitano)
Christine Fransen (original Fandango Asturiano costumes)
Note: For this anniversary costume designs and construction by Paco Alonso
Dancers: Company

Duende Gitano (Solea por Bulerias)

Choreographer & Dancer (2006): Jose Torres after Paco Romero
Music: Jose Moreno, Flamenco Singer & Guitarist; Patricia Ortega, Flamenco Singer; David Chiriboga, Flamenco Guitarist; Javier Saume Mazzei, Percussionist
Lighting Design: Margaret Nelson

Danza del Fuego (Dance of Fire) 

This romantic twentieth-century neoclassical dance portrays the mysterious moods and great eastern influence of the Moors in Spain during their 900-year rule. 

Choreographer & Lighting Design (1977): Dame Libby Komaiko 
Music: Pablo Luna (1879-1942) from the zarzuela “Ben Amor” (1923) 
Costume design: Ann Rossi 
Dancers: Company

Asturias (Classical)

Castanets: Irma Suarez Ruiz
Guitarist: David Chiriboga
Costume Design: Irma Suarez Ruiz  
Costume Production: Luz Creations
Lighting: Dustin Derry

El Baile de Luis Alonso (Classical)

El Baile de Luis Alonso was based on a one act lyrical play written by Javier de Burgos. The play premiered in 1889 at the Teatro Español. Spanish composer Geronimo Gimenez saw the production and fell in love with it. On February 27, 1896 the play became a zarzuela (Spain’s light opera) opening to great reviews in the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

Choreographer & Costume Designer (2010): Irma Suarez Ruiz
Music: Geronimo Gimenez     
Costume production: Luz Creations
Backdrop painting: Mayra Werner
Lighting Design: Margaret Nelson       
Dancers: Company

Entre Dos Almas / Between Two Souls (Flamenco Alegrias)

This work, set 27 years ago, has been performed locally, nationally including Hawaii and Puerto Rico and internationally in Poland and Costa Rica. Inspired by the songs of the seaport in Cadiz, the southern part of Spain in Andalucía, Irma and Jorge dedicate tonight’s performance to our beloved mentor, Dame Libby Komaiko, for her loving support, artistry and creativity since we both walked into her world of Spanish dance and music over four decades. This encounter would set our path of what would become our life’s work, passion, and our second home and family.

Choreographers & Dancers (1998): Irma Suarez Ruiz & Jorge Perez
Musicians: Patricia Ortega, Flamenco Singer; Jose Moreno, Flamenco Singer & Guitarist; David Chiriboga, Flamenco Guitarist; Javier Saume Mazzei, Percussionist
Costume Design: Irma Suarez Ruiz 
Costume Production: Paco Alonso
Lighting Design: Dustin Derry

Pasion Oculta (Hidden Passion)

Choreographer and Costume Designer (2019): Irma Suarez Ruiz
Music: Escala    
Costume Production: Luz Creations
Lighting Design: Dustin Derry      
Dancers: Company

Zapateado

A portrayal of the herders, herding the bulls to the fields on horseback - Dance of the Shoes. Dame Libby Komaiko, inspired by her teacher and mentor, Mr. Jose Greco, set this dance originally on her first company of five dancers: Karen Stelling, Vida Bitinas, Myrna Salazar, Sergio Bahamondes, Rafael Figueroa performed on Northeastern Illinois University Auditorium in 1976 as the newly formed Ensemble Español.

Choreography & Lighting Design (1976):  Dame Libby Komaiko
Music: David Chiriboga, Flamenco Guitarist
Costume Design & Construction: Paco Alonso & Dolores Decano
Dancers:  Company 

Danza del Molinero (The Millers Dance)  

Choreographer: Antonio  
Staged by: Jose Torres 
Music: Manuel de Falla from one of the most famous dances (a flamenco-style Farruca) from de Falla’s ballet, The Three Cornered Hat.  
Lighting Design: Sarah Lackner   
Costume Design:  Jonathan Pacheco
Costume Production: Tomar Artesania & Tanya Tailor 
Dancer: Jonathan Pacheco

Antecesores (To those who came before us) Flamenco 

Sevillanas is one of Spain’s “national dances” in the Cante por Baile (song for dance) style, in the compás (rhythm) of six, from the province of Seville.

Choreography and Staging (2025) Premiere: Jose Torres 
Music: Jose Moreno, Flamenco Singer & Guitarist; Patricia Ortega, Flamenco Singer; David Chiriboga, Flamenco Guitarist; Javier Saume Mazzei, Percussionist
Costume Design: Irma Suarez Ruiz & Dancers
Costume Production: Luz Creations
Lighting Design: Dustin Derry
Dancers: Company

Seguiriya (Flamenco)

Rooted in one of flamenco’s oldest and most profound forms, Seguiriya is where grief and power coexist in every note, revealing the depths of sorrow and strength where pain becomes art. It's cante jondo (deep song), speaks of human struggle and endurance, a cry that comes from the soul. In this piece, I let the raw beauty of the form guide me, honoring its tradition while allowing space for my own story, a dance between pain and power, silence and rhythm.

Choreographer, Dancer, & Lighting Design (2025): Claudia Pizarro Lara
Music: José Moreno, Flamenco Singer; David Chiriboga, Flamenco Guitarist; Javier Saume Mazzei, Percussionist
Costume Design: Claudia Pizarro Lara

Boléro

Since its creation, Ensemble Español’s Boléro has graced some of the greatest landmark theaters in the world to well over one million audience members. Boléro has been featured in two documentaries; Dance for Life: 20th Anniversary Documentary in 2010 (winner of two Emmy awards for best documentary and best director — Scott Silberstein of HMS Media) and Sobre Las Olas del Mar: A Story of Flamenco in the U.S. 2013 directed by Carolina Loyola Garcia.

Dame Libby’s Boléro has been featured on BBC, on public television, on WGN Radio & TV with Dean Richards, and television and international media in China, Puerto Rico, Poland and Spain. Theatre performances include Chicago’s Northeastern Illinois University Auditorium in 1993–95 and 1997–98 and 2019; Skyline Stage at Navy Pier in 1996; North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie in 1999, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018; the Auditorium Theatre in 2002–2005, 2013 and 2017; the Harris Theater for Ensemble’s 30th anniversary in 2006; Dance for Life in 2010; and Global Rhythms in 2011.

Internationally Dame Libby’s Boléro has been performed in Puerto Rico, Poland, China and in the U.S. for the St. Louis Dance Festival in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2025 to a roaring record breaking 12 standing ovation curtain calls. The Ensemble also presented Boléro on August 22 and 24, 2013 in a Chicago historic double header at the Auditorium Theatre and on the Pritzker Pavillion stage in Millennium Park as part of the Chicago Dancing Festival.

Boléro made its Spain debut on August 20, 2016 at the Teatro Tomas y Valiente in the city of Fuenlabrada and on August 24 at the Teatro Marquina in Madrid in honor of the company’s 40th anniversary.

The New York Times called Dame Libby’s Boléro “amazing” and said the Flamenco ballet “wowed the audience” in 2018 at the sold-out Joyce Theater in Manhattan, NY, with audience members standing and shouting, “Encore, Encore.”

Choreographer (1993): Dame Libby Komaiko
Music: Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) Boléro (1928)
Inspirational Back Story: Drawings & Paintings of Pablo Picasso (Barcelona, 1881–1973)
Costume Designers: Dame Libby Komaiko, Paco Alonso
Original costume production: Paco Alonso
Costume re-design addition for the special 20th Anniversary in 2013: Freddie Rocha
Lighting Design: Original concept by Michael Mix
Re-imagined lighting design in 2025 for this performance by Dustin L. Derry
Dancers: Company

This work when created was dedicated to the memory of Irving B. Dobkin, long-time officer of the Board of Directors and friend of the Ensemble Español. The creation of Boléro was made possible in part by the Cherry Family Foundation.

The revival of Boléro for this special golden 50^th anniversary presentation is made possible thanks to the generous support of Ms. Sonia Florian.

Irma Suárez Ruiz, Jorge Pérez, remaining original dancers from the setting of Bolero in 1993, and the Ensemble Español dedicate this evening’s presentation of Boléro to the loving memory of long time donor, fan, friend, Chicago dance lover and arts ambassador, Ms. Sonia Florian (1935-2025)

Boléro is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. It is one of Ravel's most famous compositions. It was also one of his last completed works before illness diminished his ability to write music.

The work's creation was set in motion by a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel for an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz's set of piano pieces, Iberia. While working on the transcription, Ravel was informed that Spanish conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós had already orchestrated the movements, and that copyright law prevented any other arrangement from being made. When Arbós heard of this, he said he would happily waive his rights and allow Ravel to orchestrate the pieces. However, Ravel decided to orchestrate one of his own works instead, then changed his mind and decided to compose a completely new piece based on the bolero, a Spanish dance musical form.

The composition was a sensational success when it premiered at the Paris Opéra on November 22, 1928, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs and scenario by Alexandre Benois. The orchestra of the Opéra was conducted by Walther Straram. Originally, Ernest Ansermet had been engaged to conduct the entire ballet season, but the musicians refused to play under him. A scenario by Rubinstein and Nijinska was printed in the program for the premiere.

Boléro became Ravel's most famous composition, much to the surprise of the composer, who had predicted that most orchestras would refuse to play it. It is usually played as a purely orchestral work, only rarely staged as a ballet. According to a possibly apocryphal story from the premiere performance, a woman was heard shouting that Ravel was mad. When told about this, Ravel is said to have remarked that she had understood the piece.