Corp Dancers
Maryangela Benegas
Patricia Bueno Abdala
Substitute Instructor
Chelsea Hamati
Kirsten "Kiki" Koerner
Substitute Instructor
Erin Kopp
Vivien Lee
Tammy Lemley
Founding Member
Lauren Raivel
Kassandra Reyes Liste
Maryangela Benegas
Maryangela started her dance journey at age of 4 in Asunción, Paraguay, where she grew up dancing ballet, jazz, modern, folklore, Spanish dance and flamenco. Throughout her youth, She competed in national competitions with Spanish dance and flamenco pieces. At age 15, she was awarded for a scholarship to join a flamenco school in Buenos Aires for having “duende.” At 19, she auditioned for and completed a summer intensive in New York City at the renowned Alvin Ailey School. At 21, she joined NOVO, a modern contemporary profesional dance company in Asunción. In 2020, she moved to the US and later joined Furia Flamenca Dance Company in 2022 after receiving an invitation following a workshop directed by Farruquito.
Patricia Bueno Abdala
Substitute Instructor
Patricia is a native of La Paz, Bolivia. She started her study of Spanish Dance at Academia de Danzas Española Carmen Bravo. She moved to Chicago in 1982, and while pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Illinois, joined de Circle Dancers. In 1987, she began formal training with Dame Kibby Komaiko, founder of Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater. She has also studied with Paco Alonso, Victorio Khorjhan, Karen Stelling, Juan Ramon, Luis Montero, Manolo Rivera, Azucena Vega, Juanjo Linares. In 1988, she became a Scholarship Apprentice to the Ensemble Español, and in 1989, was promoted to Full Company Dancer. In 1996, Patricia was promoted to Principal Dancer, and danced with Ensemble Espanol for two years. She has since studied with Carmela Greco, Timo Lozano, Paloma Gomez, Ana Gonzales, Omayra Amaya and Edwin Aparicio. In 2017, she started training with Estela Vélez and Daniel Paredez. She has performed as Guest Artist for the World Fest with St. Louis Cultural Flamenco Society in St. Louis, MO. She has also performed for The Chicago Human Rhythm’s Project World Festival of Tap and Percussive Dance Honoring Juan Ramon.
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Chelsea Hamati
Chelsea saw her first flamenco show in Barcelona while studying abroad, and has been inspired by its movement, rhythms, and music ever since. She took her first class in 2017 at the encouragement of a coworker, and has since been taking classes with Estela Vélez and Daniel Paredez. Chelsea has a background in tap, jazz, modern, and tennis (which helps with fast footwork!). She debuted with Furia Flamenca in 2019.
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Kirsten "Kiki" Koerner
Kirsten, at age four, fell in love with ballet. She received much of her early ballet education from Maryland Youth Ballet. She later received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from Towson University and a Master of Arts in Dance (concentration in History, Theory, and Pedagogy) from American University. While an undergraduate, she supplemented her studies with classes at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD and a semester at The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg, Russia State Conservatory. Kirsten has spent a majority of her professional career at the National Ballet Company/National Ballet Institute for the Arts – first performing as a soloist, and later assuming responsibilities of Assistant Director and Ballet Mistress. Prior to the National Ballet, she danced for Ballet Eddy Toussaint, USA; Ballet Theater of Annapolis; and the Alexandria Ballet. While dancing for the National Ballet Company, she continued her education with Pamela Moore receiving the Enrico Cecchetti Diploma and has attained the highest teaching level in the Cecchetti Council of America, Diploma Fellow. Kirsten began studying flamenco in 2018 with Estela Vélez and debuted with Furia Flamenca in 2021.
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Erin Kopp
Erin studied dance at the University of Maryland College Park and fell in love with Flamenco while studying abroad in Madrid, Spain. She began studying Flamenco with Estela Vélez de Paredez in 2017 and joined Furia Flamenca the following year. With Furia Flamenca she has performed at the Reston Multicultural Festival, the Taste of Bethesda, Atlas Performing Arts Center, and The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.
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Vivien Lee
Vivien began her dance journey during college when she discovered ballroom and Latin practices led by US amateur 10-dance champions and performed with the Harvard Ballroom Dance Team. She furthered her competitive Latin dance experience in New York City with US and International Latin champions and coaches, competing at various national events. After moving to the DC area, she supplemented her training by exploring ballet, jazz, street jazz, and hip hop. Vivien was always intrigued by the flamenco influence on the paso doble, one of the 5 competitive Latin dances. It wasn’t until she started learning flamenco with Estela Vélez and Daniel Paredez in 2018 that she absolutely fell in love with the dance form. Its challenging, unique and beautiful rhythms and syncopations, footwork and overall shapes are a constant source of inspiration. Vivien debuted with Furia Flamenca in 2022 under the guidance of Estela Vélez, and is honored to be part of the Furia Flamenca family and in the company of such fine dancers!
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Tammy Lemley
Founding Member
Tammy's first experience flamenco was love at first sight! Soon after moving from Texas to Washington, DC, she saw her first flamenco show and was mesmerized by the profiles, beautiful swirling skirts and fiery footwork. She began studying flamenco with Ziva Cohen at Joy of Motion in 1995 and performed with Ziva's Spanish Dance Ensemble for over 9 years. She has performed extensively in numerous venues in the Washington, DC-metro area including the Kennedy Center, the Corcoran, Dance Place and the Publick Playhouse. Tammy has been dancing since the age of five. Her repertoire also includes ballet, tap, jazz, ballroom and belly dance. Tammy has been a member of Furia Flamenca since its inception in 2003.
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Lauren Raivel
Lauren started dancing flamenco with Martin Cruz at the ADEC in Puebla, Mexico in 1996. A native of Maryland, she has lived in Pamplona, Spain for a year and Puebla Mexico for three years. After returning to the United States, she took Spanish Dance lessons at the Oxford Academy with Nancy Sedgewick. In 2004, she started taking classes with Estela Velez. She became a company member of Furia Flamenca in 2004. She has performed at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, The Alden Theatre, the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Theater, Sidney Harmon Hall, Dance Place and Publik Playhouse. In 2006, she took classes at the Amor de Dios studio in Madrid, Spain. In 2011, 2016, and 2019 she attended the National Institute of Flamenco in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Among the flamenco Masters she has trained with are Alejandro Granados, Miguel Vargas, Carmela Greco, la Farruca, Antonio Vargas, Antonio Santaella, Raimundo Benitez, Adrian Santana, and Jonatan Miro. She taught beginning dance at Forever Dancing in Falls Church, Virginia from 2014 to 2015.
Kassandra Reyes Liste
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Kassandra's journey into the world of dance began at the age of 9. In 2001, Kassandra's life took a new direction as she relocated to the United States. Under the mentorship of Anna Menendez, she embarked on a six-year journey of artistic development, honing her skills and embracing the nuances of her craft. A pivotal moment in Kassandra's dance journey came when she had the opportunity to showcase her talents for the first time as a corp dancer with Anna Menendez and Edwin Aparicio in her senior year of high school. As she transitioned into college life, dance took a temporary hiatus as Kassandra focused on her academic pursuits. However, the call of dance never faded entirely. After an eight-year hiatus, Kassandra found her way back to the dance floor in 2022 taking classes with Daniel Paredez and Estela Velez de Paredez and joined Furia Flamenca in 2023.
