Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Tickets: $30 Adult, $10 Student
Cultural Connections: At the MAC, we’re bringing the world to you! Join us for a series of events where you will experience multicultural music and dance. Build connections in your culture or immerse yourself in new experiences as we offer an expressive mosaic of passionate artists and the arts.
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CubanOlé
Flamenco show featuring dancer Griset Damas-Roche & pianist Orlay Alonso
CubanOlé is a classical flamenco show created by Cuban-born artists Griset Damas-Roche and Orlay Alonso. The one-hour program unleashes the senses and allows the audience to be fully immersed in the rich tapestry of Andalusian tradition as CubanOlé presents an unforgettable evening of authentic Flamenco dancing and classical piano repertoire.
Flamenco, an art form born out of the cultural mélange of Gypsy, Arab, Jewish, and Christian heritages in Southern Spain, is a mesmerizing spectacle that seamlessly blends music and dance, culminating in an expressive and passionate display of human emotion.
The show features Griset Damas-Roche, as a dancer and a versatile expert on castanets, mantón, zapateado, and a variety of different rhythms, and styles. In addition, pianist Orlay Alonso, brings his classical training into the duo, infusing the performance with his love for Cuban music. Cuba’s musical heritage is greatly infused with many Spanish traditions, so it is only natural that two Cuban artists would fuse their love for Spanish and Cuban traditions into one art form – CubanOlé.
Prepare to be swept away by the pulsating rhythms, the dramatic storytelling, and the raw power of Cuban Flamenco. This is more than a show: it’s an experience. It’s a journey. It’s Flamenco. It’s CubanOlé!
Tickets: $30 Adult, $10 Student
About Griset Damas-Roche
Born in Havana, Cuba, Griset Damas-Roche solidified on her prestigious ballet journey at the Superior Institute of Art before joining the world-renowned Spanish Ballet of Havana, where she performed for five years.
In 1998, Damas-Roche relocated to Bogotá, Colombia, and started shaping her unique choreographic and teaching legacy. During her time there, she introduced over 3,500 students to the art of Flamenco. For 15 years, she successfully ran her company, Caña Flamenca, alongside being a soloist and collaborator with several flamenco companies in Colombia. Griset also had the honor of performing in the country’s most prestigious theatres.
In addition to her performances, Griset directed and choreographed remarkable works such as “A ritmo de Maria”, “Salir del Paraíso”, and “Castañuelas, cuerdas y tacones”. She exhibited her talent as a soloist in “Bolero” by Maestro Antonio Canales and graced the stage with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota.
In 2014, a new chapter began for Damas-Roche when she moved to Columbus with her family. Inspired by the burgeoning arts community, Griset aimed to lend her expertise to this vibrant scene. She initially taught at the established Flamenco del Corazón school, where her passion for Flamenco seamlessly continued the school’s legacy, evolving into what is now known as the U Will Dance Studio.
Griset’s talent was quickly recognized and appreciated by the Columbus Arts Community, leading to an invitation to join the Columbus Makes Art campaign. This prestigious recognition provided her the opportunity to perform with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Griset also shares her knowledge as a guest flamenco instructor at Ballet Met’s
Currently, Damas-Roche is proud to serve as the Director of the Flamenco Company of Columbus, an institution dedicated to preserving and promoting the vibrant art of Flamenco, offering performances that represent the tradition and evolution of this captivating form of music and dance. The company comprises dedicated artists who strive to engage their audiences through the universal language of art, culture, and tradition.
About Orlay Alonso
Orlay Alonso has been lauded as “a real virtuoso, equally at home with solo, chamber, and concerto repertoire, committed to sharing every note with the audience. With his instinctive communicative gifts, Alonso takes the audience along on his imaginative and thought-provoking journey” — Anthony Aibel
Alonso has captivated audiences across the globe with his elegance and intensity since his Carnegie Hall debut in 2003, and has graced the stages at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the United States and Canada, and as far away as Punta Arenas, the southernmost region of Chile. Alonso has garnered top prizes at numerous national and international piano competitions.
He obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts from The Ohio State University in 2015. He holds degrees from Yale University, Mannes School of Music, and Manhattan School of Music. During his professional studies, he was the recipient of two Graduate Achievement Awards, the Gertrude Kuehefuhs Piano Accompanists Endowment Fund Award, and the Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum Award from Ohio State; as well as the Albéniz Institute of Music Commendation for Outstanding Achievements, the Ann-Marie McDermott Memorial Scholarship, and the Parents Association Prize at the Manhattan School of Music. His impressive array of teachers and mentors includes Lilian Kallir, Claude Frank, Horacio Gutiérrez, Juana Zayas and Steven Glaser.
Giving back and helping others was deeply ingrained in Alonso from an early age. Aside from Music in the Heights, he has organized and participated in benefit concerts in support of CityMusic Columbus, Trouville East, Columbus City Schools, The Columbus Museum of Art, the American Liszt Society Ohio Chapter, the World Trade Center Memorial, the World Schools Foundation, Voices for Hospice, the VA Medical Center (Bronx, New York), and the West 74th StreetResidence, an adult residential living space in New York City that provides affordable housing and social services for elderly citizens.
Outside of his busy solo career and numerous volunteer projects, Alonso finds time to tour and perform internationally alongside his brother, Orlando, under the moniker, The Alonso Brothers. The duo has been lauded by the New York Concert Review for their “intense feeling and contagious joy.” During the isolation brought on by COVID, the Alonso Brothers used their time to record an album of Cuban music titled Havanesque, a colorful take on the classics of the 1930s through the 1960s; featuring original arrangements in a variety of styles — from the seductive melodies of the bolero and the fiery drive of Latin jazz to the intricate Afro-Cuban rhythms of the mambo and conga. Havanesque celebrates Cuba’s diverse culture and rich history.
Alonso, who calls Columbus, Ohio home, recently assumed the role of director of music at St. Mary Catholic Church in German Village, was appointed as executive director of the Music at St. Mary Concert Series (now in its third season), frequently appears alongside Christopher Purdy as co-host of “Musica Cubana” as part of WOSU Radio’s Music in Mid-Ohio series, and received the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Emerging Arts Leader Award in 2022 for “making a significant impact on the central Ohio community through performing, teaching, managing, producing, recording, partnering and advocating for the arts.” Alonso will join The Ohio State University School of Music piano area in the spring semester of 2024 to cover the studio of Professor Steven Glaser.