Fanny Ara (Artistic Director) Fanny Ara (Artistic Director)

Fanny Ara began her dance studies at age three, studying ballet and Contemporary dance at the Irene Popard school located in St. Jean de Luz in the French Basque country. In 1991 she began training in Spanish classical dance with Catalina Gommes and for the next ten years she traveled regularly to Madrid to study with maestros Isabel Quintero and Antonio Najarro. In addition to her studies in dance, she studied piano at the Bayonne School of Art for 11 years. She attained a BA in literature with a specialty in music. After graduating from the Bayonne School of Art, she relocated to Sevilla and Madrid. Over the next two years there, she pursued intensive flamenco studies with Juana Amaya, El Torombo, Manolo Soler, Hiniesta Cortes. While in Spain, she was also accepted into the prestigious academy of Mario Maya, and worked in tablaos in Madrid (“Al Andalus” and “El Juglar”). Fanny has become an established and important performer in the Bay Area. As a company member of Caminos Flamencos, she has shared the theater stage with artists such as Antonio de la Malena, Manuel de la Malena, Juan Ogalla, and Domingo Ortega.
 
In 2006, Fanny has been nominated in the category of Most Outstanding Individual Dancer from the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards. In June 2007, she presented her program “Magia Flamenca” in Washington DC with critical acclaim. In 2008 Fanny created her work “A traves de sus ojos” where Renee Renouf reviewed her as “always elegant, the reach of her arms generous, frequently evoking unseen forces, body occasionally concave , legs striding in earthy response, fingers spread in exclamation to the rhythms, leaving the stage abruptly, provoking a gasp of delight.”.In Spring of 2011, she presented her latest performance, “Garlochi,” at the Montalvo Center of Art, after touring the US and Mexico.
 
In February 2012, Fanny has been awarded a prestigious finalist prize for Creative Promise In Dance by the Vilcek Foundation.(http://www.vilcek.org/prizes/prize-finalists/2012.html)

 
Photos by Anastasia Kuba, Damien Alvarez, and Sari Maki

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