MARÍA JOSÉ
FRANCO
Mª José Franco was born in Cádiz, the so-called
"Tacita de Plata", in 1977. She began her dance studies when she was
only five with Angelita Gómez, Carmen Cornejo and Manolo Marín.
She broadened her studies with courses and seminars given by Carmen
Cortés, Matilde Coral, El Güito, La Yerbabuena, Canales and Mario
Maya who would later include her in his dance company to perform at Seville's
1992 World's Fair. She rounded out her dance studies with formal training in classical
ballet and Spanish classical dance.
She was awarded prizes such as "Jóvenes Aficionados
de Huelva" two years in a row (1991 and 1992), second prize for interpretation
at the Concurso de Baile Flamenco "El Cordobés" in Barcelona
(1995) and first prize at the Twenty-fifth Certamen of the Fesitval de Baile de
Las Minas in la Unión and first prize for Flamenco Dance in Nimes (France)
that same year. In 1996 she was finalist at the Jóvenes Valores contest
at Seville's Bienal de Arte Flamenco.
She has performed in numerous national and international festivals
such as the Festival de Mont de Marsans, Pau, Nimes, in addition to events organized
by her home-province Cádiz such as "Jóvenes Flamencos",
"Viernes Flamencos" in Jerez de la Frontera...
Under the direction of José Antonio she toured as soloist
with the Compañía Andaluza de Danza for four years. She was in Japan
along with Pepe Habichuela. She participated as soloist in the Fifth Festival
de Jerez with the show "Calle Larga" in addition to giving classes along
with the maestro Manolo Marín.
She is presently invited guest artist with Antonio el Pipa's company,
and has participated in three of their works: "Vivencias", "De
la Tierra" and "De Cai, el Baile".
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