GALA has been doing important community work since its founding in 1976. It has produced over 165 shows, offers training and performance opportunities for both established and emerging Latino artists, and reaches a diverse audience of over 12,000 people annually.

Hailing from southern Spain’s outcast populations, the art form of flamenco, like American Blues in the US, has touched the hearts and souls of millions of people from around the globe. GALA’s annual Fuego Flamenco Festival has become an important vehicle for presenting national and international flamenco talent and for sharing this powerful and passionate art with audiences ranging from local youth and underserved communities to connoisseurs and loyal aficionados.

GALA believes that flamenco offers an extraordinary means for artists like Edwin Aparicio to express their most profound emotions and to have an everlasting impact.

A native of El Salvador, Edwin fled his country at age eleven in the midst of the horrors of the civil war, eventually settling with his family in the Mount Pleasant area of Washington DC. Living amid poverty and gang violence, Edwin found his voice and escape in flamenco dance and his artistic home at GALA, where he made his debut in the Spanish zarzuela La corte del faraón, in 1994. He made his international debut at the renowned Casa Patas in Madrid, Spain, in 2001, and has worked with the Washington Opera under the direction of Placido Domingo and with the legendary José Greco. Edwin has been the resident coordinator of Fuego Flamenco since its inception and has achieved national and international acclaim through his master classes, performances, and choreographies.

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