ABOUT ATLANTIC FLAMENCO PRODUCTIONS

 

Founded by artistic director Maria Osende, Atlantic Flamenco Productions (formerly Flamenco Festival Atlantic Society) is a not-for-profit organization based in Nova Scotia, Canada, whose mandate is to promote flamenco and Spanish culture in the Atlantic region.

 

Atlantic Flamenco Productions (AFP) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-arts endeavour involving performing arts and other aspects of Spanish culture that contextually frame flamenco. The intention is to bring all these art forms, both contemporary and traditional, to a broader community in this region. We produce artistic, cultural, and educational events enriching the community life of this city, province, and region.

 

AFP has three areas of activity: it is the presenter of the Fall for Flamenco Festival: Halifax's annual international flamenco festival, as well as the home of the Maria Osende Flamenco Company, which creates and presents work year round in and out of the province. In addition to these activities, AFP focuses strongly on outreach and strives to engage the community actively in flamenco dance and music throughout the year by participating in fairs, celebrations and fundraisers when possible.

 

Brief History

 

In 2003, Madrid native Maria Osende arrived in Halifax and promptly began transforming the local flamenco landscape. She created the Maria Osende Flamenco Company in 2004 and started teaching in the community in 2005. Maria established the first Atlantic Flamenco Festival in February 2006, mentored and financed by JazzEast (presenters of the Atlantic Jazz Festival). After a tremendous success, a second festival followed in the winter of 2007. In June of the same year, Maria created this registered non-profit organization, which was then called “Flamenco Festival Atlantic Society” to assume the organizational and financial responsibility for the festival. The success of the festival is a result of community support, dedicatied volunteers and encouragement from those who believed and embraced the idea.

At the same time, Maria continued her work as artistic director, choreographer, and principal dancer of the Maria Osende Flamenco Company, which rapidly gained prominence in Nova Scotia and beyond. In 2010, the Flamenco Festival Atlantic Society recognized that its activities had expanded significantly beyond the scope of the annual festival. Accordingly, the name was changed to Atlantic Flamenco Productions Society, giving a more accurate representation of the full range of the society's activities.

 

 

 

About Maria Osende, founder and artistic director

 

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, Maria started dancing ballet at the age of seven with Luis Fuente, Zelma Bustillo, Julia Estevez and Jose Granero. She continued her studies at the School of American Ballet in New York City (Fulbright Scholarship). She studied flamenco with Ana Maria Amahi and at the Centro de Arte Flamenco Amor de Dios in Madrid. Maria joined the Ballet Nacional de España (Madrid) at fifteen and later on the Deutsche Oper Berlin Ballet (Germany); she danced professionally for ten years in these two major European dance companies, soon becoming a soloist and obtaining extensive experience through working with many leading choreographers.

In September 2003 Maria moved to Canada, forming the Maria Osende Flamenco Company and taking Halifax by storm, helping to transform the city in a few short years into a national flamenco hotspot. Maria is primarily interested in bringing the best of today's flamenco to Canada and is the driving force behind Halifax's International Festival Fall for Flamenco. She is also very interested in exploring new ways in flamenco choreography; she has worked as a freelance dancer in projects involving other dance forms and music genres. Maria teaches at Halifax Dance, Mount Saint Vincent University and as a freelancer. She started the festival with little more than enthusiasm and lots of work.