April 11 + 12, 2025 • 7:30 pm
Royal Theatre
Running time: 78 minutes (no intermission)
The Royal Theatre is located on the traditional lands of the Lekwungen peoples, also known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. We extend our appreciation for the opportunity to live, create, and perform on this territory.
Please, no video or audio recording of any kind. No photographs.
Choreography & direction: Rafaela Carrasco
Dramaturgy & lyrics: Álvaro Tato
Voice-over: Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
Dancers: Paula Bolaños, Nazaret Oliva, Julia Gimeno, Cristina Soler, Cristina San Gregorio, Carmen Yanes, Carmen Angulo, Magdalena Mannion, Rafaela Carrasco
Musical direction & composition: Pablo Martín Jones, Pablo Suárez, Jesús Torres
Song lyrics: Álvaro Tato, Jesús Torres
Classical pieces adaptation: Marta Estal
Piano: Marta Estal, Pablo Suárez
Guitar: Jesús Torres
Flamenco singing: Gema Caballero
Electronic music: Juanfre Pérez, Javi Rubio
Composition & sound design: Pablo Martín Jones
Lighting & scenery designer: Gloria Montesinos (A.a.i)
Live sound engineer: Ángel Olalla
Stage manager & stage carpenter: David González
Costume design: Belén de Quintana
Costume making: Pepa Carrasco, Sol Curiel, Belén de la Quintana
Executive production: Alejandro Salade
A production by: Rafaela Carrasco
A piano. A voice. Bodies in motion. A sleepless journey from dusk to dawn evokes the mysteries of feeling, consciousness, and memory.
Through dance, music, and poetry, Nocturna explores the great themes and contradictions of the night. With the lucidity and hallucinations of the insomniac, the night becomes a mystical experience, a visionary path, but also a game, a playful ritual of identity confusion.
The night has been an immense source of inspiration for artists throughout history and across disciplines. To stay awake while the world sleeps has acquired profound cultural meanings over the centuries, from the vigil of arms to the restlessness of love. To spend the night awake is to enter our dark side.
As a time for sleep, insomnia, or nightmares; as a magical or cursed space; as a time for rest or madness; as a storehouse of terrors or fantasies, the night is a dark mirror into human beings’ greatest questions, which Nocturna poses in the language of flamenco. The night transforms, confuses, and moves. The night is pure movement. Tonight, we follow its steps. Tonight, we dance until dawn.
A prominent figure in flamenco, Rafaela Carrasco established her company in 2002 after winning top honours at the XI Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography Competition. From 2013 to September 2016, she directed the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía.
Carrasco’s career has been shaped by her role as a dance researcher and her unique vision of Flamenco. She learned discipline, technique, and a passion for dance from the influential Matilde Coral. Her other mentor, Mario Maya, led to her first professional opportunities,
starting with the Mario Maya Company and, later, with the Andalusian Dance Company.
Carrasco has collaborated with esteemed companies and artists such as Belén Maya, Israel Galván, Javier Barón, and Antonio Canales, among others. She is also a respected teacher at institutions like Amor de Dios in Madrid, the Centro Flamenco de Estudios Escénicos in Granada, and the Jerez Festival, teaching international courses and flamenco methodology at the María de Ávila Conservatory of Dance in Madrid.
Above all, Rafaela Carrasco is known as a generous and adventurous artist dedicated to expanding the boundaries of flamenco through her poetic, innovative, and deeply personal choreography.
50/50 Raffle
Help sustain Dance Victoria’s investment in commissioning and presenting new works — so we may continue to champion Canadian dance talent and support the creation of the World’s Best Dance.
Buy tickets online here:
Total Number of Tickets: 200 @ $10, and 750 @ 5 for $40
Sales end: April 17, 2025, 5:00 pm
Draw: April 24, 2025, 2:00 pm
Draw Location: Dance Victoria Studios, 111-2750 Quadra Street, Victoria, BC
Chances are 1 in 950 (total tickets for sale)
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Board of Directors
President: Colette Baty
Vice President: Brendan Ralfs
Treasurer: Sarah Millard
Secretary: Marlon Murr
Directors: Kemi Craig, Linley Faulkner, Joost Pelt, Philip Pierce, Carrie Smart, Emily Zeng
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Staff
Executive Director: Gillian Jones
General Manager: Dayna Szyndrowski
Development & Operations Manager: Shireen McNeilage
Marketing Manager: Anne-Sophie Cournoyer
Production Manager: Holly Vivian
Community Engagement Manager: Larissa Sharma
Artist Programs & Studio Manager: Kiera Shaw
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Dance Victoria Studios 111 – 2750 Quadra St. Victoria, BC V8T 4E8 P: 250-595-1829 F: 250-590-7209
info@dancevictoria.com
Dance Victoria wishes to thank its many donors