| Biography |
Flamenco dancer Katerina Tomás has over 30 years of training as
a dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer, and is a recognized scholar
of Spanish Studies in the United States and in Spain. She has studied
and performed flamenco with legendary artists in the field, including
Spanish Gypsy dancer Rosa Montoya, and with contemporary flamenco artists
Roberto Amaral, Linda Vega, Juan Parra, Inmaculada Aguilar, Antonio Canales,
Eva “La Yerbabuena,” and Joaquin Grilo.
Katerina formed the cuadro flamenco dance company L.A. Olé in 1993,
and the group performed throughout the southern California region and
the western United States until 1997. Later that year, she collaborated
with Stephen to form the contemporary flamenco music and dance company,
Mojácar Flamenco, which has since performed in the greater Los
Angeles area and on tour throughout the United States and Canada, including
a tour of the U.S. in 2002 with the popular rock group, Concrete Blonde.
Katerina performed at El Pueblo de Los Angeles (the famous birthplace
of Los Angeles, “Olvera Street”) for Prince Philip of Spain
at an event honoring the founding of the City of Los Angeles in 1995.
She choreographed and directed the Olvera Street festival “Spanish
Times” in 1998, which included flamenco, Spanish classical, and
Spanish folkloric dance and music, Spanish foods, and the famous Andalusian
horses of Medieval Times.
In 1996 she performed at the Paul Beckett Gallery in Mojácar, Spain,
and in 2001, she performed with Stephen Dick at the Sur Jerez competition
in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
In
2003 she choreographed “Fiesta Flamenca,” a cuadro flamenco
performance piece for the internationally recognized, world-renowned BYU
Folk Dance Team.
Her research on Federico García Lorca and her training as a professional
flamenco dancer and choreographer led to the flamenco concert “Cantan
los Fuegos – the fires sing; an evening of music and dance
celebrating the art of Federico García Lorca and Manuel de Falla,”
held at the Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park on December 4 and 5, 2004, the
centerpiece of the concert a flamenco dance theater realization of Lorca’s
Gypsy ballad (epic poem) Romance Sonambulo. Also featured on the concert
were flamenco dances created to some of the most famous Spanish songs
in history, collected and re-harmonized by Lorca in 1931: Zorongo
Gitano, Anda Jaleo, La Tarara, and Romance
de Don Boiso. In 2006 she choreographed and performed in the award
winning concert, "Mojácar at the Madrid," a concert featuring
traditional and nuevo flamenco works, and a new flamenco and Latin ballet
based on Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo, Cantan los Fuegos.
She ch
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