Katie Sheen-Abbott

Katie has been dancing for her entire life! She grew up in West Jordan, Utah where she studied ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop. When she moved to Baltimore Maryland for grad- uate school she fell in love with Flamenco! Since then she’s studied Flamenco in Balti- more, Zurich, Switzerland and in Utah with Solange Gomes.
In 2014 her passion for Flamenco took her to the birthplace of the art form, the beauti- ful city of Sevilla in Southern Spain. She and her husband lived in Sevilla for one year while  she  studied  with  the  best  dancers  in  the  world.  She  studied  at  the  famous Fundación de Cristina Heeren with Luisa Palacio, Milagros Mengibar, Javier Barón and El Choro. She also studied with Angel Atienza at his school (Ados Escuela de Flamenco) in the famous Flamenco neighborhood of Triana. She studied technique, repertoire, history and music intensively.
Katie continues her professional development by attending the largest Flamenco festi- val in North America each year in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dance, music and history classes  are  taught  for  six  days  each  year  and  professional  artists  from  around  the world offer the classes.
Katie offers Flamenco dance classes for all ages and abilities. Her classes focus on all of the elements of Flamenco including palmas (clapping), rhythms, zapateado (footwork), braceo (arm placement and movement), turns and hand flourishes.
Since she studied in Sevilla, she is an expert in the Sevilla tradition, which incorporates different complementos (props) into Flamenco. Therefore, she teaches classes in castanets, shawls, fans and the bata de cola (the long Flamenco skirt).
Katie also teaches dancers and musicians how to work together in a ‘tablao’ (or improvisational) setting. Improvisation is a key aspect of Flamenco and she teaches these techniques to dancers and musicians.
Katie speaks Spanish and she offers workshops in Spanish and/or English. She also incorporates Flamenco vocabulary into her workshops.