Flamenco Rhode Island

By supporting, you will get a lil souvenir from Spain 💃🏽

The joy of introducing fierce woman to flamenco is something indescribable ❤️ So much energy, determination and mutual support in this group. Olé to our Beginners 1 group! You are doing amazing with your first Tangos 🌹

Dear community, Venezuela needs our help! We are collecting hygiene and first aid supplies to support the Venezuela earthquake relief. If you’d like to help, there is a donation box in front of our door at 1005 Main st, suite 8101, Pawtucket. Soaps, combs, shampoos, conditioners, toothpastes, toothbrushes, period products… it will all go to Venezuela through the Alma Center RI (thanks, our dear flamenco Wiston Delgado for the call to action ❤️)

Let’s support our Venezuelan community!

to one of the most special evenings of Mariana Paes - Flamenco Rhode Island’s two years of history. We had an amazing time at the 50th Rhode Island Pride Parade. An honor to be able to be there for our community, to reinforce our commitment to being a space where LGBTQIA+ dancers will always be welcomed and celebrated! The energy of the crowd was sooooo amazing and we are ready (and preparing more light up props) for next year’s Parade ❤️

Thank you Hayley Lebert for the beautiful pics and to all of the Pride Photographers team for capturing the joy, love, kindness, and intensity of this awesome day!

Dear Flamenco RI fam, thank you for jumping in as soon as I suggested our registration for Pride. Love you all more than I can explain, and feel so proud of the community of care, support, and inclusion we are building together. It means the WORLD to me 🌹

Olé to being proud not only in June but every single day 🌈🏳️‍🌈

(And please, consider donating to Rhode Island Pride to support them in continuing and growing with their incredible work)

What a day! An evening with the community at Rhode Island Pride and an afternoon at Latino Summerfest

We are so grateful to be a part of the 50th Illuminated Pride Parade in PVD. The energy of the crowd was simply incredible!!!!! We loved clacking our fans and dancing along the streets of downtown, with the cheers of so many people from all walks of life, was one of the most amazing moments I’ve ever lived. So so so proud. So so so happy to be there with our LGBTQ+ siblings ❤️

My dear flamenco family, thank you so much for making this community so special, warm, welcoming and safe. A special thanks to my hubby Marco Martins, and amazing Brazilian fam Era Uma Vez Jemima Camila Gascon and Pauliane Amaral for always being there for me 🌹

Thank you so much, my amazing flamenco family Mary Rapien, Brian, Phoenix, Coquette Madame, Andrew, Guadalupe 🇲🇽💖💃🏻 and fiancé, Kim and fiancé Amy, Evelina, Wiston Delgado ❤️ You are amazing and I love you so much. Thank you for the opportunity to spread the love and joy of flamenco, and for showing the love to our LGBTQ+ siblings.

Happy Pride y’all. 🌈

Looking for something fun and meaningful to do this summer?
Join our Special Summer Workshops—a vibrant series exploring the many cultures that shape flamenco, through movement, rhythm, and joy ❤️

This summer, during our flamenco dance classes break, we’re thrilled to welcome three incredible flamencas whose dance roots span continents:

🔥 Lupe Chávez Guadalupe 🇲🇽💖💃🏻
Member of Flamenco Rhode Island and a skilled Folklórico Mexicano dance, Lupe will teach Mexican Polkas Norteñas, powerful, rhythmic, full of stomping and deep cultural significance.

🌍 Joanna Pomykala (Jojo) FLOW with JoJo
Longtime member of Flamenco Rhode Island, co-creator of Trishula Dance Company, and an amazing Zumba instructor, Jojo will bring a fun, upbeat Polish choreography that will get your heart pumping.

🌺 Kimberly Johnson Kimberly Johnson
With years of immersion in Indian culture and experience as co-founder of Trishula Dance Company, Kim will guide us through an engaging Indian fusion class, blending tradition and expression.

🗓 When: 2nd & 3rd weeks of July
📍 Where: Flamenco Rhode Island
1005 Main St, Suite 8101
Pawtucket, RI
✨ During our break from regular flamenco classes
💃 $25 per class
📝 Register via the link in bio
💸 Pay the instructor directly when you arrive

Come move, learn, and connect with a community that celebrates culture, diversity, and joy.

Today I cried. Happy tears. Three hours of flamenco. One beautiful Sevillanas class, a full Beginners 1 class, and a lovely rehearsal. And now with all mirrors we needed. And two gigs coming up this month.

I looked around. A group of determined, fierce women. Various ages, nationalities, ethnicities, and backgrounds. And there we were, dancing together. Learning together. Laughing, playing, connecting.

Today everything felt perfect for three hours. Like a realization of what we’ve been building collectively. A wild dream coming to life through many hands, hearts, and Olés.

For three hours the world stopped and we were there together building a strong community of love, joy, respect, inclusion, warmth, care, and support.

Two years ago, when I started offering classes in RI, I was so scared. I am still scared because artist life is like quicksand but I am also hopeful, grateful and sure that this is the right time, at the right place, and with the right people.

Today I cried and I felt relief. Like I could breath out for the first time in a long time. Flamenco is my air and my guapas breath this air into me every single week. Today I cried a lot. A happy cry.

I heard so much bs when started this. I am grateful I kept going. We have a long journey ahead and I am happy, hopeful, terrified and excited.

My heart is full ❤️

This week, my flamenco shoes were resting and my social impact hat was on, with hundreds of fellow social responsibility professionals and nonprofits talking about how to better serve our communities.

A week of learning, exchanging, laughing and crying, ranting and hoping. And I can’t stop thinking about the passion, clarity, and no bs approach of Dr. John Brothers’, focused on listening to the communities and letting them lead. Time to leave the pretentiousness of titles and company status behind. He invited us to connect to people on a human level and not simply transactional, to deepen our work with our communities and create real impact beyond photo-ops and performative charity.

The way in which he passionately shared his experience and stated uncomfortable truths of our field was refreshing and so necessary, especially as political and legal frameworks change, and so many drank the AI kool aid without talking about its profound social and environmental impact.

He dared us to be human first, social impact professionals second. And I agree with him. That’s how we actually do generous and genuine work beyond numbers and cute reports. He was not talking about feel-good stuff, but real status quo challenges and the need to disrupt the systems that have been creating and maintaining inequality and oppression for far too long.

I am inspired and with renewed hope. I got some good Scottsdale sun (100F+ every single day omg), amazing connections, reconnections with colleagues I met at last year’s conference and other events in our field, and so many ideas and inspirations so I can be a better community partner (in my corporate social responsibility job and my Flamenco Rhode Island community).

Thank you to my students for accommodating my travel schedule and supporting me with kindness, curiosity, generosity, and genuine care.

Ole to my friends for one more amazing event, for the valuable panels and huddles, for the gorgeous venue, the opportunity to complain and celebrate together, and (of course) for the parties, after parties, after after parties, and after after after parties 😅 I am exhausted but my heart is so full ❤️

Happy Pride Month 🌈

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