Oleaje Flamenco creates electrifying, passionate and uplifting Flamenco productions that transmit the authentic heart of Flamenco under the artistic direction of dancer Amelia Moore. Oleaje produces shows with some of the best flamenco talent around, including the following artists:
Amelia Moore Dancer, Palmera, Artistic Director
Amelia’s love of movement and dance began at an early age with ballet, tap and jazz classes, and at 15 years old she fell in love with Middle Eastern dance and began her intensive studies under her mentor Susan Evans. At the age of 17, Amelia began performing professionally as a dance soloist and playing flamenco palmas with the World Music group Children of the Revolution, with whom she performed internationally for 12 years for audiences of up to 30,000 people and danced in a PBS special. Additional milestones of her pre-Flamenco career include graduating with a BA in Spanish with a Minor in Dance from the University of Washington, earning a 500hr Yoga teaching certification from Annie Carpenter of SmartFLOW Yoga, and performing as an invited dance soloist in both Istanbul and Cairo with the renowned Turkish percussionist Burhan Oçal.
In 2006 she began her Flamenco studies in earnest, and in 2009 she decided to devote her life to the pursuit and development of this incomparable art form. As a Flamenco artist, her credits include producing shows under the name Oleaje Flamenco and performing in shows as an invited dancer with great artists including Luis de La Tota (percussion), Israel Heredia (guitar), Jesus Montoya (voice), Ricardo Garcia (guitar), and Jose Moreno (dance, percussion, voice). Highlights also include performing as a dance soloist in Arizona Theater Company’s reimagined musical Man of La Mancha in their 2017-2018 season to popular acclaim, receiving a MAC award nomination for her dance role in the play. More recently, she has had the honor of performing as an invited dance soloist with the legendary guitarist Antonio Rey.
She studies regularly and intensively with the world’s top Flamenco artists and credits her beloved mentors with her growth over the years as an artist, including Maria Bermudez ‘La Cha Cha’, Belen Maya, Encarnacion Jaeger and Sara de Luis.
Along with her colleagues Eve Salonen and Jackie Maclin, this year she launched Northwest Flamenco Academy and is also co-director of the non-profit organization Espacio de Arte, which is dedicated to promoting Seattle community access to the Spanish flamenco cultural traditions of dance, music and singing.
Jed Miley Guitarist
Jed Miley is a Flamenco guitarist, composer, producer and teacher based in Seattle. He began playing Flamenco guitar in 1996, after hearing a recording of Sabicas. In Seattle, Jed was lucky to find Marcos Carmona as his first Flamenco guitar teacher and later worked in La Pena Flamenca de Seattle with Rubina Carmona. In 2003, he moved to New York where he worked professionally for several years, playing at prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Joe’s Pub, Caramoor Festival, Jacob’s Pillow and various tablaos. In 2009, Jed joined Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana and performed, toured and acted as a teaching artist with the company for three years. Jed has studied extensively in Seville, Spain at La Fundacion Cristina Heeren with Nino de Pura, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, and Pedro Sierra. In addition to playing traditional Flamenco, Jed is known for stretching harmonic and melodic structures with his Flamenco fusion projects and collaborates with artists such as Alfonso Cid, Elena Andujar, Miguel Vargas, and Sara Erde. In 2011, Jed travelled to Spain as a producer of the documentary, “Hola, Flamenco” that aired at the Philadelphia independent film festival in the summer of 2012. He recently finished producing a Flamenco/Jazz fusion album for the guitarist Nathan Herrera, Sueños, which was released in January 2012, and his own Flamenco Rock band Dientes de Caramelo released their debut album, Pulpo, in March 2012. Since returning to Seattle, Jed has been working on creating his new recording studio, Pinche Studios, which opened in 2013.
Daniel Azcarate Singer, Guitarist
Daniel Azcarate is a powerhouse singer and guitarist who has been living and breathing Flamenco since he was 15 years old. His dedication to Flamenco led him to study and perform Flamenco in Sevilla for 4 years. He has toured in Japan many times as well as in Canada and the US, including a recent two month residency in Santa Fe, NM. He has a natural talent, musical ear and insatiable passion for Flamenco which has led him to be considered as one of the best American born Flamenco singers. He was also one of the original founding members of Oleaje Flamenco.
Eve Salonen Dancer, Palmera
Eve began her relationship with movement and dance in Finland as a young girl, focusing primarily on aesthetic group gymnastics. In addition to training and competing in aesthetic group gymnastics, she spent many years studying ballet technique and jazz dance. As her gymnastic career came to an end in her mid 20’s, Eve was swept away by flamenco. After many years of dedicated practice, she started working and performing with Finnish flamenco artists. Over the years, Eve has studied with many famous Spanish flamenco artists. She also served as a board member for Helsinki Flamenco Association for two years.
Now living in Seattle, Eve has made flamenco her profession. Always striving to improve and grow, she continues her Flamenco education both in the United States and Spain. Her specialties are the use of Flamenco props such as the bata de cola, abanico and mantón. Eve collaborates with many Seattle-based flamenco artists and groups, teaching and performing regularly. Along with her colleagues Amelia Moore and Jackie Maclin, this year she launched Northwest Flamenco Academy and is also co-director of the non-profit organization Espacio de Arte, which is dedicated to promoting Seattle community access to the Spanish flamenco cultural traditions of dance, music and singing.
Yume Terai Dancer, Palmera
Yume Terai is one of Japan’s emerging professional dancers, having recently finished her 2016 tour Sueno Flamenco in Japan. Originally from Fukui, she began her dance studies at the age of 8 with classical ballet. Her thirst for knowledge and adventure took her abroad to Australia to study when she was 18 years old, and there she received a BA in Contemporary Dance and Theater design. At the age of 20 she found flamenco and discovered her true passion. From 2008-2013 Yume lived and studied in Spain intensively with renowned dancer Pepa Martinez, and from 2013-2015 she studied at the Fundacion Cristina Heeren in Sevilla. After graduating, she began actively performing at venues in Sevilla such as La Flamenqueria, Pena Nino de Alfalfa, Bar Puerta Sol and La Caja Negra.
Samir Osorio Singer, Palmero
Originally from Havana, Cuba, Samir Osorio has nearly 20 years of experience singing Flamenco from his beginnings as a singer with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. After emigrating to Miami and working as an in-demand tablao singer, he has become known as one of the few singers in the U.S. who can capture the raw essence of the Flamenco sound and feel. Now living between Seattle and Cuba, he works regularly as a soloist and with Oleaje Flamenco.
GUEST ARTISTS
Israel Heredia Guitarist
Former Musical Director of Oleaje Flamenco, Israel currently resides in Granada. We look forward to having him back as a guest artist in the future! Born in the Sacromonte neighborhood of Granada in Spain to a gypsy (Romani) family that cultivates Flamenco, Israel grew up in an extraordinary musical environment. Some of the most outstanding artists in the historic dynasty of his family are his great-grandmother Rosa Amaya ‘La Faraona’ who was instrumental in developing one of the song forms of Flamenco, the Zambra, and his grandfather Luis Heredia Amaya, who is known as the first and possibly only Gitano sculptor of renown in the world. This legacy continues with the work of his uncle, the master dancer Manolete Maya, and the singers Chonchi Heredi and Marina Heredia who have songs for artists like the legendary guitarist Paco de Lucia and in the biggest festivals in Spain such as the Bienal of Flamenco in Sevilla. At the young age of 9 he recognized his future as a Flamenco guitarist and began his studies at the hand of his father and other family members including Antonio Heredia ‘El Chonico’. From there, he continued developing musically with guitarists such as Emilio Maya and Diego Del Morao, who is considered one of the top Flamenco guitarists in the world today. He began playing professionally at 14 years old in the Peña “Pepe Luis Habichuela”, and in one of the most prestigious Flamenco caves in Granada, ‘La Faraona’ where he developed his specialties of accompaniment for voice and dance while developing his own artistic style. Over time he worked in many different Flamenco venues (Tablaos) and Festivals across Andalucia, sharing the stage with many of the greatest Flamenco artists of today: Manolete Maya, Curro Albayzin, Juan Andres Maya, ‘Arcangel’, Jose Menese, Rafael Amargo, Antonio Canales, Diego del Morao, Anton Jimenez, David Paniagua, and perhaps the greatest Flamenco singer of today, Diego ‘El Cigala’. His family’s show ‘Encuentro Cultural Gitano’, with which he toured Spain and abroad, won many awards at the national and international level, such as the ‘Premio Andaluz de Estudiantes Gitanos ´´Homenaje a Padres y Madres 2003´´, Premio Flamenco Joven 2008 (Granada), Premio Federacion de Entidades Culturales Andaluzas (Valencia, 2008 f.e.c.a c.v) , y 3 Awards from the Festival Flamenco ´´Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca’: 2004, 2008 and 2011. In 2009 he began touring Latin America, performing in Bogotá, Columbia in the Theater of Fine Arts, accompanying the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota in their production of Carmen by Bizet. Soon after, he was invited to record a few episodes of the Soap Opera ‘Queen of the South’, appearing onscreen next to the actress Kate del Castillo. He has performed in some of the most prestigious theaters in cities such as Manizales (Founders Theater, and the Plaza de Toros in Manizales where he played for audiences of 8000 during the performances of great bullfighters such as ‘El Juli´, Ivan Fandiño ´,´Fandi´,´, and ´Morante de la puebla´´among others. Other outstanding performance venues include Cali, Ibague, Pereira, Santa Rosa de Cabal, Popayan,Cartagena de Indias (Teatro Heredia), Medellín (Universidad Medellin, Pablo Tobon, Matacandelas, Museodel Castillo. He also presented his own show in consecutive years in the Festivals of Bogota and Medellin, which was praised by the press and the Columbian public. In 2012 he formed his own performing group called “Israel Heredia Cuadro Flamenco”, which during the last few years has become known as the best Flamenco show in Columbia and with which he toured the country in the most renowned stages, and with which he accompanied the legendary Flamenco singer Diego ‘El Cigala’ during his tours through the country. Since 2015 he has worked as a professor in musical Conservatories, Academies and Schools such as Musicreando in Medellin as part of his larger mission to carry Flamenco and the flag of Granada throughout the world as an ambassador of Flamenco art and to represent his historic Flamenco dynasty. In late 2015 he began recording an Album, ‘En Casa’ with the group ‘La Iguana’, which fuses Flamenco and Columbian Music. In 2016 he traveled to Miami where he began working with ‘Ballet Flamenco de La Rosa’ and soon become the Musical Director after demonstrating his talents for composition, dance, theatrical direction and choreography. In May of 2016 he presented two shows in the Colony Theater of Miami beach: ‘Al Grano’ and ‘La Gaviota’ by Anton Chejov, of which he was the musical composer, musical director and performer, performing alongside the dancers Pepe Flores, Eloy Aguilar, La Popi, Lucia La Rusa and the singer from Granada Alicia Morales, to widespread acclaim. In 2017 he presented a new work which he composed and directed at the Colony theater, ´La Casa de la Muñeca´, and performed with ´Oscar de Los reyes´ and ´Irene La Sentio´. Soon after he performed and was the musical director of another show with Pepe Flores, ‘Corazon Flamenco’ which was performed in venues such as the Filmore Theater, Jackie Gleeson Room and South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center. Additionally he performed in two more shows, ‘Caminos Flamencos’, and ‘Homenaje a Rocio Jurado’, performed at the Pinecrest Gardens, and completed various Flamenco residencies at Miami Dade College. This same year he performed alongside the world-renowned singer Concha Buika which was featured on many TV programs in Miami including America Teve. After this he performed alongside Rafael Amargo and Boris Izaguirre in a private event at the Delano Hotel in Miami Beach, and soon after performed with his contemporary Juan Habichuela Nieto in a concert at Miami Dade County Auditorium. In October of 2017 he shared the stage with Paco De Lucia’s band in the Flamenco Club ‘Madrid Tapas y Vinos’ with the famous dancer ‘La Lupi’, and in 2018 formed the Israel Heredia Sextet, touring various cities of the U.S. with original music to preserve the legacy of pure Flamenco while at the same time innovating the art form with a fusion of sounds such as the singing of the Venezuelan singer Leonard Garcia, the Flamenco singer Alejandro ‘El Gambimbas’, the second guitarist Felipe Carvajal, the dancer Jose ‘El Niño’, and Latin Grammy nominated percussionists Adolfo Herrera and Miguel de le Rua. After hearing of his project, the band XAXO, songwriters of artists such as Ricky Martin and Alejandro Sanz among others, invited Heredia to record a new song called ‘Asi Es La Vida’, which Alejandro Sanz and the band XAXO will perform to represent Spain at the World Cup in Russia in 2018. More recently, he composed the music for a third work with Ballet Flamenco La Rosa, ‘Summer and Smoke’ by the writer Tennessee Williams, which was performed at Pinecrest Gardens with the singer Alejandro ‘El Gambimbas’ of Granada. He plans to Seattle to be Musical Director of Oleaje Flamenco and is working on a new theatrical work to be premiered in Seattle.
“The duende’s arrival always means a radical change in forms. It brings to old planes unknown feelings of freshness, with the quality of something newly created, like a miracle, and it produces an almost religious enthusiasm.”
-Federico Garcia Lorca