Juan Ogalla
Who is Juan Ogalla?
Juan Ogalla was born in Cádiz in 1974. A non-Roma bailaor, he trained at the academies of Concha Baras, Angelita Gómez and Manolo Marín, completing his training in workshops with teachers such as Manolete, Matilde Coral, Carmen Cortés, El Güito, Javier Latorre and El Toleo. He made his professional debut in 1982, at just eight years old, at the Gran Teatro Falla in Cádiz, in “Las Calles de Cai,” directed by Carmen Giráldez.
Career
Between 1982 and 1987 he was part of the group Los Niños de la Tertulia de la Isla, directed by Concha Baras, with which he gave more than 250 performances at major flamenco festivals. Between 1988 and 1991 he toured Europe — including a season at the Théâtre Édouard VII in Paris with “Flamenco, esa forma de vivir” — and reached Broadway with “Gipsy Passion.” In 1992 he won second national prize for flamenco dance from the Peña Flamenca de Huelva and performed at the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games. Between 1993 and 2000 he spent seven years in Cristina Hoyos’s company as dance partner and soloist, taking part in productions such as “Arsa y Toma” and “La Tirana,” premiered at the 1998 Bienal de Sevilla. He also collaborated with artists such as Manuela Carrasco, María Pagés, Yoko Komatsubara and Lola Greco.
Style and solo project
From 2001 he set out on his own path, premiering “Soniquete Flamenco” in Malta and Turkey, and later touring the United States, Japan, Brazil and Europe. At the 2005 Festival de Jerez, critics praised his “classic-modern recital of the finest quality,” in which he showed complete command of the expressive possibilities of flamenco dance, combining footwork, hip movement and an approach that fuses the classical with the contemporary. In 2006 he presented the self-titled show “Juan Ogalla” at the Teatro Alameda in Seville.