“Always remembering the masters of flamenco, Adira keeps a keen eye to the future. Bridging both the traditional and the new school, Adira proves to be one of the most creative visions in the South Texas flamenco scene.” – The Rivard Report

There is the flamenco in a tablao and then there is flamenco that is used as an artistic medium as paint to a canvas. Tamara Adira is a dancer, choreographer, and founder/ Artistic Director of Arte y Pasión, a company whose mission is to share, promote and develop the authentic art of flamenco as a vehicle of healing and restoration, and the promotion of human rights and equality.
For her work for social justice, Tamara was recently featured in “Valiant Women Then and Now,” a photo exhibit and biography celebrating women, inspired by the book “Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico: Portraits of Soldaderas, Saints, and Subversives.” She was recognized in December 2020 by SA Monthly Magazine, September 2018 by Eleanora Magazine in Top 50 Women to Watch in Texas, and in the July 2018 Issue of San Antonio Woman. She is 2015 winner of the Artist Foundation of San Antonio Department for Culture & Creative Development award for “Original Choreography” and 2010 winner of the Artist Foundation of San Antonio Bernard Lifshutz Award for “Original Theatrical Production.”
This last January, Tamara debuted her project Grito de los Árboles, “Scream of the Trees,” her first full-length flamenco film, in response to the pandemic. This project would mark a pivotal change in Tamara’s work, now with distanced performances presenting the opportunity to create film, and bring together artists from San Antonio, Spain, France, Los Angeles, and New York. The film was selected by the Montreal Independent Film Festival.
Tamara Adira collaborated with San Antonio’s Poet Laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson to conceive and direct Mantas de Luz “Blankets of Light,”and “El Diario de Ana Franco,” both San Antonio DreamWeek projects of 2020 and 2021. In 2018, Adira’s company Arte y Pasión was picked up by the San Antonio Tricentennial Commission as an official Event Partner for her yearlong project Siete Aguas, and the company was selected to perform in front of the King of Spain’s collection at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Tamara conceived and directed Sanctorum, a ceremony for the internment of a musical time capsule in honor of the San Antonio College Multicultural Conference honoring the San Antonio Tricentennial SA300. She has performed for such dignitaries as Ron Nirenberg and First Lady Erika Prosper, Wendy Davis, Joaquin Castro, Julian Castro, and a Presidential Rally for John Kerry. She has appeared in such programs as America’s Next Top Model.
Tamara is known for her work across mediums bridging gaps between music, cultures and media. She had a solo role designed only for her in Darian Thomas’ world Premiere of ((HERE)), performed with SOLI Chamber Ensemble and Poet Laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson, a piece that tells the story of descendents of slaves in the United States. She has also performed with Wayne Holtz opening for Big Freedia, in Oliver Rajamani’s Flamenco India, and Andrea Vocab Sanderson’s Bad Mama Jama Mixtape. She has also performed with such bands as Femina-X, Deer Vibes, and at the San Antonio Youth Orchestra’s Thriller, a tribute to Michael Jackson.
She studied and shared the stage for ten years with her mentor the great master Teo Morca before he passed. The pandemic has given her the opportunity to study regularly with masters from Spain. She currently studies with Daniel Caballero, Belen Maya, and Jose Cortes. Over the pandemic she also studied with Nino de los Reyes, Triana Maciel, and La Farruca. She gives back to her community, having choreographed for City Parks and Recreation’s youth groups Fandango and Alamotion, the Say Si Allas Theater, and the North Independent School District.
A graduate of MIT, her early performances and projects have been featured in Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program through the MIT Media Lab and Center for Advanced Visual Studies. During this time, she was handpicked to participate in a Harvard University residency under John Cage. Counterbalancing her studies in traditional flamenco, Adira leverages her experience in experimental and contemporary performance. Tamara has recently completed a residency in Sevilla with Belen Maya and is 80% though her Executive MBA.

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