photo credit: Zsofin Sheeny

Amy Atchison has been passionate about flamenco since 2006 when she first entered the Alma de España Dance studio. Her first flamenco lesson with Amity Skala and Harry Owen sent shivers down her spine and she knew at that moment that this art form would be a permanent institution in her life. Since then, during her dancing forays at home, Amy has been fortunate to study with Veronica Maguire, Gareth Owen, Denise Yeo, Juan de Marias and abroad in Spain with Rafaela Carrasco, Manuela Carpio, Carmen Herrera and Angelita Gomez. She enjoys performing at local fundraisers and the Victoria Flamenco Festival due to the meaningful connection with the flamenco community and for the pure and authentic quality of expression that flamenco can allow.

Photo credit: Amity Skala

JUAN DE MARIAS, born in Barcelona Spain, trained in classical, flamenco guitar and cante with renowned teachers in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, and Jerez de la Frontera. He has worked as a singer, guitar soloist, accompanist and music arranger with numerous artists in flamenco, jazz, Latin-American folklore and Eastern music, performing in Spain, UK, Chile, Canada, and the US. His music has been performed in the prestigious Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. As musical director, founding member and principle guitarist for the troupe Flamenko’s formerly known as Elias Vargas and Company, Juan arranged the production Gypsy Soul which was presented for 2 years in many locations throughout British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. A Canada Council award supported professional research and study in flamenco guitar and cante (singing) in Southern Spain, inspiring his first album Mimbre. He is a regular face in Canada’s Flamenco circles. He lives in Victoria where he collaborates with Alma de España Flamenco Dance Company.

Photo credit: Tony Austin

KEMI CRAIG is a local dancer who for the past 20 years has been based in the traditional unceded territories of the Lkwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. Originally from the East Band Cherokee territories (mountains of North Carolina and Foothills of South Carolina), Craig first fell in love with flamenco when Carlos Saura’s film, Carmen played before Saturday morning cartoons. Over twenty years later, she had the opportunity to study flamenco beginning at both Alma De España and Raino Dance. This spring will be her fourth trip to Spain… as well as annual trips to Vancouver to study with visiting international artists. During her travels, she has been able to study with artists such as: Concha Jareño, Marco Flores, Mañuel Liñan, La Truco, Alicia Marques, Manuela Carpio, Patricia Guerrero, Andres Peña, Fuensanta La Moneta, Karen Lugo and Carmen Romero.
A member of the Black Flamenco Network, Craig enjoys learning about the ties between her own background alongside the roots and contemporary iterations of flamenco culture. For herself and her community, she seeks to find freedom, empowerment, and transcendence through deep connection and authentic expression.

Photo credit: Amity Skala

CAROLYN CRAMPTON was born and raised in Victoria and studied dance there as a child. She stopped dancing as a young adult and did not feel complete. Surprisingly and happily she found the opportunity to study flamenco at age 29 at the school of Veronica Maguire and Harry Owen. She fell in love with the music and found that flamenco dancing fed her soul and formed a means of self expression. Since then it has been a necessary part of her life. Over many years she has performed with Alma de Espana and Rueda at local events and has taken courses in Spain from many world renowned artists. She prefers flamenco in its traditional form performed as a quadro where the ensemble of song, dance, guitar and palmas creates dynamic and original work. She has just retired from her day job of 35 years working in health care and she hopes to share her love of flamenco for many more years to come.

LIA CROWE – With a childhood background in ballet, jazz and contemporary dance, Lia began studying flamenco as an adult in 2005 in Victoria which led to further intensive studies in Spain. She has been performing flamenco locally ever since and has been able to share her love of this highly expressive, passionate and rhythmical art form as a flamenco teacher at Flamenco Victoria. Working primarily as a photographer and creative director of a magazine group, whether with dance or photography, visual storytelling is at the core of Lia’s creative expression.

Photo credit: Lia Crowe

HAIDA GOUCHIE is a singer trained in classical & jazz music. Her passion for Flamenco lead her to study cante for Flamenco dance & quadro flamenco performances. Lessons with masters from Spain, Alburquerque & Canada, Haida continues to learn the ancient Andalusian art form. Haida has performed in eight local Flamenco Festivals, is a singer for students at Raino Dance and has performed in many shows & venues throughout Canada with local aspiring and professional artists.

Photo credit: J. Lee

JAKE LEE “CHINITO” began training as a guitar accompanist for flamenco dancers in 1997 under Harry Owen and Veronica Maguire. Drawing influence from both traditional and modern sources, Jake has been a frequent collaborator with many BC artists including Rueda, Monique Salez, the Kasandra Flamenco Ensemble, Alma de España,

Photo credit: Amity Skala

Peña Flamenca, LaLuna Flamenco and Mozaico Flamenco. Performing regularly in Victoria and Vancouver, he has been a participant in the Victoria Flamenco Festival since 2013, and has performed in the 2015 and 2018 editions of the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival. In addition to playing flamenco guitar, Jake is becoming known as singer and most recently was featured in “The Letter”, a flamenco video presented at the Victoria Flamenco Festival 2022.

Photo credit: Luciana Freire D’Anunciação

Photo credit: Lori Garcia-Meredith

Veronica Maguire, winner of the prestigious Jacqueline Lemieux Award for her contribution to Dance in Canada, has shared the stage in Canada with North American and Spanish international flamenco artists. Her longest artistic partnership was with her late husband and acclaimed flamenco guitarist, Harry Owen, together co-founding Alma de España Flamenco Dance Company in Victoria 1991. Their story was the subject of one of the Mozaico Flamenco  documentary videos Mozaics | A History of Flamenco in Vancouver presented in 2023.  

In a career spanning over 50 years as dancer/singer/teacher/choreographer, Veronica has produced and directed world-class productions in Victoria such as Recuerdos in 2011, and Pasajes in 2014. She has performed in the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival, the Dawson City Music Festival, the Victoria Flamenco Festival, the Vancouver and Victoria Fringe Festival, the Victoria Symphony, as well as performances throughout Western Canada. 

As a member of Palabra Flamenco’s collaborative poetry & flamenco production, she performed at the Victoria Festival of Authors.  In 2018, Veronica was one of six artists presented in a film A Quiet Flamenco created by Rosanna Terraciano.  She has collaborated on the flamenco films, Solo Cantando and Familia Flamenca for the virtual Victoria Flamenco Festival, directed and performed live at the Waterfront Theatre in Alma de España’s production Familia for the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival in 2021, and more recently, staged and performed in For The Love of Flamenco in 2022 and Bienvenida Prima….welcome cousin! in 2023 for the Victoria Flamenco Festival.  Currently, Veronica is the coordinator for Alma de España’s Flamenco Tablao at the Mint in Victoria featuring a roster of flamenco artists. 

Veronica continues to be active in the community as one of the founding members and artistic advisors to the Flamenco de la Isla Society, and as teacher for Flamenco Victoria,  all the while staying connected to her adopted home town, Jerez de la Frontera Spain, a touchstone for continued growth and inspiration.

Angela Moran spent her childhood and young adult life training and teaching contemporary, ballet and jazz dance in Niagara Falls. She discovered flamenco in her adult life in Victoria BC and never looked back. When life allows, she immerses herself in this authentic art form and is eternally grateful for the creative expression and opportunities to collaborate that it provides. She has performed locally in the Victoria Flamenco Festival and various local fundraisers since 2008 and has studied with Canadian flamenco schools and artists Raino Dance, Alma De España, Flamenco Victoria, Flamenco Rosario, Carmen Romero and Mozaico Flamenco.

Internationally she strives to push her training in classical and contemporary flamenco by studying in Spain, Alburquerque, New Mexico and Portland, Oregon with the flamenco greats Manuela Carpio, Mercedes Ruiz, Patricia Guerrero, La Moneta, Joaquin Grilo, Marco Flores, Ivan Vargas and Angel Farina.

Angela is a longtime student of Veronica Maguire and is eternally grateful to Victoria’s Maestra and the flamenco community that she has fostered for decades.

Photo credit: Amity Skala

Photo credit: Amity Skala

GWYNETH MCINTOSH – Since beginning Flamenco with Alma de Espana in 2000, Gwyneth McIntosh has studied both dance and cante with artists including Veronica Maguire, Harry Owen, Oscar Nieto, Domingo Ortega, Maria Bermudez, Vicente Griego, and Rafaela Carrasco. The process of intimate and intense artistic collaboration pulls Gwyneth to flamenco. Every moment is an opportunity to express and create something deeply soulful and dynamic, but it takes the sensitivity, knowledge, and passion of each participant to make those moments come alive.

Photo credit: Brendan Lally Photography

BETHANY MURPHY has been studying and performing flamenco since 2006, learning from a wide range of teachers from Vancouver, Victoria, New Mexico, and Spain. She has performed in countless shows, festivals, fundraisers, and private events, and since 2017 has been an active member of the Victoria flamenco group La Luna.

TOMOMI OZAKI started learning Flamenco dance in 1993 in Japan, where holds the world’s second largest Flamenco population after Spain. She performed at many Flamenco shows as a company member. She has taken workshops with internationally renowned Flamenco dancers from Spain, such as José Galván, Adrián Galia, Eva La Yerbabuena, Juana Amaya, Angelita Vargas, Domingo Ortega, Ángelita Gómez, Isabel Bayón and others. Since moving to British Columbia, she has been studying with Veronica Maguire in Victoria and with Kasandra Lee and Rosario Ancer in Vancouver. Tomomi has been teaching Flamenco dance in the Comox Valley for 15 years, and has produced over a dozen shows over the years. She has performed as a soloist and with her students in venues throughout Vancouver Island, such as Tofino, Victoria, and Port Alberni. She has also performed in Japan.

Tomomi enjoys sharing her passion of Flamenco with local Flamenco lovers.

Amity Skala has been active in the Victoria dance community since 1984. She has studied Ballet, Tap, and Modern dance as well as a wide range of ethnic dance forms. In 1996, she began teaching privately and became a faculty member at Kidco Dance School in 1998. She worked with the Veselka Ukrainian Dance Association as a performer and teacher, including serving as interim Artistic Director in 2002-2003 and is currently the Promotions Manager for Ballet Victoria.

Her passion for Flamenco began in 1994 when she started taking lessons with Victoria-based Alma de España Flamenco Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Veronica Maguire and the late Harry Owen.

In addition to performing with the company, Amity taught in the affiliated dance school for many years, as well as operating classes in Nanaimo, B.C.  In 2022 Amity was pleased to take on the full responsibility of offering top quality Flamenco instruction in Victoria.  She works closely with the Flamenco Victoria teachers to offer comprehensive and authentic instruction.

Having traveled to Spain more than once, Amity has had the opportunity to study with top Flamenco artists Eva Yerbabuena, Belén Maya, Rafaela Carrasco, Ana Maria Lopez, Angelita Gómez, Domingo Ortega, and José Granero. Amity’s skills and enthusiasm have earned many guest appearances as a teacher locally and internationally, including a 2003 workshop series in the US and guest teaching around B.C. in 2014-15.

She has upgraded her teaching skills through workshops with The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The National Coaching Institute and Movement Analyst Bill Evans. Her choreography has won awards at numerous festivals including Danceworks, The Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival, British Columbia Ukranian Cultural Festival, and Pysanky Festival in Alberta.

In addition to many local stage shows and festivals, Amity has had the opportunity to perform professionally with Alma de España throughout the Pacific Northwest including Seattle Folk Life 1997, Nanaimo’s Port Theatre in 2002 and concerts in Calgary and the Queen Charlotte Islands in 2008.  She was a soloist in both Recuerdos 2011 and Pasajes 2014 with Alma de España. Other performance credits include guest appearances with the Victoria Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Symphony Splash 2006 with the Victoria Symphony, Butchart Gardens “Spanish Passion” Summer shows 2006 and as a soloist with Peña Flamenca.  Amity recently performed with both Peña Flamenca and Alma de España at the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival in 2021.  She serves the Flamenco de la Isla Society by acting as the Assistant Coordinator for the Victoria Flamenco Festival 2014-2023 and was a Board member for many years.

Amity loves teaching and inspiring her students at Flamenco Victoria!  She is a compassionate instructor with a rare dedication to everything she does.

Drawn to the raw emotions expressed in flamenco, MARY STORZER has been studying flamenco since 1997. During that time, she has had the good fortune to learn from many incredible artists from North America and Spain, including Ezequiel Benitez, Veronica Maguire, Angel Munoz, Oscar Nieto, Domingo Ortega, and Harry Owen. She has performed numerous times in the Victoria Flamenco Festival and around town, most often with her fellow flamencos of Rueda.

JAMIE WINTON started studying flamenco dance in 2006 with Dorothy Pfeiffer in Toronto. After moving to Victoria a couple of years later, he was amazed at the vibrant flamenco community that surrounded Alma de España and was delighted to continue his pursuit of baile with Veronica Maguire and Amity Skala, and studying guitar with Gareth Owen.  Since then, Jamie has also studied dance in Granada (David Córdoba) and Jerez (Ángel Muñoz). It is the art of weaving together the cante, guitar, rhythms and dance that attracts Jamie to flamenco – the very same elements that make it equally exhilarating and challenging.

TONYA WINTON began dancing flamenco in 1998, learning from Paula Moreno and Dorothy Pfeiffer in Toronto. Upon moving to Victoria in 2008, she was thrilled to join the Alma de España community with Veronica Maguire, Gareth Owen, and the late Harry Owen. She draws inspiration from her trips to Spain, working with Mercedes Ruiz, Domingo Ortega, Maria Bermudez, Isabel Bayon,  David Córdoba and Ángel Muñoz.  She also gains inspiration from her work with local artists in the group Rueda, and other collaborations.  The creative expression of a wide spectrum of emotions through dance, cante and guitar, is what makes flamenco such a passion for Tonya.