Ivelisse Gonzalez from Havana Cuba, is a contemporary flamenco dancer developing the dichotomy between the traditional flamenco codes and the creative freedom of contemporary dance.
Widely known in the contemporary flamenco scene in Israel for her works in 1|2|3 Festival, Días del Flamenco Festival and Bazak Festival, with plays of her own creation and collaborations such as Identidad, Del Tiempo, In Memory of the Olives, Ivelisse and others. Her dance background is based on classic ballet, classic spanish dance, flamenco and contemporary styles from prestigious art institutions in Cuba, Spain and Israel with masters Israel Galvan, Javier Latorre, Manuel Fernandez Montoya (Farruquito), Ohad Naharin, Yasmeen Godder, Naomi Perlov, Shahar Binyamini amongst others. Her professional work experience extending from soloist as part of Compañía Flamenca Ecos, Israeli Flamenco Company Compás, Flamenco Natural Company and Israel Opera to independent projects such as Noa Drezner’s Flamenco, Yeonathan Shachar’s sound painting and Capsula.
She defines herself as a creator expanding her language collaborating with artists from different domains, personal research and transformation. Her creations are characterized by the search of a choreographic speech that reflects the development of current contexts, creative risks, cultural fusions and inclusion of novel methods for the creation of art.
MORE ABOUT IVELISSE GONZALEZ
Ivelisse Gonzalez born in Havana , Cuba, is a contemporary flamenco dancer and creator utilizing performing and visual arts as her means for continuous research and development. She graduated from the National School of Arts and the Higher Institute of Arts in Havana and is currently based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Starting her professional career in Ballet Español de Cuba Company (2007-2010), she was part of Flamenco and Clásico Español (Classic Spanish Dance) works such as La Casa de Bernarda Alba, Danzando Sueños, Carmen, Clásico Embrujo Español with choreographers such as Cristina Hoyos, Manolo Marín, Maria Pagés Company, Lo Ferro Ballet Company, María Juncal, Antonio el Pipa, Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya (Farruquito) among others.
From 2010 to 2015 she was a member of Ecos Cuban Flamenco Company where she performed as a soloist in the cast of Son Flamenco, Fiesta Flamenca, Más que Flamenco, De la misma Rama, El Ayer y el Hoy del Flamenco and toured the world dance festivals as Sheikh Zayed Heritage Dance Festival (Dubai-Abu Dhabi) and Music, Arts and Literature Festival in Kuwait. Around 2013 she begins to manifest her own independent voice with choreographies, videos arts and artist collaborations at the Festival Marcapasos, Festival de las Artes, DVD Dance Havana, Ciudad en Movimiento Dance Festival and Ellas Crean Dance Festival.
In 2016 she moved to Israel and started working at the Israeli Flamenco Company Compás until 2019. She was part of the cast in many pieces like Kímica, David y Batsheva, Luna y Media, Armonía, Alba, El Sombrero de los Tres Picos and Clásico Español (with Be’er Sheba Symphonic Orchestra) and Carmen (with Tel Aviv Opera). She was fortunate to work and share the stage with prominent Spanish dancers - choreographers such as Adrián Santana, Miguel Angel Espino, Javier Latorre.
She has attended flamenco masterclasses in Israel and Spain with maestros Israel Galván, Javier Latorre , Farruquito, Belén López, Marco Flores, Pastora Galván, Chiqui de Jerez, Alfonso Losa, and also contemporary dance courses and classes in Batsheva Dance Company, Inbal Dance Company, Yasmeen Godder Company, Mor Shani, Mattan Daskal, Roni Chadash, Ilayah Shalit, Sharon Zuckerfrau, Shahar Binyamini and others.
During all this time Ivelisse has developed her independent career as a choreographer, principal dancer and artist director as co-founder of her own art studio and artistic project "Yunfa" in Tel Aviv together with the cuban musician Pablo Ordas, with the objetive of collaborate with other artists, support and create projects, art videos and performances.
Among her collaboration works stand out the names Naomi Perlov, David Broza, Mor J. Mizrahi, Lilà Rouge, Naya Binghi, Mor Shani, Flamenco Natural Company (Sharon Saguy), Noa Drezner's Flamenco Project, Roy Shakked, Yechiel Hasson, Noam Helfer, Yeonathan Shahar (Soundpainting Improvisational Sessions), Adi Livne (Shenkar Design College), Anne Sylvie Bonet (Visual Artist) among others.
She is an active member of Suzanne Dellal’s Dancers Independent program and has created pieces for Flamenco Fusion Dance Festival (2019), Flamenco Ole (2020), Festival Mediterráneo (2020-2021), Keren Adi Flamenco Festival (2021), Festival Días de Flamenco (2022), Ono Guitar Festival (2022), Festival Bazak (Jerusalem, 2022), 1|2|3 Israeli Creator Program 2021 - Suzanne Dellal (In memory of the Olives) which led to Fuori Programma Dance Festival and artist residence (Roma, 2022).
Her form of expression is based in the constant evolution of the dichotomy between the traditional flamenco codes and the creative freedom of contemporary dance, utilizing aesthetic, musical and technical means. She is looking to expand her language by collaborating with artists from different domains and proposing the development of current context, creative risks, cultural fusions and inclusion of novel methods for the creation of art.
