Siudy Garrido

Flamenco came into Siudy Garrido’s life long before she could imagine making a career out of it. She grew up in Valencia, Venezuela, watching her mother, Siudy Quintero, build the country’s first flamenco school. Quintero’s work was recognized by the King of Spain in 1992, but when Garrido began performing professionally, she quickly discovered that her own place in the flamenco world would be less straightforward.

She was 21 when a manager told her she loved her work but didn’t know how to sell it. Garrido was Venezuelan, blond and green-eyed, and her dancing carried Latin American influences. She didn’t match what some promoters expected a flamenco dancer to be.

By then, Garrido was already committed. She founded her company in Caracas in 2000 and was directing it at 20. Her work eventually took her Off-Broadway with Entre Mundos, which earned a 2011 Drama Desk nomination for choreography, and to Walt Disney Concert Hall, where she performed with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2015.

© Ben Hider

That same year, Venezuela’s crisis forced Garrido to relocate her company to North Miami. The move placed her in a city where a Venezuelan artist working in a Spanish tradition could speak to an audience shaped by many cultures. The Adrienne Arsht Center became an important part of that new chapter, and Garrido is now an associate artist there.

In 2025, her company celebrated 25 years with some of its most meaningful performances yet. BAILAORA, Mis Pies Son Mi Voz reached Lincoln Center in New York, followed by Miami and Madrid. The November performance was Garrido’s first before a Spanish audience, a striking milestone for someone who had spent most of her life studying, performing and reimagining flamenco outside Spain. The film version of Bailaora had previously received two Latin Grammy nominations in 2022.

This year has kept her moving. Her 2026 U.S. dates included Flamenco Íntimo and Flamenco Suite, while her Creative Process workshops at the Arsht sold out. The program also welcomed Spanish dancer and choreographer José Manuel Álvarez to Miami, giving students access to the kind of artistic exchange that has shaped Garrido’s career.

© Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images

Another of her collaborations reached the screen this August. La Casa del Alma, a documentary about her long creative partnership with guitarist José Luis de la Paz, had its U.S. premiere in Miami before continuing on the international festival circuit. 

Next comes a world premiere at the Arsht Center in June 2027. This will bring Siudy back to the Miami stage that has become closely tied to her work, more than a decade after she had to leave Caracas and begin again.