cross over bio

Artist Bios Cross Over

Rosanna Terracciano (Canada)

Rosanna Terracciano is an independent flamenco dance artist based in Calgary, Alberta, who has trained intensively in both Spain and Canada. In Spain, Rosanna has had the opportunity to participate in classes and workshops with a combination of traditional and more contemporary flamenco dance teachers, including Israel Galván, La Truco, El Guito, Manolete, Andres Marin, La Cintia, Belen Fernandez, Angelita Gomez, Ana Maria Lopez, Matilde Coral, Rocio Coral and Manolo Marin. Rosanna has also studied with a number of Canadian flamenco dance teachers, most recently training intensively with Myriam Allard in Montreal for three months in 2008. Since 2005, Rosanna has co-produced, along with her sister Graziella Terracciano, several flamenco dance productions in Calgary. Rosanna has also performed alongside various artists, including Montreal-based flamenco company La Otra Orilla in Quebec City in 2008. In addition to flamenco dance, Terracciano also received early contemporary dance training through the University of Calgary Program of Dance. Since 2002, Terracciano has choreographed and danced in flamenco and contemporary-based solo works for Dancers’ Studio West’s Alberta Dance Explosions Festival of Choreography, as well as E Merge at the Fluid Movement Arts Festival produced by Springboard Dance. Rosanna will be featured as part of Dancers Studio West’s 2009/10 season in a choreographic residency entitled, Form Fusion.
www.rosannaflamenco.com

Graziella Terracciano (Canada)

Graziella Terracciano is a flamenco dance producer, and arts administrator from Calgary. Since 2005 she has produced works alongside flamenco dance artist Rosanna Terracciano, with the aim of staging emotive and stimulating works that hold fast to tradition, while referencing the modern world. Motivated by a desire to connect artists and audiences, Graziella’s scope of interest spans all the arts, including visual arts, architecture, literature, and music. Her experiences include working as Staff Writer for Calgary Opera; Vice President for the Visual Arts Week Society (producers of Artcity festival of visual art, architecture, and design), and Grant Writer for the University of Calgary Press. Graziella holds a MA in Cultural Policy & Management from City University London, and she is currently Head of Development of the Architecture Centre Network in London. Her next co-production, which will showcase the work of Montreal’s La Otra Orilla, will be presented to Calgary and Edmonton audiences in December 2009.

Marni Benavides (Canada)

Marni Benavides has been a student and performer of both music and dance from a young age. Flamenco music and dance remains a great passion to experience through shared performances, and continual learning and immersion in the art form. In Alberta, Marni has had the great privilege to perform and share the stage with many accomplished flamencos in both Edmonton and Calgary. She is thrilled to be involved with this exciting project and looks forward to sharing a little part of her passion with Calgary audiences.
www.myspace.com/marnialejandrabenavides

Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi (Canada)

Working as a professional Director/Media artist since 2005, Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi has worked in experimental art installations, broadcast commercial, a slew of short narrative films and feature documentaries, to credits in over 30 short animated films through the Youth Animation Project. Ramin owns and operates a small production company in Calgary, and is currently working on a short animated narrative funded through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, two feature documentaries, and a list of short narrative and music video projects.
www.nurfilms.net

Megan Gole (Canada)

Megan Gole, originally a Prairie girl, returned after a year of taking professional dance class and receiving her apprenticeship in GYROKINESIS® with Pascale Leonard in Montreal. While in Montreal she studied with Dana Gingras, Angelique Wilkie, Sylvain Lafortune, Ginelle Gangon, Marc Boivin, Darryl Tracy, Benoit Lachambre, Anne Thierbult, and Norman Marcy. Megan recieved her Bachelor of Arts in Dance at the University of Calgary in 2005 and throughout the years has had the opportunity to travel and perform in Poland, Finland, Toronto and Montreal. Megan is excited to be home and will be dancing in a new choreographic work created by Melanie Klotzel that will be presented at Dancer’s Studio West in October 2009.

Teddy Ivanova (Canada)

Teddy is a Calgary based actor, who recently graduated from the University of Calgary with a BFA in acting. Born in Bulgaria, she moved to Canada at the age of four and grew up in a quatro-lingual home. Past credits include Something to do with Death with Ghost River and Imaginary Elephant, Radioheaded 2 with Denise Clark, Hamlet, Hello…Hello, House of Glass, The Thebans, Purgatory, and Lux in Tenebris all at the University of Calgary. Teddy is very grateful to have been a part of this incredible collaboration of artists and thanks everyone who has made this event possible. Look for Teddy this coming spring in The Old Trout Puppet Workshop’s production of Tooth fairy.

Renny Jackson (United Kingdom)

Renny Jackson is a young singer-songwriter from London. As a result of living and travelling in Spain, he has developed a deep passion for flamenco and rumba which have become incorporated into his own compositions. He has recently collaborated with cellist Sary Khalifé from Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in a new piece set to Lorca’s poetry, fusing traditional British guitar with Spanish singing. Renny is currently based in Sevilla and working on further projects to create musical and cultural cross-overs.
www.myspace.com/rennyjackson

David Matyas (Canada)

David Matyas became interested in the art of Flamenco guitar when he saw a performance by maestro Paco de Lucia in Calgary. Since then he has studied with Calgary-based flamenco guitarist Peter Knight, and travelled to Spain to continue his stud. Most recently, David was awarded a grant by Canada Council for the Arts to pursue extensive studies in Montreal with Myriam Allard’s flamenco company La Otra Orilla, and its principal guitarist, Kraig Adams. Besides performing regularly in Calgary, David has accompanied dance classes at the School of Alberta Ballet for Claudia Carolina, one of Canada’s leading Flamenco dance teachers. David most recently performed with Rosanna Terracciano in the production by Silvia Soto and Jane Ogilvie, entitled Triptico.

Fernando Menéndez Carbone (Spain)

Originally from Bueno Aires, Argentina, Fernando Menéndez Carbone is a producer, video artist, and director of photography specializing in documentary films. He directed “Matanza”, which received special mention at the New York Latin Film Festival, as well as “Laboratorio 3”, and “De ida y vuelta”. As director of photography, he’s collaborated on documentaries, and TV. Fernando has worked for production companies in the USA, Argentina, Germany, France, Spain, Valenzuela, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. His video art work has been exhibited in Casa Encendida (Madrid) and in the Museum of Contemporary Art (Buenos Aires), and more.
http://vimeo.com/user827892

Laurita Siles (Spain)

Laurita Siles defines herself as a nomadic and folkloristic artist. Guided by her suitcase, through her work Siles tells the tales of experiences, and relationships with communities, people, and places, offering the perspective of innocent eyes – while maintaining a strong focus on language and popular folklore of the places and cultures being examined. Influential to Sile’s practice is her very international education in Fine Arts, which was cultivated in Valencia, Reykjavík, Bilbao, Donosti (San Sebastian), Vancouver, and Bordeaux. Siles most recently completed an artist residency in Peking, China at Sleeve Art Studio. She works and lives in Algorta, Basque Country where she is currently completing graduate studies in Fine Arts at the University of Basque Country where she has focused her studies on the use of folklore in the search for identity in artistic creations in the era of globalisation.
Laura Siles