Stars of the Festival
Mariana Collado
Born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1981, Mariana Collado moved to Almería with her family at the age of three. She began her studies at the Real ConservatorioProfesional de Danza Española at age 8, and finished the Spanish Classical and Flamenco program in ten years.
In 2001 Mariana won the ConcursoInternacional de DanzaRibarrojadelTuria and was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Cristina Heeren Foundation in Sevilla, where she began her studies with the bata de cola with Milagros Mengíbar. The following year the City Council of Almería awarded her a full two-year scholarship to study at the Centro Flamenco de EstudiosEscénicos Mario Maya in Granada, where she had the opportunity to study with world renowned dancers including Mario Maya, Rafaela Carrasco, Belén Maya, Alejandro Granados and Yolnda Heredia. During this time she also worked as a member of the CompañíaFlamenca Mario Maya, performing “Un, dos, tres… Fa!!!” in various venues including at the prestigious Festival de Jerez. Later that year she worked with the Centro Andaluz de Danza alongside Belén Maya, Rafaela Carrasco and Manuel Liñán in “Los Caminos de Lorca”, directed by PepeGamboa and Cristina Hoyos, performing in the XIII Bienal de Flamenco in Seville.
In September of 2004 Mariana moved to Madrid to further her career and worked with companies such as the Compañía de Antonio Gades, la Compañía de Rafael Aguilar and the Compañía de Kaari Martin, among others. At the same time she worked in various tablaos in Madrid including Las Carboneras, Corral de la Morería, Café de Chinitas, Cardamomo and Corral de la Pacheca. She also taught classes for many years at the Escuela Municipal de Antonio Canales.
In 2011 she was awarded second place in the ConcursoInternacional de Flamenco de Almería and also debuted as a choreographer in El Flamingo – The Festival of Contemporary Flamenco in Helsinki with her piece “Lady’s Circus”
In December of 2012 her interpretation of the piece “El Cuervo y el Reloj”, choreographed by Kaari Martin, won them the first prize for solo choreography in the XXI CertamenCoreográfico de Danza Española y Flamenco de Madrid.
This past year she has also worked as a featured soloist in the CompañíaFlamenca de Karen Lugo in the show “Flamencura” in Ramallah Cultural Palace in collaboration with the Fundación Casa Patas, and as a soloist in the CompañíaMalucosDanza, under the direction of Carlos Chamorro in “Lorca Reloaded”.