Native La Jollan Cihtli Ocampo fell in love with flamenco dancing — and composer Ethan Margolis — after moving to Spain. Margolis drew upon his musical upbringing while writing and composing “Spanish Day,” a flamenco rock opera starring Ocampo and Arte y Pureza Flamenco Troop that debuts 8 p.m. Saturday, July 25 at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center’s Garfield Theater. “Spanish Day” is about “a boy from the States from a broken home that goes to Spain and falls in love with a woman and the culture of dance and the marriage of the two,” said Kelsey Tyree of J Public Relations. “And he is tormented because he can’t be without it.” Margolis — a member of San Diego-based flamenco rock band Sir Sultry and head of Arte y Pureza Flamenco Troop — combined many cultures for “Spanish Day,” which uses a total of 16 performers, he said. But Margolis said his inspiration was drawn from his American rock upbringing. “One of the most interesting things is the multitude of cultures going into this project — we’ve got classical musicians, an African-American soul singer, a gypsy singer from Spain — it’s a huge cultural joining,” Margolis said. “And this has never been done before,” Margolis said, regarding the onstage flamenco performance. “There’s never been a production where Spanish [musicians] performed in the U.S. with an American rock band for a stage production.” Tyree said the lives of Ocampo and Margolis parallel parts of “Spanish Day’s” plot. “It’s neat because the show’s composer and Ocampo fell in love,” Tyree said. “A lot of my experiences came from Spain,” Margolis said, adding that both he and Ocampo grew up in the United States, but the now-married couple met in Seville. “We both went to Seville, Spain on our own for flamenco, and we met there.” Ocampo and Sir Sultry spent the past two years creating the opera, which will tour throughout American cities. “‘Spanish Day’… is the brainchild of [Sir Sultry]. It is the story of Michael Miller, a young boy from a troubled musician’s household who escapes to Spain and discovers the exotic world of Gypsy Flamenco,” the troop’s Website reads. Sir Sultry includes frontman Ethan Sultry, Eric Miller, Kevin Freeby, Marc Jozefowicz and Kenny Margolis. The band is described as “flamenco rhythms combined with Santana-esque electric guitar riffs, jazz harmony bass.” Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson added artwork to the production, depicting characters in a woodcut-type media, Tyree said. In addition to Arte y Pureza, flamenco dancers including Jose el Oruco and Javier Heredia star in “Spanish Day.” Alegria Sanchez sings the wedding song of Angela, according to the group’s Website, describing her as a young Gypsy from Seville. Sanchez also sings a lullaby. For more information or to purchase tickets for the July 25 production at the JCC Garfield Theater, 4126 Executive Drive, visit www.arteypureza.com or call (858) 362-1348.
