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Martin Gaxiola

FAIRBANKS — Most professional dancers have spent years, possibly close to their entire lives, learning, practicing and preparing themselves for a life of dance.

Most founders and directors of dance performance organizations have been immersed in the business and art form for decades, if not more.

Not Martin Gaxiola.

“I am a degreed accountant,” the young, charismatic artist said, laughing at the irony of his career path. “I didn’t even know what flamenco dancing was until I was 21.”

Flamenco is not only dance but an art form that brings dance, music and song — poetry, really — together on stage to tell stories, similar to the way American folk music is used to tell human stories. Seeing flamenco on stage was an eye-opening experience.

While Gaxiola did have slight connections to the arts during his younger years, they were not in dance: He sang choir and participated in theater during high school, and he watched his sisters perform in dance, wanting to imitate them in his youth, but nothing more. He went on to college, studied hard, and was just a semester or two away from graduating with an accounting degree when he was touched, shocked and moved by his flamenco experience.

“When I made that discovery I thought, ‘What do I do? Do I quit accounting?’ It was a very confusing time,” he recalled.

He took a different route, however, and, looking back, is thankful to have had such an understanding and supportive family. He completed his degree, but without interest in using it; he planned to move to Spain and study the art of flamenco dancing in the land of its origin. It would become a frustrating experience.

“When I called the first family meeting to say, ‘Hey, I’m moving to Spain,’ everyone was really surprised, but for the most par they were behind me,” he said.

The first move, made in 1992, didn’t last as long as Gaxiola had hoped. It was “really hard to get a 22-year-old body to do what these people who had been training their whole lives could do,” he recalled. So he resigned from his dream, returned to the United States, and put his accounting degree to use. But, he said, he was miserable and, in 1996, decided it was now or never. A second family meeting was called, again to inform his loved ones of a dream to dance and a move to Spain, and again the support was there even if they didn’t understand.

The result was much different the second go-around.

“I was more motivated the second time. I had to build up that expectation, asking myself, ‘Do I really want this bad enough?’ and the answer was, ‘Yeah, I did,’” Gaxiola said. “My perspective completely changed.”

So his true career began, first with intense study of flamenco while in southern Spain, where, centuries ago, people of varied European decent developed the form of expression to tell their stories, then on the road in the United States. Viewing and performing shows with the small flamenco companies in the United States made Gaxiola realize more had to be done to share the art with an American audience.

“I realized there was a real lack of companies approaching this with the intensity and vast touring schedule I thought it deserved,” he said, explaining that he took matters into his own hands.

In 2003, Gaxiola founded Calo Flamenco, a touring flamenco dance company based in Phoenix that now employs 15 dancers and takes the Spanish art form to all sorts of nooks and crannies and cities in the U.S. Just two weeks ago Calo Flamenco made its New York City debut, Gaxiola said proudly, performing before a sold-out house at the Teatro Heckscher Theater.

“The shows reveal to these audiences who we are, and I think the people really appreciate what we’re offering,” he said, adding the fact that all dancers in the troupe are Americans who studied flamenco in its native country. That, he said, offers an advantage as they bring the dance to American audiences.

“I think we’re better able to translate the deeper meanings behind it to Americans without saying distinctly, ‘I”m doing this, I”m doing that because of this.’ We can just dance and let the audience make those connections,” he said.

So just what is it about flamenco that would make an accountant abandon his numbers for dance at such a later stage in life than most dancers? Gaxiola said he simply had no choice.

“I would rather have made that difficult life switch in my 20s than to have been in my 40s wondering what I’d done with my life,” he said.

He said the “entrancing” feeling he gets while dancing, in combination with the interesting history behind flamenco, draw him toward the art.

“It has evolved from Spain as a folk art form, based on life experiences and situations people had,” he explained.

The singing element came first, and later dancing was added, which “interpreted the thematic elements and messages ??? they were singing about,” he said. The music came next, and the focus on deep human emotion remained throughout the evolution.

“Being that it is about people and life, you don’t have to search outside yourself to bring flamenco into you,” Gaxiola said, adding that when he dances he is motivated by the music around him.

Calo Flamenco will make its Alaska debut with a performance in Hering Auditorium tonight, presented by the Fairbanks Concert Association. FCA director Anne Biberman said she hit it off immediately with Gaxiola, who is the artistic director of the group as well as the founder, and Chris Burton Jacome, music director, and she expects Fairbanks to fall for their charm and dance as she did.

“Right away, we had an affinity for one another. They are fun, professional, accommodating and just really nicec” she said. “I know our audience will love them and find their performance exhilarating.”

Taking full advantage of the trip north, Calo Flamenco has a few extra stops on its schedule. In addition to the performance at Hering tonight, they are also conducting an Introduction to Flamenco workshop at the Artisan’s Courtyard on College Road at 10 a.m. Saturday. A first for FCA, an additional show is planned in Delta Junction for a local performance on Saturday 7:30 p.m. at the high school.

Gaxiola shares Biberman’s excitement, and he advised his audience to prepare “for the ride of your life.”

“The first flamenco experience is very special. It really is just heartwarming. You don’t have to understand everything, it is all about emotional context,” he said. “You will connect with the music and song if you let your guard down and be ready to enjoy it.”

If you go

What: Calo Flamenco, dance and music performance, presented by Fairbanks Concert Association

When: 8 p.m. tonight

Where: Hering Auditorium

Tickets: $35 adult, $31 for military, senior, student, available online at www.alaskatix.com or call 474-8081