Carmela Greco, daughter of flamenco dance legend Jose Greco, visited Flamenco Ole! Dance Studio in Fairmount earlier this month. She’s visiting the Philadelphia area before moving to Chicago to teach at Northeastern Illinois University.
Greco began studying dance at the age of 11 in Madrid, Spain and eventually became a Prima ballerina for the Spanish company Luisillo. Three years later, she founded her own dance company that toured in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
“I love my profession. It is who I am. It’s in my blood,” says Greco before leading the workshop seminar at Flamenco Ole!
Flamenco Ole! Dance Studio was founded in 1986 and now sits in a refurbished church at 1720 Mt. Vernon Street. The building shares the dance studio with Mt. Vernon Dance Space. The studio features two main dance floors consisting of the flamenco polished wood floor upstairs and modern unpolished downstairs studio.
Greco is a close friend with Julia Lopez, owner and founder of Flamenco Ole! Dance Studio. Lopez was also a friend and worked closely with Jose Greco before he passed away in 2000.
Flamenco Ole! is home to guitarist Carlos Rubio, a Spanish guitarist who has been playing since he was 13.
“In Flamenco, the guitar follows the dancer, not the other way around,” said Lopez, while Rubio played guitar and Greco danced in the background.
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