Tamara Adira De Saa

“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

Tamara Adira is a dancer, choreographer, and founder/ Artistic Director of Arte y Pasión, a Texas based nonprofit 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.

Tamara has conceived, produced and performed artistic direction for over 30 theatrical flamenco productions between 2010 and the present. In 2010 Tamara founded Arte y Pasión, and in 2021 Tamara made Arte y Pasión a Texas Non-Profit.

Through Arte y Pasión, Tamara Adira has nurtured the connection between San Antonio and Spain for over a decade. Through Tamara’s efforts and dedication, Arte y Pasión has brought flamenco artists from Spain to work with American artists since before 2010, fostering the continued growth and evolution of the art of flamenco in San Antonio and greater Texas.

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 has been featured in SA Monthly Magazine and San Antonio Woman and was recognized by Eleanora Magazine as “Top 50 Women to Watch in Texas.” 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.”

Tamara is known for her work shining light on human rights issues. In Nov 2022, she premiered her original production MERCURIA on the impossible choices women must make, under the mentorship of the great Belen Maya. In Mar 2022, she directed the production “Confluencias” which bridged the gaps between flamenco, Spanish classical, and American soul in a collaboration with artists from Madrid, Portland, and San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson in a dedication to the people in Ukraine. In 2021 she made Grito de los Árboles, 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.

She was handpicked by Ballet San Antonio to solo in Don Quixote in March 2022, as well as provide instruction in Spanish movement and anatomy for the corps de ballet. Her film Grito de los Árboles was selected by the Montreal Independent Film Festival. She has collaborated with such organizations as Luminaria, DreamWeek, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Oliver Rajamani’s Flamenco India, Wayne Holtz’s opening for Big Freedia, and Poet Laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson’s Bad Mama Jama Mixtape, and 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. 

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 invited 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, with seeds based in her John Cage residency.  Tamara has recently completed a residency in Sevilla with Belen Maya, in Madrid with Daniel Caballero, and has recently completed her Executive MBA.