| Greek | Her extended stays in different countries, in varied cultures and diverse social environments, led Alexia to develop an ethic of openness and to seek beauty and joy as an antidote to the fury of the world: this world  too often distorted by absolutist, closed-minded, sectarian thinking. It is to reflect this that she created ANAR-TA, a piece based on the flamenco repertoire as a contemporary language able to bring people together and allow them to explore the inner journey that each of us must take to break free from preconceptions. She speaks of love – what’s else ?! – but this is not a love-story.

And… Music! Alexia has been listening to and working with all kinds of music for 20 years, with a preference for world music, music that speaks of ancestral cultures, of creation rather than fabrication; and she has an unconditional love for the piano, which she plays on occasion. Also trained in singing and theater, Alexia has always had a syncretic approach to the performing arts, where music—indispensable in flamenco— is a character in itself and the encounter between disciplines or styles is fundamental to creation. For ANAR-TA, she has chosen to work with new circus acrobats to explore movement beyond dance; unless all movement, even the most acrobatic, is dance...

| Morrocan | Graduated from the famous National Circus School of Morocco, Brahim is an international New circus artist, choreographer and expert in pedagogical circus workshops. With a strong stage presence, Ibrahim brings a unique blend of creativity and skills: fixed and swinging Chinese poles, dramatic acting, shadow puppetry, krump dance or human flag, where the body becomes a medium for spiritual expression and freedom. This dream of verticality between earth and sky, when balance becomes freedom, is explored in depth by Ibrahim in major productions (for instance, L’Escale Festive, choreographed by Aïcha Aouad, 2023 ) or performances in numerous Morrocan places, in Guadeloupe with the Métisgwa Association in 2024 or on tour in England with the French parkour and circus Company Zid for a full month of festivals and cultural events in 2025. His last Solo piece, Roh Hor (mening ‘Free soul’ in Arabic), mentored by Moroccan actor and movie director Hicham Ibrahimi & French choreographer Sylvie Guillermin and presented at the MASA Festival in Côte d’Ivoire, is a poetic and immersive performance that blends contemporary circus, dance, and visual storytelling. Born from a deep exploration of the human soul, it delves into themes of inner struggle, transformation, and liberation. It thus resonates deeply with ANAR-TA, like the other side of the same coin. For ANAR-TA, Ibrahim is eager to experiment with dance impro and continue his flamenco journey after a first experience with renowned pianist of flamenco fusion Mélodie Gimard.

| Morrocan | Mohammed Es-Saheli, AKA Simo, is a young circus artist shaped by the renowned National Circus School Shems’y in Salé, from which he graduated in 2024. Trained in movement with apparatus, in acrobatics, dance, clowning, and acting, he belongs to that new generation of performers who embrace circus as a full, living language. Since January 2026, he has been passing on this language as a lead instructor in multidisciplinary circus arts — juggling, acrobatics, dance — to the children and teenagers of the Kan Ya Makan Radda performing arts training center in Fes. Teaching stirs in him the same fervor as the stage, which he has inhabited since he was sixteen. Throughout his training and into his professional life, he has taken part in a constellation of creations across Morocco, as both co-creator and performer. Some have carried him on tour throughout the country, such as Actes Sans Paroles, directed by Laurent Decol at the end of 2023. Among the apparatus that accompany him, the Chinese pole holds a singular place — “like a first love,” he says — for it was while climbing it that he discovered the world of New Circus. The straps, too, are dear to him, two disciplines brought to the forefront in ANAR-TA. What moves him in this project is the collective pulse, the encounter with flamenco and other dance forms, and above all the chance to embody on stage this “vertical dance” known as acro-dance, an organic weaving of acrobatics and dance. ANAR-TA offers him his first major role, the central figure performed in duet with his elder colleague Ibrahim. And one senses that this is only the dawn of a journey, for his energy and curiosity carry the promise of an artistic path ready to unfold.

| Spanish | Singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Cristian de Moret (real name Luque Gómez) is the embodiment of Andalusian culture. Born into a flamenco aficionado family, he was raised on music, which he studied from the age of 8 (10 years of piano at the Huelva Conservatory and post-graduate studies in Flamencology at the Córdoba Conservatory) and which he turned into a profession at a very young age, working directly with such highly renowned artists as Antonio Canales, Carmen Linares, Jorge Pardo, Rosario la Tremendita, Andrés Marín, Patricia Guerrero and the Ballet de Andalucía. Since 2020, he has released 3 solo albums exploring the modernity of flamenco, combining tradition and avant-garde through frictions and fusions with rock, electro, jazz and blues. The last one gave rise to a wonderful EP with today's most famous flamenco singer, Rocio Marquez (Stone fandango). As well as being an accomplished singer and inventive performer, Cristian is a sought-after composer for film and live performance, creating unique atmospheres that allow the full range of emotions to be expressed. His moto is simple: “to know, learn, reinterpret and create with our raw material, the cultural essence of our land, flamenco”. For ANAR-TA, in close collaboration with Alexia, he creates a dazzling soundtrack, which he can perform live.

| Canadian, lives in Morocco | Crystal ignites the unconventional and makes it real by fusing design, culture and technology modalities. She is an award winning Creative Director and Designer in the lifestyle sector - fashion, travel, auto. For over 25 years Crystal has gleaned international expertise in concept creative, branding, product design, trend forecasting and full sensory immersive experiences. As a leader and entrepreneur of design-focussed businesses built in Toronto (Canada), New York (United States) and now Fes (Morocco) Crystal thrives in the innovation space initiating independent projects as well as collaborations with global corporations, culture institutions and academia. And thus so, it is the innate questing and life experience insight that propels her to champion cultural difference and sameness with an inclusive unique vision. It’s all about community, connection and transformation. No asking why she finally was attracted to live and stage performances. She joins our team to champion innovation in dance fusion that will engage the viewer and encourage a transformational experience.

| French | Gwenaële is a cosmopolitan at heart, born in Brittany (Europe), and has lived several life already, some of them still intertwining, all of them based on intercultural and intersubjective relations. She used to be a social science researcher (Political Philosophy PhD) in Japan, a startuper in the US in the 20th century (first ever content media in French), a prized popular science journalist, content manager and press editor in Paris, a tango promoter in Beijing, an investigator and writer in Buenos Aires, a translator and publisher in Sevilla. And most of all, she is a lifetime addict of traditional world music and dance performance, working with best-known Blanca Li Company or prestigious Argentinean musicians as a manager and artistic director, and giving conferences on tango culture all over the world (see Dictionnaire passionné du tango, Seuil, Paris, 2015, Charles Cros Academy 2026 ‘Coup de cœur’ Award). For the last 30 years she has been producing cultural events beyond borders. Acting as an interface between artists, she has thus nurtured original projects and helped the creative process of CD Album, books and shows. She is also a sailor and a cook. Supporting ANAR-TA, with an artistic as well as producer eye, was an absolute must, as it brings together everything she loves: a transcultural dimension, performers who aim for excellence, modernity founded on tradition, imagination and a bit of craziness. Nothing fake here.

| Spanish | A leading practitioner of the Graham Technique™ in Spain.

Pilar Pérez is the ultimate contemporary dance teacher in Sevilla: for 40 years, her students have gone on to join companies all over the world. Trained in classical and contemporary dance specializing in choreography and performance techniques, Pilar founded the first contemporary dance company in Andalusia nearly 40 years ago (Hidra Danza, 1987). She taught at the Seville Theater Institute for 14 years, then, until its closure in 2021, at the Andalusian Dance Center, where she was also co-director for 10 years. She combined teaching with creative work as a choreographer. For example: two versions of the opera Rigoletto for the Seville Opera; one of the first shows to fuse flamenco and contemporary dance (A Contratiempo with Manolo Marín);  or, as part of the Música en Movimiento collective of artists, which, together with composer and conductor Bruno Axel, created the works Muk & Move (2014) and El bosque de los sumergidos (2015) at the Teatro de la Maestranza. In recent years, she has accompanied dancer Gabriel Aragú as a choreographic advisor (see [des]Hágase la Luz, winner of the 2022 Best Dance Show award from Escenarios de Sevilla), collaborates on the international Take Off Dance-Johan Inger Youth Project and teaches improvisation and stage composition at the Flamenco Dramaturgy Workshops. What interests Pilar is using dance movement as a narrative device. Alexia, long time student of Pilar, didn’t hesitate long to ask her to be that invaluable ‘outside eye’ who will make a difference for contemporary dance and the design of the appropriate scenography.

| Spanish | Úrsula López is one of the most renowned dancers and choreographers in the world of flamenco. She transmits the traditional flamenco around the world while reviving it in an intensely contemporary way. Originally from the Cordoba region, raised in Algeciras (with the Moroccan coast on the horizon), and a graduate in classical ballet and Spanish dance since her teens, she trained in Seville with the greats of the time, Manolete and Manolo Marin, with whom she began her professional career in 1995 by participating in the opera Carmen under the direction of Carlos Saura. She was 18 years old. Úrsula has been dancing since before she was born. “There was never a time ‘before’ flamenco, it was just something we all did, my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents before them.” A tireless worker—not a single day of her life goes by without dancing—she embodies flamenco in all its emotional power: the connection between body and mind in improvisation that sometimes borders on trance. From 1996 onwards, she was a soloist with the Compañía Andaluza de Danza for 8 years, performing on all the world's greatest stages. After two seasons with the Spanish National Ballet as a guest artist, she created her own dance company in 2007, then her school in Seville, Studio Flamencodanza—where Alexia has been taking advanced classes for years. Appointed Artistic Director of the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía in 2020, she creates, as with her own company, total performances at the crossroads of flamenco history (choreography, symbolism) and modernity (costumes, sets), even avant-garde, often under the tutelary figure of Federico García Lorca. She seeks personality, signs of life's trials and tribulations, and enthusiasm in her dancers. It is no surprise that she chose to accompany Alexia for the flamenco choreographies!