Gabriela
Granados (flamenco dancer/choreographer) began extensively training at the age
of four in her native Perú, studying a wide
range of classical and regional Spanish dances, Flamenco, Classical Ballet,
Character dance and Latin American folklore. In 1980, she moved to New York
where she continued her dance studies and performing career. She traveled to
Spain in 1985 and made her debut at the Tablao Flamenco Los Canasteros in Madrid. Ms. Granados also studied in Seville and
performed in Madrid’s renowned tablaos flamencos Las Brujas and Zambra,
where she had the opportunity to work alongside Spain’s top flamenco professionals.
After returning to the U.S., she became
a member of the flamenco companies of Maria Benítez, Andrea del Conte and
Carlota Santana. In 1996, Ms. Granados
founded American Bolero Dance Company,
with a mission to present other aspects of Spanish music and dance, besides
Flamenco. Her company received a Heritage and Preservation grant from the NEA
in 2002 and, since 2009, yearly consecutive grants from NYSCA and NYC-DCA
through the Queens Council on the Arts. Her work for ABDC encompasses classical
and folkloric Spanish dances, 18th Century Bolero, Zarzuela and Flamenco. In
2002, Ms. Granados established her company-affiliated Spanish Dance School,
dedicated exclusively to the preservation of all these dance styles.
As artistic director, dancer and
choreographer of ABDC, Ms. Granados has successfully presented her productions
in New York City, the Mid-Atlantic States and Europe. She created and produced
“Olé! Olé!” in 1998 at Intar Theater, “Olé! Olé! Fin de Siglo” in 1999 at The
Kaye Playhouse, “Spanish Gems” in 2005 at Flushing Town Hall, and “Tablao
Flamenco” in 2008, which run in Astoria, Queens, through 2013 for its sixth
season. Her latest production “Retrospectiva”, was presented at Tony Bennett
Concert Hall/Frank Sinatra School of the Arts on May 31, 2014. She appeared as
a guest soloist with various companies and music ensembles, such as Queens
Symphony, Baltimore Opera and Orchestra of St. Luke’s -in Carnegie Hall. Her
choreographic credits include La Traviata
for Virginia Opera and Mannes Opera, Carmen
for Orlando Opera, La Vida Breve
for DiCapo Opera Theatre, Goyescas
and La Vida Breve for Bronx Symphony,
and the original version of El Amor Brujo
for Wesleyan University’s Ensemble of the Americas, where she performed
with gypsy flamenco singer Esperanza Fernández. In 2007, Ms. Granados toured with The Sherman Ensemble and the Saratoga String Players, dancing her
newly created work Fandango by Luigi
Boccherini, and performed at the Metropolitan Opera gala honoring Plácido
Domingo in 2008.
Ms. Granados has been on the faculty of
the Neubert Ballet Institute for over a decade, an artist in residence at
LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, on the faculty of Broadway Dance
Center, a freelance teacher at Fazil’s Times Circle Studios, and a guest
teacher and lecturer for the Dance Department of New York University and
Barnard College. She’s been featured on Oxygen TV Network and selected by It’s
Queens The Magazine in the “Top 15 Movers & Shakers 2011”, a list of the
borough’s behind the scene entrepreneurs, artists, leaders, etc. who set art
and food trends, drive public discourse and work tirelessly to better their
communities.
The New York Times called her
production Olé! Olé! “exhuberant and stylish”, and her solo work “stunning…a tour
de force”.
