Class Policies:

For character shoes (new students), Zorongo recommends Grand Jeté in St. Paul, Minnesota.

For flamenco shoes, Zorongo recommends Menkes in New York, New York. Brand new to Flamenco? For your first class, don’t let what to wear keep you off the dance floor. Come as you are. Everyone is welcome.

About the Teachers

• Susana di Palma

  
  Master Teacher / Choreographer / Dancer / Artistic Director
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  Susana di Palma has taught Spanish/Flamenco dance for over 30 years. As a virtuoso performer and innovative choreographer, her classes challenge both the body and creative spirit. She stresses correct body alignment, use of breath, and basic technique, that benefit each student’s physical and emotional health. Her classes inspire students, encouraging them to discover their unique and joyful expression within this extraordinary Spanish art form. She strives to prepare them according to a challenging professional standard. At whatever level of aspiration a student enters her classes, Susana carefully guides them drawing upon her lifetime of knowledge, experience, and respect in the international flamenco world. Susana has also been an adjunct faculty member of the Dance Department at the University of Minnesota for 15 years. Recently, she taught the summer session at Minnesota Dance Theater. Susana also teaches through Distance Learning Program at The Cowles Center for Dance.

• Colette Illarde

  
  Instructor / Dancer
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  Colette is originally from Chicago where she began dancing ballet with Edward Parish, and started flamenco training with the Ensemble Español. Relocating to Minneapolis in 1998, she created FUEGO Flamenco and danced, designed and produced many successful shows. She has received numerous awards for her work including the McKnight Fellowship for dancers. Colette is currently a teaching artist at Interact Center, creating theater and dance with adult artists with disabilities.

• AJ Frenzel

  
  Instructor / Dancer

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  Andrea J. Frenzel is a dancer returning to the stage after a 12 year hiatus exploring life as a mother, doula, marathoner, and finance professional in New York. Her flamenco discovery began over 20 years ago in class with Susana di Palma. Before moving to NYC, she was a founding member of the Majas, Zorongo’s student company, Zorongo’s School Director, and was the recipient of a Jerome Foundation Travel-Study grant. Ms. Frenzel’s influential instructors include Maria Magdalena, Matilde Coral, Javier Latorre, Yolanda Heredia, Omayra Amaya, and most importantly Susana di Palma, to whom she is grateful for her years of encouragement and support.

• Jenna Laffin

  
  Instructor / Dancer

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  After Jenna Laffin graduated from college in 2008, she moved to a small town in southern Spain to teach English. It was there that she became immersed in the culture of flamenco, learning the dance and its history, and became fluent in Spanish. Jenna began training with Susana di Palma in 2009, and has performed in Zorongo productions Zorro, Locas Mujeres, Caprichos, And the Beat Goes On, Garden of Names, and various other shows with the Majas apprentice dance company. Jenna has spent three years studying flamenco intensively in Madrid, where she also continued her teaching career in bilingual elementary schools. Jenna holds an international elementary diploma in Montessori education and is completing a Master’s in Education through St. Catherine University. She is a 1st through the 3rd-grade teacher at Great River Montessori in Saint Paul.