Jelena Ava Ristic
Director and Instructor
Hi and welcome!
I'm Jelena Ava Ristic.
And...this is my Flamenco bio!
I was born and raised in Toronto Canada, where I started taking Flamenco Dance classes at the Academy of Spanish Dance under Esmeralda Enrique in 2000.
It was love at first sight. I immediately threw myself in wholeheartedly not only attending several classes a week, but also taking workshops from celebrated Flamenco dancers and percussionists from Spain & New Mexico including:
Carmen Ledesma
Belen Maya
Andres Marin
Rafael Campallo
Alicia Marquez
Nano
La Choni
Eva La Yerba Buena
Juan Ogalla
Ali La Tota
Harumi Hata
David El Gamba
Carmen Montes
Naike Ponce Gonzales
Carmen Montes
I continue to study under Katerina Giannakopoulou & Franchesca Flamenco, as well as have studied under Maria Avila on line respectively from Cologne Germany, and Vancouver Canada as well as with Elba Hevia y Vaca in Philadelphia, and Yumi La Rosa here in Phoenix Arizona where I now permanently reside.
Within a few short years of beginning my studies, I was dancing semi-professionally at weddings, community events and restaurants within the city of Toronto and surrounding area.
I spent several years organizing rehearsals and performances for the Academy of Spanish Dance in Toronto for various community events such as The Dragon Boat Races, Latin American Festivals, Holiday Events and Celebrations around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).
In Toronto I have performed with Tamar Illana, Ilse Gudino, Angela Deiseach, Pam Briz, Lisa La Mantia, Clauda Calú Aguirre and Jorge Miguel as well as performed for the online Philadelphia Fringe Dance Festival with Pasión Y Arte for the piece "Sevillana Get Togethers," 2020.
In Phoenix you'll often catch me at Tapas Papas Fritas as an audience member who loves to hop on stage with Yumi La Rosa, Martin Glaxiola and Carlos Montufar for a fun Sevillana or two as I continue to develop my own repertoire and network here.
What sets me apart from other teachers of Flamenco is the following:
My intense focus on other aspects of Flamenco that work in concert with the dance such as castanets, palmas and cante. I am self taught in castanets, studied palmas and rhythm with David Moran (El Gamba from Jerez de La Frontera, Spain), and have been studying Flamenco Cante since 2019 with Tamar Ilana (Toronto, CA), Silvia Temis (Calgary CA), and Naike Ponce Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain), as well as voice with Stephanie Swann at Sing your Style here in Phoenix AZ and online with Madeleine Harvey.
My dedicated personal development includes art therapy (certified), mediation (certified), yoga (intensive personal practice), rigorously exploring and applying high performance habits, and supporting interdisciplinary art projects that greatly enrich my practice and teaching of the dance form.
My pedagogical achievements as an awarded teacher of ESL and Critical Thinking since 1998, make me a recognized expert instructor capable of designing and executing curricula and lessons that individually maximize the use of each learner's time and potential. Due to that unique capacity as a teacher coupled with my personal interests mentioned above, Flamenco for Life classes are run on a completely unique proprietary methodology consciously integrating personal development, yoga, mediation, neurobiology, experiential learning and expert pedagogy in the formation of a not only a skilled and well-rounded dancer, but also individual.
My profound fascination with and study of optimizing health with particular emphasis on nutrition, physical fitness, neurobiology, and regenerative medicine also makes me a fantastic resource for all the supportive facets necessary to keep a dancer healthy, strong and injury free.
The silver lining to a truly dark cloud in which I thought I'd lost dance forever, this fascination started as a necessity which grew into a profound and unwavering dedication to holistic health (mind, body, heart and soul). I experienced a devastating back and hip injury that left me in genuiniely unbearable chronic pain, hardly able to walk between 2012 and 2018.
My determination to heal and audacity to dream to return to dance after I was told there was absolutely no hope sent me on an arduous and profound healing, personal and spiritual journey that ultimately resulted in the concept for Flamenco for Life.
It's a play on words meaning Flamenco forever, but also taught in a precise and intentional way designed to intensely improve and empower your quality of life, as well as your ability to become the best dancer you can be.
I'd be honored to meet you in a free class and share with you the transformational knowledge I gained and continue to gain on my Flamenco journey. It's knowledge that I depend on daily to maximize my level of fitness and endurance as a dancer as well as personal resilience in my every day life.
I am fully bonded, finger printed and have passed my state background check to work as an Interventionist with predominantly immigrant second language learners at Peoria Accelerated Alternative High School in Peoria Arizona where I very happily reside with my husband and beloved pets Simeon (the Husky) and Gabe and Izzy (the cats).
*** If you are allergic to pets, we'll be expanding to non-home based studio space in the very near future. Contact me at contact@flamencoforlife.com for more information. Or, if you'd just like to connect over Flamenco! .
Education, Certifications and Licenses
Education:
B.A. in Anthropology and Spanish LIterature - York University, Toronto CA
TESL Diploma - Humber College, Toronto CA
Certifications:
Art Therapy
Meditation
Positive Psychology
Make-Up Artistry
Teaching Licenses and Certifications in the State of Arizona
English Language Arts
Constitutional History US & Arizona
Dance (In progress to be completed by August 1st 2024)
Sevillanas with Castanets
Pima County Courthouse in Tucson, AZ
Sevillanas with Fan
Pima County Courthouse in Tucson, AZ