Clinard Dance

Clinard Dance is a project dedicated to exploring and expanding the vocabulary of flamenco. Led by an open-minded spirit, the ensemble seeks to engage with contemporary culture through vibrant performances that honor the roots of traditional flamenco while sharing a passion for music and dance discovery. The roster boasts remarkably diverse talents, including composers, arrangers, improvisers, and choreographers who bring a range of cultural influences to the group, from Gypsy jazz to klezmer to flamenco and classical Arabic and Spanish styles.

Clinard Dance features:

Marija Temo

Described as a “flamenco triple threat,” Marija Temo is widely recognized as a virtuoso classical/flamenco guitarist, flamenco vocalist, conductor, and former dancer. She actively performs as a soloist with symphony orchestras, in guitar concert series and festivals, as a flamenco singer/guitar accompanist, and has been featured utilizing her talents in unique types of performance.

She has performed for many dignitaries and with highly acclaimed artists, and has also received several awards. In addition to her versatile performance career, she is known for her teaching methods, educational programs, and workshops. Marija’s Communication Course was offered for 10 years consecutively at the University of New Mexico International Flamenco Festival, at the Toronto International Flamenco Festival, and reviewed in magazines such as Flamenco USA, Flamenco International (London, England), and Dance Magazine. Marija’s method continues to be in demand in the US and abroad.

Ms. Temo is a former faculty member of the Preparatory of the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, where she founded the Flamenco Guitar Program. She received her Masters degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, studying under Manuel Barrueco, and her Bachelors degree from the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, studying under Loris Chobanian.

Wendy Clinard, Artistic Director Clinard Dance

After completing a BFA at The Art Institute of Chicago in 1993, Wendy Clinard embarked on a rigorous apprenticeship with flamenco dancer Edo Sie, while augmenting her studies in Spain with notable teachers Juana Amaya and Hiniesta Cortez. She has been performing and teaching the art of Flamenco for the past 20 years.

In 1999 Clinard began choreographing original dance theater productions. Since 1999 she has created six full evening works (Quest of Theseus; Shifting Landscapes; Unraveling Rhythms; Jondo Portraits; From the Arctic to the Middle East; and the recent 2014 work Chicago’s Watershed) and several smaller choreographic pieces. Unraveling Rhythms toured India in 2005, and the Midwest in 2006/2007; and excerpts of Jondo Portraits were shared with audiences in Syria during the summer of 2009. In 2015 Clinard was awarded a MacArthur International Connection Fund to support a choreographic exchange between Hrishikesh Pawar, Pune (India), and Clinard. In April 2016 Clinard Dance performed Chicago’s Watershed at The University of Peking in conjunction with The University Of Chicago’s Beijing Branch. Clinard worked with Chicago Sinfonietta for their 2015/16 season performing solo and group choreographies for orchestral works at Symphony Center and Ravinia Festival.

Clinard has been an invited choreographer at the summer 2000 Jacob’s Pillow Festival as well as to The Birmingham Royal Ballet (Birmingham England) in fall 2001. The company has participated in a guest residencies at the University of Chicago (2014), Hambidge Center in Rapbun, Georgia (summer 2002), Tofte Lake Center 2013-2015 and at The Chicago Cultural Center’s Dance Bridge Program (2006 and 2010).

Clinard has taught for the past 20 years in schools and higher education environments. Locally she has taught for Chicago’s Gallery37, De Paul University, Columbia College Chicago, College of Lake County, Salt Creek Ballet, Homer Bryant Ballet, Dimitri Roudnev Ballet, and Redmoon Theatre. She has presented short and long term residencies since 1999 for arts organizations, primary /secondary schools and universities.

Steve Gibons

Jazz and ethno violinist Steve Gibons is regular at the Green Mill with Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan, and other Chicago jazz venues (Jazz Showcase, Katerina’s) and leads the Gypsy Rhythm Project, a collaboration of Roma and Chicago jazz players. Gibons also plays with Il-Bulbul Classical Arabic Ensemble, a classical Arabic chamber group, and has traveled widely, making field recordings in the Balkans, and has absorbed music from a host of different cultures: Blues and Jazz from his home town, Chicago, Roma (Gypsy) and folk music from Southeast Europe, Klezmer from Central Europe, Classical Arabic Music from the Middle East, Western European Gypsy Jazz from France.

Gibons composed an original score for Clinard’s From the Arctic to the Middle East in which he also played the violin. He also participates in their flamenco repertory quartet as a composer and violinist.

Javier Saume Mazzei, Percussion

A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Javier began playing percussion at the age of eight. He holds a B.A in Music from College of Performing Art, Roosevelt University. Javier has performed with Rhonda Richmond, Reginald Veal, Harlin Riley, Cassandra Wilson, Badi Assad, and the Symphony Orchestra “Sistema de Orquestas Juveniles de Venezuela”. He has performed internationally in concerts, master classes, and residencies in Beijing, China, The Kennedy Center Washington DC, and Carnegie Hall in New York with Sones de Mexico Ensemble. He has recorded with Sones de Mexico. The only group in NARAS history to be nominated for the Latin Grammy and Grammy in 2008. Javier plays as a guest musician in the Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theatre a North Eastern University associate Institution, and teaches percussion at People’s Music School.