Photo by Agata Raymond
A Calgary native, Jane has been a flamenco performer, teacher, and leader in the Edmonton arts community since 2001.
Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Award 2023
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Jane is a proud recipient of the 2023 Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Award. Supported by the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation, this award is dedicated to the artistic development of Edmonton artists. More about the award here.
Performance – guest artist
Flamenco Esencia (2023 Calgary)
A Quiet Flamenco (2018)
Flamenco at the Lantern (2018 Calgary)
Flamenco at MacEwan (2017 Edmonton)
Sunday Evening Flamenco at the Yardbird (2017 Edmonton)
Flamenco at the AGA (2016 Edmonton)
Flamenco at the Arts Barns (2015 Edmonton)
Ventanas (2014 Edmonton)
Sketches of Flamenco (2013 Calgary – 2012 Edmonton)
Flamenco Song, Dance, Music, Stories (2010 Edmonton)
Tríptico (2009 Edmonton)
Ritmo! (2009 Calgary)
Flamenco y Ole (2008 Edmonton)
Noche Flamenca (2007 Edmonton)
Flamenco 2! (2006 Calgary)
Jane has also performed as a member of local Edmonton trio Flamenco con Tres. She was a co-founder and member of the Alberta based collective “chufla-arte flamenco” featuring collaborative performances between artists from Calgary and Edmonton. She was one of the original members of the Calgary based performance group Flamenco Asi.
Producer and Director
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As co-producer, Jane has presented:
Flamenco at MacEwan (2017 Edmonton)
Sunday Evening Flamenco at the Yardbird (2017 Edmonton)
Flamenco at the AGA (2016 Edmonton)
Flamenco at the Arts Barns (2015 Edmonton)
Sketches of Flamenco (2013 Calgary – 2012 Edmonton)
Tríptico (2009 Edmonton)
Flamenco y Ole (2008 Edmonton)
Edmonton Flamenco Festival
© Marc J Chalifoux Photography
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Jane was the Artistic Director and co-founder of the now closed Edmonton Flamenco Festival. The festival inspired awareness, understanding, and appreciation of traditional Spanish flamenco through an annual festival hosting world renowned artists from Spain for a performance on the Winspear Centre stage and workshops, and outreach programs for the community. Featured guests included artists such as: the Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernández Flamenco Company, the Jairo Barrull Flamenco Company, and renowned dancers Carmen Ledesma and Manuela Rios.
The festival ran an annual Fall fundraiser featuring performances and workshops with guest Canadian artists and featured a community flashmob with live dance, song, and accompaniment, performed about the city leading up to the main festival.
Teaching
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Jane has been teaching flamenco dance in Edmonton since 2001. Her classes focus on proper dance technique and the understanding of the rhythmic and musical structure of flamenco so the dance can be approached with an improvisational attitude and an understanding of where dance fits with song, rhythm and guitar. She sings for her classes and regularly hosts guitarists and student singers for accompaniment as well as guest teachers for workshops in both song and dance.
By bringing flamenco to local schools as well as the Greater Edmonton Teacher’s Convention, Jane has introduced introductory level clapping, dancing, and singing to a broader community. She has set choreographies for high school dance students and has been advisor to ballet and musical theatre productions at the post secondary level.
Education
A dancer from a young age, her early studies included many years of tap, jazz and ballet. She was finally bitten by the flamenco bug on a trip to visit friends in Seville, Spain during the Feria of 1996. Upon returning to Calgary the following year, she began taking classes with then Calgary teacher Marilyn Malinsky and visiting Canadian flamenco artists including Claudia Carolina and Oscar Nieto. Since then, Jane has taken classes from many teachers from all over Canada, the United States, France and Mexico, and has travelled to study in Spain and South America. Her studies focus on dance and also include flamenco history, song, percussion, and piano. She is in the studio daily, developing and creating her own work and working to embody and deepen the skills and knowledge she has acquired through lifelong study.
Highlights of Jane’s education have included classes with such international artists as: Juana Amaya, Jairo Barrull, David Peña Dorantes, los Farrucos, Ismael Fernández, Juan del Gastor, Javier Heredia, Carmen Ledesma, Ramón Martínez, Sonia Olla, el Oruco, Manuela Rios and many others.
Jane regularly returns to Spain to further her artistic development. She was most recently in Seville, Spain for an intensive month of study with her mentors in dance, song, and rhythm in July 2023. Unable to return during the pandemic, she attended daily online classes with her mentors in Spain throughout – a practice she continues to this day.
Flamenco Society of Edmonton
A founding member of the Flamenco Society of Edmonton, Jane was involved in the creation of the initial bylaws and society guidelines. Run by the community for the community, their mission was: to promote and facilitate local flamenco activities; to build and increase awareness about flamenco art in Edmonton and Alberta; and to be an umbrella organization for local flamenco artists, schools, presenters, aficionados and community at large.
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In addition to her interest in the study of flamenco. Jane holds her ARCT in piano from the Royal Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Calgary. She has been teaching piano to all ages since 1989 and continues to dabble in graphic design.
Flamenco with Jane 