Tablao Flamenco

GARETH OWEN (Guitarist) is a world-class flamenco guitarist who has recorded two albums, Gareth Owen Flamenco Guitar and El Cobre. He has performed at the Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto flamenco festivals, and Dawson City Music Festival, with tablao performances in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. He is also a member and musical director of Palabra Flamenco, an ensemble that combines traditional flamenco with English-language poetry, for which he toured the Victoria, Winnipeg, and Toronto fringe festivals, and Victoria Festival of Authors. He also worked with acclaimed poet Jan Zwicky, alongside dancer Denise Yeo and poet Garth Martens, for their show series Dark Sounds. Owen has shared the stage with many international artists, including Jesus Álvarez, Gaspar Rodriguez Roman, Coral de los Reyes, Miguel Rosendo, Luis Vargas “El Mono”, Domingo Ortega, Luis de la Tota, and Gema Moneo. Owen teaches privately and at Victoria’s flamenco school, Flamenco Victoria. For Gareth, playing flamenco guitar is all-consuming. Whether he is accompanying singers, dancers, teaching students, or creating new arrangements, he maintains the essential spirit and traditions of Flamenco. VERONICA MAGUIRE (Singer and Dancer), winner of the prestigious Jacqueline Lemieux Award for her contribution to Dance in Canada, has shared the stage in Canada with North American and Spanish international flamenco artists. Her longest artistic partnership was with her late husband and acclaimed flamenco guitarist, Harry Owen, together co-founding Alma de España Flamenco Dance Company in Victoria 1991. Their story was the subject of one of the Mozaico Flamenco documentary videos Mozaics | A History of Flamenco in Vancouver presented in 2023. In a career spanning over 50 years as dancer/singer/teacher/choreographer, Veronica has produced and directed world-class productions in Victoria such as Recuerdos in 2011, and Pasajes in 2014. She has performed in the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival, the Dawson City Music Festival, the Victoria Flamenco Festival, the Vancouver and Victoria Fringe Festival, the Victoria Symphony, as well as performances throughout Western Canada. As a member of Palabra Flamenco’s collaborative poetry & flamenco production, she performed at the Victoria Festival of Authors. In 2018, Veronica was one of six artists presented in a film A Quiet Flamenco created by Rosanna Terraciano. She has collaborated on the flamenco films, Solo Cantando and Familia Flamenca for the virtual Victoria Flamenco Festival, directed and performed live at the Waterfront Theatre in Alma de España’s production Familia for the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival in 2021, and more recently, staged and performed in For The Love of Flamenco in 2022 and Bienvenida Prima.welcome cousin! in 2023 for the Victoria Flamenco Festival. Currently, Veronica is the coordinator for Alma de España’s Flamenco Tablao at the Mint in Victoria featuring a roster of flamenco artists. Veronica continues to be active in the community as one of the founding members and artistic advisors to the Flamenco de la Isla Society, and as teacher for Flamenco Victoria, all the while staying connected to her adopted hometown, Jerez de la Frontera Spain, a touchstone for continued growth and inspiration. DENISE YEO (Dancer and Palmera) is a professional flamenco dance soloist, educator and palmera. In 2017, she co-founded Palabra Flamenco as its artistic director and principal dancer — joining traditional flamenco with English-language poetry and storytelling. Their shows, La Palabra en el Tiempo and Fox Woman have toured flamenco, theatre and writing festivals across Canada. Fox Woman was adapted for film and will be relaunched for theatre in 2025. In a similar vein she has performed as a soloist for Dark Sounds, an ongoing, unique collaboration on death, grief, and the climate crisis with acclaimed poet Jan Zwicky, guitarist Gareth Owen, and poet Garth Martens. As a soloist, Yeo performs in tablaos and shows across Canada. She has performed in large-scale flamenco productions Recuerdos and Pasajes for Alma de España Flamenco Dance Company and was featured in the opera Ainadamar for Pacific Opera Victoria. Denise has trained with award-winning dancers and choreographers Veronica Maguire, Carmen Romero, and Oscar Nieto. She has also trained with international flamenco artists, including Concha Jareño, Domingo Ortega, Maria Bermúdez, Inmaculada Ortega, Antonio El Farru, Carmen Herrera, Ana María Lopez, and more. Denise teaches privately and also under the banner of Flamenco Victoria. She values the connection possible in flamenco’s darkening ground—sharing flamenco remains her greatest purpose and love. LIA CROWE (Dancer and Palmera) With a dance background in ballet, jazz and contemporary Lia was first hooked by flamenco at the age of 18 when she took a Summer intensive with Veronica Maguire. Years later she began studying flamenco more seriously as an adult in 2005 at Raino Dance in Victoria which led to further intensive studies in Spain. She has been performing flamenco locally ever since in cuadro shows and in the Victoria flamenco festival with her flamenco contemporaries as well as in larger shows under the direction of Veronica Maguire and Monique Salez. In 2022 Lia presented a Flamenco Film titled “The Letter” – a love letter to the art of Flamenco at the Victoria Flamenco Festival. In addition to that she has been able to share her love of this highly expressive, passionate and rhythmical art form as a flamenco teacher since 2014. She describes her approach to teaching as creating a space where dancers can feel good moving in their body, focus on personal growth and develop a deeper enjoyment of the art form. Working primarily as a photographer and creative director of a magazine group, whether with dance or photography, visual storytelling is at the core of Lia’s creative expression and community & connection at the core of her values. JAKE LEE (Singer and Guitarist) Jake Lee “Chinito” began training as a guitar accompanist for flamenco dancers in 1997 under Harry Owen and Veronica Maguire. Drawing influence from both traditional and modern sources, Jake has been a frequent collaborator with many BC artists including Rueda, Monique Salez, the Kasandra Flamenco Ensemble, Alma de España, Peña Flamenca, LaLuna Flamenco and Mozaico Flamenco. Performing regularly in Victoria and Vancouver, he has been a participant in the Victoria Flamenco Festival since 2013 and has performed in the 2015 and 2018 editions of the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival. In 2024, Jake performed in Calgary with Fiona Malena, Anastassia LaMusa and Annette Morcos. In addition to playing flamenco guitar, Jake is also becoming known as singer and has been featured in recent editions of the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival and Mozaico Flamenco's Sunday Salon Series as well as tablaos on Vancouver Island. He was featured in “The Letter”, a flamenco video presented at the Victoria Flamenco Festival 2022. When not performing, Jake is developing his skills as a luthier. Not surprisingly, he specializes in the construction of flamenco guitars.