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OLÉ Performance Troupe

 Roster of Artists

Mary Ann Esperanza Hope - Rehearsal Mistress, Violinist, Dancer
Born to musician parents, Mary Ann Esperanza Hope began classical violin studies at the age of ten.  She has been a member of the Evansville Philharmonic, the Bloomington Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony in Indiana; and the St. Louis Philharmonic and Independence Symphony in Missouri.  Mary Ann began ballet training at age five.  She was introduced to Flamenco and Spanish dance at the Conservatory of Music, UMKC with Tamara La Garbancito Carson.  She has also trained at Northeastern Illinois University and has studied with Vida Peral, Timo Lozano, Edo, Don Juanjo Linares, Omayra Amaya and Antonio Vargas.  She currently studies with Tamara La Garbancito at the Conservatory of Music UMKC.  Mary Ann Esperanza has been performing with OLÉ Music and Dance of Spain for thirteen years.  She is also a professional ballroom dancer and instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studios.


Darren Carpenter - Dancer, Cajon
Darren began his arts career in musical theater, appearing in many shows including Pirates of Penzance, Kiss Me Kate, in southeast Kansas.  In 1987, he trained to become a ballroom dance instructor at Arthur Murray Studio in Wichita, KS and later moved to the Lenexa, KS Arthur Murray Studio.  He has competed professionally in the U.S. and Canada in Smooth and Latin dancing.  He currently competes with his students in Pro-Am events and teaches Ballroom Dance for the M.F.A. program at UMKC. He is the current owner of the Lenexa Arthur Murray Dance Studio.  Darren began his flamenco studies with Tamara La Garbancito and has also studied with Antonio Vargas. 

Helena Vasconcellos  (La Brasilena) - Dancer, Vocalist
 Helena comes from a musical family in Brazil and began playing guitar by ear with her five siblings at a very young age.  At age 17 she began her formal music training, with private piano lessons and choral singing.  She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance, a Master's Degree in Choral Conducting, and an Interdisciplinary Ph.D in Music Education with emphasis in Choral Conducting.  As a UMKC student she was the recipient of the UMKC Women's Council fund for two years and received a Fellowship from the School of Education for her doctoral studies.  She was the Assistant Director of the Kansas City Children's Choir for four years.  Helena has been working at Catholic schools as a Music teacher for the last five years.  Currently she works at Nativity of Mary Parish in Independence. She directs both adult and youth choirs, besides being in charge of the music program for the school and the Liturgy Music for the Parish. Helena’s dance training began with two years of classical ballet, Tae Kwon Do, ballroom classes, and social participation in Brazilian Carnival Samba events.  In 1993 she enrolled in Flamenco classes at the Hispanic Institute in Brasilia.  Upon her arrival in Kansas City in 1997 she continued her training under Tamara La Garbancito at UMKC  and at the same year she started performing with Ole’ Music and Dance of Spain.  She has also studied with Patricia Weingriller, "La Mora," Vida Peral, Liliana Morales, Timo Lozano, and Antonio Vargas.


Cynthia Bleck - Dancer
Cynthia has been studying flamenco with Tamara "La Garbancito" for 9 years and has been a member of Ole' for the last 5 years. She has been instrumental in building the elementary dance program for the Kansas City Missouri Magnet School System and continues to teach dance at Longfellow Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School after 19 years. She also teaches at Young Audience's Community School for the Arts and wrote the dance curriculum for that program. Her degrees includes a B.S. in Elementary and Special Education from Texas Christian University and a M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University  and she recently completed her Gifted and Talented certification in Missouri. Ms. Bleck studied classical ballet with Aline Marfield  and danced with the Wichita Civic Ballet throughout high school. She studied modern dance with Donna Rizzo and Andrew Krichels in Nashville and performed with their dance company called Tennessee Dance Theater for 3 years. She also taught and performed with the Vanderbilt Dance Group.  In Kansas City, Ms. Bleck has studied modern and improvisation with Susan Warden, contact improvisation with Harlen Brownlee and tap with Billy Mahoney. Other teachers she has had the opportunity to study with include Arthur Mitchell, Bella Lewitzky,  Nancy Stark Smith, Ruth Zaporah and Antonio Vargas.
Scott Hammer - Guitarist

Scott began playing the guitar at the age of 6 and put his first band together at the age of 13. They played mainly  l talent shows and parties. By the age of 16, he was playing in local clubs and won several band contests. Scott continued with bands until about the age of 27 when I began to focus into other areas including classical, synth and of course, flamenco guitar.
 

 

Marbel Mattsson – Dancer

Marbel was born in Puebla, Mexico of Hungarian and Mexican parents.  Her early enthusiasm for dance was nurtured at the Seguro Social institute of Dance.  Professional experience would soon begin with the Ballet Folklorico de Bellas Artes and the Ballet Folklorica del Seguro Social.  After moving to the United States she was invited to perform with the Rosa Moreno Ballet Folklorico.  She was invited to become a member of Ole Music and Dance of Spain. During Marbels time with Ole, she has diversified to include performing with UMKC’s Gamalon, featuring music and dance from Bali.  She has also studied flamenco at Danza Fuerte with Jack Iahey.  Her supportative nature has led to her involvement with another Kansas City’s school of dance, City in Motion, where she is a member of the Board of Directors.

 		 Kirk Carson - Singer, Cajon
 Formerly a leading tenor with opera houses in Europe and the United States, including Chicago Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Lyric Theater of Oklahoma, Dupage Opera, Augsberg Oper, Bremen Oper, Ulm Stadtstheater, and Graz Oper. He has performed with major symphony orchestras including, Deutschland Symphonic Radio Orchestra, Bavarian State Radio Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Performing Arts in Choral Conducting from Oklahoma City University and also attended the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago and the American Institute for Musical Studies in Graz Austria for post graduate work.  Kirk has directed both opera and musical theater productions during the past 20years for many different theaters, both professional, civic, as well as academic.  In 2001 he created the role of Sheriff Jack Potter in the operatic world premiere of Showdown on Two Street and can be heard on the original cast recording. Kirk has been studying flamenco percussion and vocal styles the last several years, and has been lucky enough to sit in on master classes by Antonio Vargas and Vida Peral as well as studying cajon with Hector Aguirre and Timo Lozano.

 

Shannon Hammer, La Iriandesa - Dancer

Shannon began her dance training at an early age, studying ballet, tap, modern and jazz. Her musical studies included Show Choir and musicals in high school  Shannon has been studying flamenco with Tamara 'La Garbancito' Carson since 2005 and has also studied with Timo Lozano, Liliana Morales, and Melinda "La Linda' Hedgecorth.  Shannon is an optician certified by the American Board of Opticians for sixteen years and is also a message therapist

 

 		 Alicia Harris - Dancer, Costume designer

Alicia was born in Granada, Spain where she studied flamenco with Mariquilla.  Since coming to the United States in 1996, Alicia has studied with Daniel de Cordova, Ana Montes, Shannon Calderon, Rey Duran, and Timo Lozano.  Alicia also performed with Ana Montes for four years. She is currently studying with Tamara 'La Garbancito' Carson.  Alicia is also the owner of Flamenco Closet Creations, designing and selling flamenco practice clothes, professional costumes and flamenco accessories in the United States and abroad.

 

 

Maria Aranda -  Dancer

Born in Juarez, Mexico Maria Aranda began studying mexican folkloric dance with Maria Chaurand when she was eight years old and performed with El Grupo Ballet Folklorico Atotonilco.  She also performed with other folkloric groups in hispanic festivals in Kansas City and Chicago.  Maria has been belly dancing for the past seven years also, studying with both Siham Ali and Zada Al gaziyeh.  She has performed since 2001  with belly dancing groups in the Kansas City Ethnic Festival and the Renaissance Festival.  Maria has a BSBA from Rockhurst College and works for El Centro.  Maria has been active in flamenco workshops given by 'La Linda' and Timo Lozano and  currently studies flamenco with Tamara Carson.

 

Amanda Leimbach - Dancer

 Amanda Leimbach, Olé’s youngest member, began her training of ballet and tap dance at age three and a half.  She studied flamenco in Arizona for three years and performed with Luna Llena and La Concha in venues in Tucson such as Casa Vicente, Rio Rico, Tucson Meet Yourself, Casino of the Sun, The University of Arizona and Downtown Saturday Night.  She is currently studying with Tamara La Garbancito Carson.  When she is not dancing, Amanda, plays sports, the piano and the flute.
 


 

Eugenia Rodriquez – Dancer

Jenny started dancing at 5 years old and received formal training in a number of dance techniques and styles including Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip-hop, Hawaiian and Tahitian dance, receiving a Bachelor in Arts of Communications from the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Mexico.  Enthralled with Spanish dance and styles, Jenny moved to Madrid Spain where she received a Bachelor degree in Ballet, Spanish Dances, Escuela Bolera and Flamenco from the Madrid Royal Conservatory.  She has performed all over the world including performances with the Andalucia Ballet Flamenco Company and as a member of the flamenco company "Sevilla" originating from Monterrey Mexico.  Jenny is also a highly accomplished teacher. She has taught Latin dance, ballroom, Spanish, Flamenco, ballet, jazz, and tap in many different venues in the United States, Mexico and Spain.

Mary "LaTriana" Spalding -  Dancer

Mary's journey into dance began in 1995 when she decided to fulfill a life long dream of taking a dance class.  In a ballet class, she was invited by MaryAnn "Esperanza" Hope to a flamenco class taught by Tamara "LaGarbancito" Carson at UMKC Conservatory.   Mary felt the soul of flamenco in Tamara's dance and immediately started studying with LaGarbancito.  She also taken classes at the University of Northeastern Illinois and with Vida Peral, Omayra  Amaya, Timo Lozano, Don Juan Jo Linares, Teresa Torkanowsky and Dame Libby Komaiko.   In 2003, Mary's heart led her on a sojourn to Argentine tango.   During this time, Mary has devoted several hours each week to the study of  Argentine tango.   While on a tango trip to Argentina, in the milongas of Buenos Aires, she especially enjoyed dancing the Chacareras -so reminiscent of the Sevillanas.  Mary returns to flamenco and resumes her studies with LaGarbancito; thereby, joining her passions: Argentine tango and Flamenco -- "mi corazon y mi alma!"  Mary also is passionate about her work as an Electroneurodiagnostic Technologist at the Kansas City VA Medical Center w here she is able to work with and help our Veterans who have risked their lives so that we can enjoy the freedom to follow our dreams.


 

 

Olguita Becali-Williams  (Olguita)

Olga was born in Cuba to Enrique Becali-Gonzales and Olga Aguabella-Simeon, a professor of classical guitar.  She began studying ballet as a child in Cuba under Nina Fedooroff and performed often until the imposition of communism on that island.  After escaping to the United States , she studied Russian classical ballet from Francesca Romanoff and Dmitri Romanoff, regisseur of the American Ballet Theater.  She has also taken classes from Linda Lorimar and Tony Orlando.  Olguita has performed with Ballet San Jose, San Jose Ballet, San Jose Opera, San Jose Dance Theatre, Alaska Contemporary Dance Company, Anchorage Civic Ballet, and the Janice Renee Dancers.  Additionally she has taught ballet at the Janice Renee Dance Center in Alaska .  After moving to Kansas , she fulfilled her lifelong dream of learning Spanish dance and began studying flamenco under Tamara La Garbancito Carson in 2007.  She recently began performing with Ole’ Music and Dance of Spain and has attended master classes from Melinda "La Linda' Hedgecorth, Teodora Morca, Vida Peral, Timo Lozano, Laura Manzella, Marisol Encinias, and the Carlota Santana Dance Company. 

 
  Marc Williams is a former jazz and rock musician who grew up listening to Kansas City jazz legends such as Coleman Hawkins and the Bird and performing in Little Rock and Memphis.  At the University of Central Arkansas, he received a Bachelor's degree with a minor in music, and was the founder of that school's chapter of the National Association of Jazz Educators.  He studied jazz under Homer Brown (Glenn Miller big band), Buddy Hines, and Dr. Pat Hasty, and attended workshops with Lou Marini (Chicago), Stan Kenton, and Woody Herman.  After a 26 year Army career as a combat arms officer, he followed Olguita into the world of Spanish dance, studying flamenco under Tamara La Garbancito Carson.  He has attended master classes with the Carlota Santana dance company and Timo Lozano.  At the Festival Flamenco Internacional de Albuquerque, he was delighted to study with Teodora Morca, Joaquin Encinias, Hector Auilar, and John "Juanito" Truitt.  Marc is introducing the cajon into the drumming ministry of Marked Men for Christ and is a baritone in the East Hill Singers, under the direction of Kirk Carson.
 
 

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