(gentle guitar music) - I've met many, many, many people from many different backgrounds and cultures, and we all meet in the same place, which is flamenco in the dance studio.

The good thing about Jose Greco's company was that he brought the entire culture of the Spanish dance from classical, regional, and pure flamenco.

He helped build what is flamenco now, I think in the U.S.

- There's no question that his influence changed the world of flamenco, but definitely changed the world of flamenco in the United States.

He brought great artists with him.

- I had seen Jose's company for the first time when I was 12.

It was a time when Jose was very famous.

It was almost as if he were a rockstar, more or less.

- He was going to an art school in New York, and his sister Norina was three years older than he.

She really wanted to be on stage, and she was taking singing lessons.

She eventually did become a Diva at the Met.

But his mother decided that he should go along to her singing and dance lessons, sort of, I guess, to be the chaperone, but I think also probably to keep him off the streets.

And she was taking classes with someone named Madam Veola in New York.

He, I guess being the creepy younger brother that younger brothers are at one point, claimed that he could do everything better than she could.

She told the teacher, and the teacher was anxious to get boys in the class, said, "Well, you say you can do everything better, show me."

And he did.

(laughs) And then he got his first paying job when he was a young man at the Hippodrome dancing in Traviata, and got an envelope with money, which was more money than he had ever seen, and he said well, he realized that he probably was a better dancer than a painter.

So he decided to go ahead and continue and he began working with different dancers in New York, until eventually, of course, he worked with Argentinita, but he had never gone to Spain until after he became Argentinitas partner, so.

At one point when he became very famous, particularly people in Spain didn't want it to be true that he was not a Spaniard, and they said that his being Italian was just sort of a publicity stunt, and I think there's still many places where you can look where people will admit he's Italian but supposedly his parents were of Spanish heritage, which they were not in any way, shape, or form.

Or that he went to Seville when he was 10.

He was never in Seville when he was 10, he was in Brooklyn.

(laughs) So really, he began in New York in that way.

- I came here when I was 11 from El Salvador.

I guess, because of the war, the civil war that was happening there, we had to leave El Salvador a bit in a rush.

My family came first, in '82, and then I came in '86.

- I'm born to a Yugoslav and a Greek family, with not an ounce of Spanish blood, and somehow was gravitated to this arm form right from the beginning.

- I'm from Taos, New Mexico, and my mother is American Indian, Native American, Chippawa and Oneida from Wisconsin.

And my father is Puerto Rican.

- Coming here to America, my parents tried to make a better life, as Puerto Ricans to live the American dream.

Yes, the culture at home stays there, the language, the food, the music, but then you're out in society trying to fit in to the American dream, the language, and even that culture.

And I remember, my name is Jorge, and I remember teachers always calling me George.

George, George.

And it wasn't until I really became attached to the Spanish culture here with the Ensemble Espanol that I really found pride in my heritage.

- My father showed me the record of Sabicas and I heard the whole, just the pure flamenco without the jazz fusion, and I hear what the guy's playing and I'm like, oh my god.

It was a whole nother world of guitar that I didn't even know existed, you know, before that.

(upbeat guitar music) (rustling) (gentle music) - One of the most famous ones, most well-known, is this one from the Castellana and you see all of the leather work.

Originally, the buttons were all Boton Charro from Salamanca, all silver.

But they were stolen one time in one of the theaters.

But the costume is still made, it is the way they were actually made in that area.

I think probably the most well-known of Jose's is this jacket, the drag corto, which you hardly see anymore, but notice also the inside, how well-made it is.

You can see the workmanship that went into these things, and I know that for the Oya production, which was done in the 1950's, Jose spent over $50,000 for the costumes.

So I think that's probably why they're still around.

And here are some of the musical scores that were used.

Danze Espanlo, Vito, and this is my este mochilero's arrangement, and you'll see all of the wonderful handwritten scores, Premiere Olene, another one, Premiere Olene, The Piccollo.

A lot of the music is actually based on traditional music, and then is adapted and scored.

And we have most of the things for piano, for when maestro Michello was the only accompanist, and then we also have for when the company performed with orchestras.

(calm guitar music) - No two people agree as to where flamenco came from.

Yes, Manuel de Falla has other writers, Lorca, Garcia Lorca, that was from the Indian tribes that infiltrated Europe, and they picked up over centuries, and they picked up cultures in their travels and some of them ended up, certainly in France and Hungary, and Spain and they are the gypsies as we know today.

Yeah, I sort of go with that, there are a lot of things of Indian dance that have many similarities to flamenco.

But flamenco is not only gypsy oriented, not created only by gypsies, I think its this whole blend of centuries of digesting cultures and also I imagine the Inquisition and the political situation drove people underground so they could do their songs of grief, their lamentations, and they pretty much probably had to do them privately or risk their lives.

And I think flamenco was born out of that too, as we know it today.

I compare flamenco with the blues.

It was a lament, it was an expression and of a down trodden people and that expression allowed them to open their emotional senses to many of their terrific woes and pain.

- What drew me to flamenco, and what continues to draw me to flamenco, first and foremost, is the gente, without gente, there's no dance and as soon as I heard the singing and the gente, and the letras, there's something here that just, it's like a punch in the gut as soon as you hear it.

And it just forces you to move, forces you to stand differently, and it forces you to move your arms differently, and that's what first drew me and continues to draw me to it.

(upbeat guitar music) - That sound, it's very raw, very deep, and very, I can't think of a good word.

But primal, and you have to find that in yourself to bring that forward.

(soulful guitar music) - What changed his life as a dancer, of course, was working with Argentinita, you know, that was the first time that he really realized what dance was, what Spain was.

And when he told me when he went to Spain the first time, it was a time when the farmers came in to market in Madrid, they were still wearing the costumes from Castella, you could still see those things on the streets in the 40's and it was something that he never, never forgot.

After Argentinita died, he went back to Spain to accompany her body and worked with, collaborated with Pilar, but then he began his own company and first worked in Spain, and then I think his first really big success was when he went to Denmark.

People apparently just fell in love with Spanish dance.

They even named a danish after him, I think, I don't know whether that would be a Greco danish or, it was a huge, huge, huge success.

Then he was asked to be in the film Brindis a Manolete, and when that was shown in Paris, the audience actually clapped during the dance sequences so much and it made the person rewind and show the dance sequence again, And Lee Shubert happened to be in Paris at that time, and then decided to bring him to Broadway, I think that was 1952.

I think really until the point when Jose goes to New York on Broadway, it was a very difficult time.

I think even the success in Denmark, for example, it maybe covered a lot of things that needed covering and hadn't been paid before, but when he then performed on Broadway, it was the first time I think, that a dance company really made such a huge hit.

He was named the best new Broadway personality along with Carol Channing for the year that he was there and his run was extended and after that.

The company started touring really worldwide, the company did seven worldwide tours.

I think United States tours, 40 at least, I mean, Jose knew single little town in the United States and every big city also.

And it was also very lucky that it was a time when sort of the bus and truck tour took over.

They didn't have to take trains anymore as they did at the beginning.

But it was the time when people like me in Milwaukee would walk to the theater and fall in love forever.

(clapping) (dramatic music) - Jose Greco was too much.

He was, what a personality, I mean when this guy walked in the room, you knew it.

I greatly appreciated him.

- For production, he had a knack.

He knew what to call things, what names to give them, he knew what order to put them in.

He knew when the singer should come in and bam, bam.

And so he knew how to move shows along.

I hope I learned a whole lot from him.

That's one of the most important things when you're doing a show, is how do you move the production along?

How do you make it move?

How does it keep talking?

How does it stay relevant?

And he was very, very good at that.

- I remember meeting him first and he was just such a gentleman and his wife.

She was the mediator between the artist and him because he was very rough, very you know.

He says, "Bring your costumes next time I come in," and I go, okay, and I brought.

I used to dance with a jacket and stuff.

He goes, "No dancer of mine is going to dance "with that kind of stuff."

I was like hmm, okay.

So he opened up his closet and just dressed me up with high rise and the jackets from back in the 60's and I just felt weird, but I was in his company.

I had to do it.

(dramatic guitar music) - It was March in 1967, the Jose Greco came with Nana Lorca and they came a little early, the company was already preparing.

They were at the Palmer House in Chicago auditioning.

Every weekend there were concerts in the opera house in Chicago.

Companies came from all over the world.

They were looking for six young women that could tour around the United States and go to South America, or go where they needed as help, and to expand the mission of the Jose Greco company.

So I went to watch a girlfriend who had studied more Spanish dance than I. I went in the afternoon to the audition.

I was feeling wonderful.

I had my tickets for Sunday.

I was on the final call back list for the first road company for Man of Lamancha tour, and from the Shubert theater, I was on cloud nine.

I went to the audition and sat there to watch her.

Jose Greco, who knew my teacher, came up to her and said, "Who is this?"

"This is Libby Komaiko, how do you do?

"I'm pleased to meet you."

"Does she dance?"

"Oh, yes she dances and she choreographs "at theater plays and everything."

"Well are you Spanish or Italian?"

He asks me.

I said, well actually I'm Jewish with Eastern, Western, European heritage, Russian, Lithuanian.

He said, "Well, you look very Spanish."

"Why don't you audition?"

All right, okay.

And went there on the platform and there was Nana Lorca, the quintessence of Spain and Jose looking at everyone.

And she was teaching just a little Sevillanas, just a little moving, a basic one.

One of the national dancers of Spain, and the hands, and the face, and the profile.

And you looked, and I followed.

I followed.

I followed.

Did the audition.

Thank you very much.

When I came home that evening, my parents were waiting up for me, which was unusual, because I came home on time.

And my mother said, "You know, Lisa called, "and she had dinner with Jose Greco "and you are going to receive a scholarship.

"He wants you for the company."

Of course I couldn't sleep.

(dramatic guitar music) When I heard the singers begin to sing, I wanted to cry, from my heart opening up.

(dramatic guitar music) I believe that what was most exciting about everything was the fact that I had new mentors.

I knew people who I really loved.

Everything was new.

I had made a choice of which path to take and both paths had presented themself to me.

And I had just turned, what 1968, '69, I was 18, 19 years old.

Should I play?

Should I try to be in the Man of la Mancha or should I actually go live Man of la Mancha?

He really gave me the encouragement.

That he saw whatever was my shyness, or uncertainty, or new culture, new land, new language, new everything.

It was the stage that really stayed with me all my life.

From every teacher that I've had, but this time in my life, the impression was so great.

And I was so enamored with his ability, his theatrical understanding, the insight, to theatrically produce.

Concerts that appealed to the American, quickly rising Hispanic and multi-cultured society.

The sensibilities, the love of theater, his artistic instinct and working with maestro Machado of the music, and compose the music and the precision, the absolute precision of the heartbeat.

Heard in the cante, that was the classical cante, it was the folklore cante, it was the flamenco, it was the cry for, (heavy sigh) it was being like every time, born again.

How could I not, once it was finished, come home and immerse myself more?

I couldn't get enough of it.

It just became me.

(soulful guitar music) - We are not in Spain, so I think we have a certain license to do different things with the flamenco that we, you know, integrate.

And so, there's needless to say, we have many different influences.

I, for one, can't erase from my brain, having heard lots of different kinds of music, Brazilian, Jazz, Latin, and I know that it colors how I interpret flamenco.

- It doesn't matter where you're from.

I've seen Japanese girls that are dancing.

And this is their major pet peeve, you know, if you're Japanese, you're not a good dancer, because you cannot emote, and I've heard that so many times.

And I've seen beautiful Japanese dancers that dance with more soul than any other Spaniard that I've met.

- The Ensemble Espanol presents the three styles of Spanish dance because of the legendary Jose Greco who gave Dame Libby a scholarship when she was young and gave her the opportunity to perform in his company, which changed her life entirely, and of course, had her create the Ensemble Espanol.

I think his work definitely continues with us.

We have dancers that did Libby's set early on that were influenced by his work on her.

We continue the legacy of the Greco's with Carmela Greco, who has already choreographed several works for the company.

She's been a guest artist since the year 2000, coming every season to work with us.

And she herself has stated how she definitely wants to leave part of her legacy here with the Ensemble Espanol, since its just a tie in to what her father did.

Scholarships are dear to our heart because it was Jose Greco who gave Dame Libby a scholarship opportunity.

So it's, you know what, that's something that we will always carry on and in our case, the showcase experience of the Spanish culture, what better way to take people to Spain than to present the classical folkloric and of course the flamenco dances in our work.

- My mother, myself, ol mamada, and my sister, Marisol Encinias formed the conservatory approximately 12 years ago, maybe even a little bit before that, in hopes of beginning a conservatory in the United States.

In the truest since, that we're trying to teach an art form, but also conserve a tradition as much as we can.

(dramatic guitar music) So a lot of us determined that this charter school movement is happening now.

We should probably band together and do what we can to help education as much as we can and to foster our product, and our philosophy.

Children study math, English, social studies, science, Spanish, dance, music, and drawing, and painting with a component of artesanias in the dawn and they study those disciplines virtually every day.

(dramatic guitar music) - You know, Jose had six children, the first two were from one wife, Nila Amparo, and the next three, Pepe, Lolita and Carmela were Lola de Ronda's children.

And then his youngest child, Paolo, who I think now is 36, is Nana Lorca's child.

I think he regretted in a sense, that he worked as hard as he did and he wasn't really there for the children.

The Jose that I knew, he had reached his fame.

I think the kind of work that you have to do to get to the position that Jose had gotten to, I think living with someone like that, I'm not sure whether I would've been able to do that.

Because I think you have to be very, very, very single minded and I think you also have to have a very thick skin.

I once asked Jose why he thought he'd become as famous as he had and I said, was it talent?

And he said, "I had a lot of talent, "but many other people had talent also."

And he said, "It was talent," and he said, "The time was right," he said, "I also took more shit "than anybody else I know of."

And so I think to be able to take, what he obviously had to deal with, I think you can't help but bring that kind of callousness home, maybe, or the kind of pain that causes, home.

And when I was with Jose, it was a time when he had already reached what he was going to reach and I think he had a chance to be generous, he had a time to really, he was very, very supportive of everything that I did.

I think because he didn't have to worry about, you know, trying to keep his own things together.

I was very lucky in that sense, I got the best part, I don't think that part could've existed.

All of the things that I loved in Jose, and the beauty that he created if he hadn't had that first part.

(dramatic guitar music) (dramatic guitar music) - Some of the old style flamenco, it's really simple, and the guitar is really simple.

The voices stayed pretty much the same for the last 25 years, a couple of decades, but the guitar, the music has gone, ping!

And the dance has gone, ping!

And they're doing things in dance now that were just unheard of in that day, and as far as the sentimento, I think everyone, since its such an individual expression, everyone has their own take on it.

- One thing that does help, is listening a lot to, be very respectful of the art form, and just listen.

Stick your ear to singing and then everything falls into place.

- Flamenco's always first, serving the music is number one, it's never about me or another person, it's about the art form, so I'm trying to deliver the best way I can what that feeling is in my way.

(dramatic guitar music)