Renata has been dancing professionally since the age of 23, starting as a soloist in the Toronto Ballet Ensemble. Having been trained as a professional ballet dancer at some of Canada’s most prestigious schools, she then shifted her focus to flamenco that same year, training with Toronto’s Esmeralda Enrique and soon after, joining the Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company. Completing nine years with that company and performing alongside top level flamenco artists from Spain such as Chuscales, El Yiyi, Antonio Granjero, Mariano Cruceta and Ramon Martinez, she has also danced with other Toronto flamenco companies, most notably, Candela Flamenca, now known as Compania Carmen Romero. Flamenco training has included many workshops in Toronto with renowned teachers from Spain such as La Tati, Timo Lozano, Andres Marin, Soledad Barrio, Pilar Ortega, Domingo Ortega, Antonio Granjero and La Choni. She has also been to Spain twice for extended periods of study with some of it’s best performers and teachers, including Javier La Torre, Chiqui de Jerez, Ramon Martinez, Alicia Marquez, Manuel Betanzos, Juan Polvillo, Manolo Marin and Manuela Rios and is currently on her third, taking classes with Yolanda Cortes, La Tani and Iñaki Marquez. She has been performing with different flamenco artists in the Toronto area as a soloist since 1998, also creating and performing a flamenco/contemporary fusion piece that year with former National Ballet of Canada, Prima Ballerina, Gizella Witkowsky. Renata has also been studying the holistic arts and eastern philosophy since 1990 and since 1997, is a certified Stott pilates/instructor trainer and yoga teacher, receiving that formation with Ron Reid at the Downward Dog Yoga Centre. She is certified as a Thai yoga massage and reiki practitioner and has also been teaching flamenco at the Academy of Spanish Dance, the school for the Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company.
La Capitana from Queen of the Gypsies, A Tribute to Carmen A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwR8VWaplMk
Medicine Buddha Mantra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUJucA-mrgE
