la tanya
La Tanya is a founding member of Flamenco Fusion in the 1990s and is still the driving force behind the academy and company. She started her professional dance career at the age of 15 after being spotted by the internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Antonio del Castillo. She subsequently moved to Spain to further her flamenco dance studies at Amor de Dios Studios.
In Spain she completely integrated with the Spanish culture becoming completely fluent in Spanish and expanding her dancing career to became an actress working for the Spanish TV channel Antenna- 3 in ‘Farmacia de Guardia’ and ‘Humor 5 Estrellas’ on Tele 5; playing one of the leading roles in the Spanish box office hit ‘El Robobo de la Jojoya’ with actors Martes y Trece.
She subsequently toured the USA with the Jose Greco Dance Company and diversified into dance theatre management. She also took time to study screenwriting in Los Angeles, California and taught flamenco in New York at Steps on Broadway and Fazils.
In 1996 she returned to South Africa and established Flamenco Fusion (formerly Spanish Flamenco Institute) with the Antonio del Castillo as the artistic director and produced and starred in Agony & Ecstasy, Gitano, Misa Flamenca, España ’99, Peña Flamenca and Percussion; produced the movie ‘Bailando la Palabra’ for Spanish actor and TV presenter Lauren Postigo and coordinated the filming of ‘Boda Zulu’ for the Spanish production company, Larpos.
Additionally, Tanya has coordinated live concerts, art exhibitions and movie festivals for Spanish-speaking embassies in South Africa, specialising in marketing communications and becoming a freelance dance theatre journalist.
She is always seeking new opportunities to collaborate with other performers to uplift and promote the presence of flamenco.
Tanya is also known to prefer taking unpopular decisions to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the art form, as she sees being a representative of another cultures living art form as a great responsibility.
