Rie Katayama

Rie started practicing gymnastics when she was 10 years old, then learned rhythmic gymnastics and joined high school competitions. She also learned modern dance, jazz dance, and classical ballet during her teenage years. She started dancing Flamenco in Japan in 2000, then continued taking training in the USA and Spain from many world top flamenco dancers like Belen Maya, Omayra Amaya, Carmela Greco, Paloma Gomez, Miguel Vargas, La Lupi, Jose Barrios, Manuel Linnan, Adi Movdat, Concha Jareno, and Olga Pericet. She has been practicing for years under maestro David Romero, who won 1st prize of the best Flamenco male dancer in the en el cante de las Minas 2022 international competition.  She has been performing at many public and private events, restaurants, and museums, and also joins the Surabhi group occasionally.  When she was practicing in Studio Mangiameli, she performed in the opening night of the US's largest flamenco festival in Albuquerque, NM in 2016. She started teaching flamenco in a group called Flamenco Cerezo in 2015. And she became the dance director of Flamenco Expresivo in 2020. She has been creating choreography and teaching flamenco at C2 Performing Arts dance studio since 2023.