Yaelisa

Considered a master instructor in the art of flamenco, Yaelisa has established her company school in the San Francisco and greater Bay Area where she, company members and Spanish guest artists offer a comprehensive program of flamenco dance and music training for students at all levels. With a reputation of training a new generation of dancers and musicians, the school attracts students of all socio-economic and racial backgrounds from throughout California, as well as visiting foreign students from Europe and Asia. Dancers are chosen or auditioned to become members of Caminos Flamencos, and pre-professional students are given opportunities to perform with members of Caminos Flamencos at several public presentations throughout the year. During the last twelve years, Yaelisa has spent extensive periods of time living and performing in Spain, presenting her choreography there and in the U.S. Her choreographies have been commissoned by several modern dance companies, including John Malashock & Company, Rose Polsky and Collage Dance Theatre. In 1995 she was one of 11 choreographers in Spain invited to present a piece at the prestigious Certamen de Coreografia in Madrid, and the only American choreographer chosen among them. In 1996 she returned to the U.S. where she continues to choreograph, develop and train dancers for her company. Creating innovative theatrical presentations has established her as a choreographer of merit; she is the recipient of an Emmy Award for Choreography in 1993 for the PBS program, "Desde Cadiz a Sevilla," and a Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1996.