Home >>

Concerts on Nov. 8 and 9 at Emory University PAS Feature Entre Flamenco, with a cast steeped in the Jerez style of flamenco music and dance.

Antonio Granjero, Director, was born in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). He began his studies of classical Spanish, classical ballet, and flamenco when he was ten years old, with the teachers Fernando Belmonte and Paco del Río.  A year-and-a-half later, he made his debut in “Centro Cultural de la Villa” in Madrid with the children’s Albarizuela ballet, which was managed by Belmonte and Río and presided over by the prince and the princess of Spain. Granjero toured with the company as a young adult, performing across Europe and Asia and on television. He later moved to Madrid, where he joined the Carmen Cortes Dance Company and also performed in the most important tablaos oin the city. Granjero began touring again, working as a principal dancer and choreographer who collaborated with the greatest flamenco dancers of the 1990s, including La Tati, Manolete, and El Güito. Granjero began working in the United States of America in 1995, when he joined María Benitez Teatro Flamenco as a soloist and choreographer. He maintained his collaboration with her company for a decade. He has performed at major U.S. theaters and presenters, including the Seattle Opera and the Joyce Theatre in New York, where he was recognized by the New York Times as “the Baryshnikov of Spanish Dance.” Back in Spain, Granjero has had the honor of performing at the most prestigious flamenco events, such as the “Bienal of Sevilla” as well as the “Festival of Jerez.” Granjero is now the director of Entre Flamenco, which performs at the tablao El Flamenco de Santa Fe.

Estefania Ramirez, Co-director, began working as a dancer at 17 and debuted at the Royal Albert Hall, London. She toured the U.S.A., with Pablo Rodarte’s Dance España as principal dancer. Contracted by Maria Benitez Teatro Flamenco, she toured extensively in the U.S.A., and Canada performing at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and PBS’s Evening at the Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and Mezzo- Soprano Denyce Graves. She also shared the stage under Benitez in events in Santa Fe with artists such as Carol Burnett, Lauren Bacall and Tim Curry. She relocated to Spain in 1997 where she studied extensively with many of the grand maestros and shared theater bills with important flamenco artists, such as Luis ‘El Zambo’, Miguel Poveda, and Tomatito. She worked as a dance professor and movement theory specialist for the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Education creating dance curriculum for Public Schools in Spain. Along with legendary figures like Maria Benitez and La Tania, Estefania is one of the only American born flamenco dancers recognized for her establishment for 13 consecutive years as an artist and dance educator in Spain within the flamenco profession. Most recently she was presented as the leading figure of flamenco dance soloists at the Women in Dance International Dance Conference at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Rocio Romero began dancing professionally at the age of 17 in her hometown of Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, where she performed in tablaos for many years. She later toured Europe performing with the concert pianist Rosario Montoya la Reina Gitana before joining the production of Carmen by Chiqui de Jerez, performing across Italy as principal dancer. Romero lived in Japan for many years, focusing on  teaching and continuing to perform in tablaos in the country. There she produced her first full length shows, “Agua”, “De Joana nai,” and  “Ritual.”

Juan José Alba is a guitarist, composer, singer and musicologist born in Cádiz, Spain with a long career accompanying and composing for great flamenco artists, as well as acting as the main artist combining his voice, his guitar, and his compositions. Alba has  served as musical director for the company of flamenco superstar Antonio “El Pipa” since 2009, performing in Spain and across Europe. He has also served as musical director, composer and guitarist in “Gaditana” a production that toured the United States in 2018. He was the co-musical director and guitarist in flamenco dancer Eduardo Guerrero’s “Guerrero” with international tours throughout Latin America in 2019. Besides live performance, Alba was a finalist on the Spanish television show THE VOICE 2020, and was featured in the film El mundo fuera.

Pilar Villar “La Gineta” is a descendant of two great families of legendary flamenco singers, the family of “Los Ginetos” and Juan Villar. She has travelled Europe, Asia, and the Americas as a flamenco singer accompanying dancers in performances. In addition to performing, she was recorded in 1999 on the  album “La Saga de los Villar,” as a soloist and ensemble singer. Currently, she performs at El Corral de al Morería, a prestigious Michelin-starred tablao in Madrid, continues with her solo recitals and collaborates with dancers of great national and international prestige.