When Café Sevilla, the hub of Spanish food, music and dance in San Diego, opened 23 years ago, veteran flamenco dancer Kristina Cobarrubia was there — in the kitchen shelling shrimp. Seeing crowds overwhelm the tiny downtown tapas bar, the performer offered to pitch in to help wherever needed. Little did she know as she traded her castanets for crustaceans, big things were in store for her and the future of flamenco in San Diego. Not only would Cobarrubia go on to be a regular performer at Café Sevilla in its “Art of Flamenco Show,” but she would be part of a thriving local flamenco community. Also unbeknownst to her, her future husband was put to work in the kitchen that same night. And Café Sevilla, the little cellar with a single light bulb on Fourth Avenue, would go on to host more than 2 million guests, serve more than 1 million paellas — its signature rice and seafood dish — and become San Diego’s longest-running dinner theater show, continuing every week since its opening 23 years ago. That’s “Flamenco: Pasado y Presente (past and present),” which happens to be the title of Cobarrubia’s upcoming show Oct. 23 at Smith Recital Hall at San Diego State University. That’s also flamenco pasado y presente for Café Sevilla, which temporarily closed its doors Sept. 27, but will re-open in winter 2011, in a larger, more contemporary space a couple of blocks away at 355 Fifth Ave. “Flamenco, it’s such a powerful art form,” said Cobarrubia, who holds her weekly classes at the Dance Connection studios in Pacific Beach. “People are pouring their hearts out in front of you on the stage. It’s so musically complex, it’s mind boggling. It’s an art form that reaches out to you on a personal level. Very few people walk away from a show unmoved.” Cobarrubia attributes a thriving San Diego flamenco community to the area’s strong Latin ties, a large local military presence, with servicemen who returned from deployments with Spanish wives, and close proximity to Los Angeles, another haven for Flamenco singers, dancers and musicians. “San Diego is really lucky in that because of its Southern California heritage, being part of Spain and then Mexico, there’s a lot of Latin culture here,” said Cobarrubia. “When people come to San Diego, they’re expecting to see some of that type of flavor. It’s a natural place for flamenco to be.” Cobarrubia began dancing ballet dancing at the age of nine. As a teenager, after seeing the definitive flamenco dancing movie “Carmen,” she was hooked and has been dancing ever since. That was about 25 years ago. “At that point I knew that flamenco was what I’d been looking for all my life,” she said. Cobarrubia worked as assistant choreographer for the San Diego Opera production of “Don Quixote” in 2009, “La Traviata” in 2010, and will choreograph “Carmen” in the opera’s 2011 season. She also founded Academia Flamenco Arana and Compania Flamenco Arana, the groups of pro and student dancers who will perform with her in the upcoming show. Since 2007, she has been teaching weekly flamenco classes to all levels of dancers in the studio on Garnet Avenue. All classes have live music, guitarists, and occasionally singers who drop in simply for the love of flamenco. It’s this same love of flamenco that brought together a cadre of flamenco artists to the closing party for the original Café Sevilla on Sept. 26. “The mood was not somber at all. Everybody’s happy about the new location,” said Eric van den Haute, CEO of Café Sevilla. “But, it was [sad] leaving those walls. That 23 years. Some that were there performed at Café Sevilla on opening night.” Van den Haute, who has served as CEO since 1992, said that while the new location will have upgrades, such as an elevated stage, camera and screen equipment so that attendees can better see the elaborate footwork of flamenco dancers, it will stay true to its roots. “We’re trying to keep exactly the same feel and concept with the tapas bar, restaurant and nightclub, and the flamenco performances,” said van den Haute. “The most important part is we stay being the flagship of where the flamenco artists can perform.” In addition to dinner shows and a tapas bar, Café Sevilla will continue to have a sit-down restaurant and nightclub with free Salsa lessons, live bands and DJs, and will be a larger and newer space for flamenco and Spanish culture to grow. And growing it is. “Flamenco is gaining in popularity. Every year it gets bigger, has more exposure and is easier to access,” said Cobarrubia. “When I was young, I had to walk 10 miles in the snow to flamenco class.” Quite a feat, especially with nails in the bottom of her pumps. “Flamenco: Pasado y Presente” will also feature special guest Sara Olivar, a former San Diego flamenco dancer who now resides in London. Adult tickets are $22 in advance; $25 at the door; $17 in advance/$20 at the door for children 12 and under, and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com. For more information, call (619) 549-3212 or visit www.flamencoarana.com. Café Sevilla has two other locations in Riverside and Long Beach. For restaurant or dinner show information, visit www.cafesevilla.com.