Artist Bios

José Junco

José Junco was born in Madrid, Spain, and began his dance training at the age of 15 at Escuela Esther Escudero. He later doing the company of Paco Romero and toured throughout Europe. He went on to work with renown flamenco artists Raphael Aguilar, Carmen Cortes, Thomas De Madrid and Jose Granero touring throughout Africa, and the Far East.

Junco has performed at the legendary flamenco club Cafe de Chinitas in Madrid and was featured in the production of ‘Maja de Goya’ directed by Vicente Escriba. Following his US debut, Junco  joined the company of Maria Benitez for their season at the Joyce Theater in 2000 and toured with Jose Greco from San Francisco to Johannesburg. 

A versatile dancer, he has appeared as a guest artist in several productions with the Greater Miami Opera and with the Baltimore Opera in the role of the Toreador in La Traviata. Junco has offered numerous workshops in Spain and the US and was a principal dancer and choreographer with La Rosa Ballet Flamenco. In recent years he established his own flamenco company ‘Flamenco Express’, presenting performances world wide.

This is his first season with the Flamenco Nutcracker as a guest dancer and choreographer in the role of the Matador Prince. 

Andy Miller

Andy Miller is a percussionist, educator, and dance musician based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the Music Director in the Dance Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he teaches courses in music, body percussion, sound design, and digital media. His collaborations as a composer-performer with choreographers have been presented in New York (Gibney Dance Center and the Judson Church), throughout the Midwest (Krannert Center, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carthage College, St.Olaf College), and internationally at the IX Festival Santander en Escena in Colombia.

Andy has presented research at the American College Dance Association North-Central Regional Festival and the Il Corpo nel Suono International Dance Musician Conference in Glasgow, Scotland (2023). His research on Afro-Colombian traditional music has been funded through a Fulbright Grant (2011-2012) and the Graduate Presser Award (Indiana University). His dissertation, The Language of Drumming in Afro-Brazilian Candomblé Ketu will soon be published as a method book with master musician Jorge Alabê. Andy holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University and previously taught percussion at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, and Olivet Nazarene University.

Kerensa DeMars

Kerensa DeMars is a dancer and choreographer, and the director of Studio K Flamenco. She lived in Spain from 1997-2004 where she trained intensively in flamenco dance with Spain’s foremost artists. She has performed internationally at venues including London's Royal Festival Hall, the Teatro Calderón of Madrid, the Tivoli Theater in Barcelona and San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Kerensa has toured with major flamenco companies in the US and is the founding director of the San Francisco Flamenco Dance Company. Prior to relocating to Milwaukee in 2019, Kerensa served as Artistic Director of the Flamenco Room, San Francisco’s longest running weekly flamenco show, for fifteen years.

Kerensa has received major choreography commissions from the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Azahar Dance Foundation, the Teatro Pradillo and Theatre Bay Area for her work.

She has directed ten full length Flamenco productions (including three works for children) and presented her work in Madrid, San Francisco, Chicago, Barcelona, Los Angeles and Paris. She is the creator and Artistic Director of the Flamenco Nutcracker, now in its fourth year.

Maria Valentina Delgado

At 11 years old Maria Valentina debuted as a soloist with the Caracas Municipal Symphony Orchestra and went on to perform with all the major Symphony orchestras and theaters throughout Venezuela. After receiving her Piano Performance degree from the “Escuela de Musica Manuel A. Lopez” in Venezuela, she came to the United States under a full scholarship. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Music / Piano Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee under the guidance of Prof. Judit Jaimes.

Maria Valentina has participated in the Milwaukee Chamber Music Festival, with the Institute of Chamber Music at UWM and at other venues throughout Milwaukee and the rest of Wisconsin. She has taken first prize in three piano competitions: the “Harriet Serr” Competition in 1994, the “Moisés Moleiro” National Competitions in 1996 and McDowell Club of Milwaukee in 2005.

In 1997 the President of Venezuela, Dr. Rafael Caldera, awarded Maria Valentina a Medal of Honor known as the “Jose Felix Rivas Prize” the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a young Venezuelan artist . This honor recognized her artistic merits and contributions to her country. Maria Valentina Delgado has been a member of the piano faculty at the Conservatory since 2010 and has been teaching since 2001. In addition to her versatile teaching skills for multiple skill levels she has taught individual and group lessons as a Lecturer at UWM.

Marija Temo

Marija Temo is widely recognized as a classical and flamenco guitarist and flamenco vocalist.  She has come into her own combining her flamenco and classical abilities.

Concert highlights include: Performances of “El Amor Brujo” with symphony orchestras; two works for guitar and orchestra written for Ms. Temo; The First World Guitar Congress, Towson, MD; International Guitar Festival, Asunción, Paraguay; A performer and judge for The Guitar Foundation of America’s International Guitar Festival and Competition; Worlds largest Bachata Festival, Washington DC; Guest appearances with the Zac Brown Band; Music for GE Capital/Taylor Guitar national television commercial; A vocal competitor in La Voz US (The Spanish version of the Voice) Season 2 on NBC, Telemundo; a Flamenco Documentary, and feature presentations on PBS television.
Currently, Temo is Guitar Chair at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Milwaukee, WI.  She received her Masters degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and her Bachelors degree from the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music. She composed and arranged the music for the Flamenco Nutcracker.

Melissa Cruz

Melissa Cruz is a Bay Area-based flamenco professional. She began training with the Bay Area’s acclaimed flamenco master Rosa Montoya and soon thereafter, joined Ms. Montoya's professional company. Melissa has performed as a soloist in the San Francisco International Arts Festival and has presented in eight San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festivals, twice as a featured soloist. In 2013, she was commissioned to present a solo representing the genre of flamenco in the San Francisco Isadora Duncan Awards Ceremony. 

Melissa teaches a full schedule of classes and mentors her students in their development of flamenco knowledge and interpretation culminating in formal annual recitals, of which she has produced eight consecutively.  Enjoying a concurrent musical career, she is percussionist/drummer/dancer with several active musical projects.  She is a principal dancer and choreographer with the San Francisco Flamenco Dance Company and has collaborated with many US based Flamenco companies including Ballet Flamenco La Rosa, Tuscon Flamenco Festival, St. Louis Flamenco Society, Flamenco Pacifico, Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco and Caminos Flamencos.

Melissa was a featured performer and instructor at the 2021 Festival Flamenco Albuquerque presented by the National Institute of Flamenco. In 2023, Melissa presented her work in the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in San Francisco, the Peninsula International Dance Festival and the World Arts West Dance Festival.

In addition to her accomplished artistic career, Melissa is a Bachelor of the Arts graduate of UC Berkeley and holds a Juris Doctor degree from University of San Francisco.