María Juncal

María Juncal (b. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ca. 1981)^[1] is a Spanish flamenco dancer who has toured in Belgium, Canada, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the U.S., and Venezuela.^[2] She has participated in different shows such as Jarocho under the direction of Richard O'Neal, assistant director of Riverdance, and has collaborated as a choreographer with Spain's women's national artistic gymnastics team, 2012. In addition to receiving the Excelencias Cuba Award 2018 2018 for her work in developing Cuban flamenco art,^[3] and winning the Antonio Gades National Award of Flamenco Dance, she was voted the best flamenco dancer at the Festival Del Cante De Las Minas.^[4]

María Juncal
María Juncal (2013)
Born	ca. 1981 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Occupation	flamenco dancer

Biography

María Juncal was born into a family with flamenco roots, the Borrull family.^[5]

Juncal's family members involved in flamenco history include her grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, aunts, and uncles. A painting (La Algeria) of an aunt (Aunt Julia) in mid-dance is held in Madrid’s Museo del Prado. Miguel Borull, Julia Borull, Concha Borull, Isabel Borull, and Mercedes Borull (La Gitana Blanca) are family members.^[6]

Juncal began her career studying ballet and classical Spanish dance in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where she was a student of Miguel Navarro, Rosalina Ripoll, and her great-aunt, Trini Borrull.^[4] Later, Juncal continued her studies at the Centro de Arte Flamenco y Danza Española Amor de Dios in Madrid. Among the teachers who trained her were Cristóbal Reyes, La Tati, El Güito, Manolete, Ciro, and Merche Esmeralda in flamenco; Nadine Boisaubert and Dagmara Brown in ballet; and Trini Borrull and Rosalina Ripoll in classical Spanish dance.

Juncal has been in charge of the artistic and general direction of different shows that she performs with her company, such as: "La gitana Blanca", "Azabache y miel", "Murmullos y Geranios", "Instantes", "Destemplao", "La Hora de los Milagros", "Tercera Llamada junto al Gran maestro Ciro", and "Quimera".^[7]

In 2011, she made a documentary entitled Flamenco de raíz,^[8] which was nominated for five Goya Awards.^[9][6]

Event participation

Juncal has participated in several international dance events such as:

Event	Year	Location
Festival of Performing Arts	2001 y 2002	Cleveland
Festival Verano de la Villa	2002	Madrid
Festival de los Patios Cordobeses	2005	Córdoba)
Programa de Actividades. CC. Isabel de Farnesio	2005
VII Feria de Abril en Irún	2005	Iran
Festival Internacional de Las Minas	2005
20.º Festival Internacional de Ballet de la Habana	2005	Havana
Festival Flamenco Joven en el Teatro	2006	Madrid
31avo Festival Internacional Chateauroux	2006	France
XXXII Festival Flamenco de Cáceres	2006
Festival Flamenco de Milán	2007	Milan
Festival Internacional de Danza de Normandía	2007	Normandy
Festival de Jerez	2007
Suma Flamenca de Madrid	2007	Madrid
Festival de Música en la Sierra	2007	Madrid
Festival Internacional de Danza en Vancouver	2009	Canada
10th Anniversary Celebretion Flamenco Arts Festival	2009
Festival Internacional de Danza Santiago de Querétaro	2007 y 2011	Mexico
VI Festival de Flamenco en San Blas	2010	México
Concierto Andaluz y Gala Flamenco Washington	2011	Washington, D.C.
Festival de Música Clásica del Mar Muerto	2011	Israel
Salón de los espejos	2011	Barcelona
Seminario en la Habana:“Flamenco por la Vida”	2012	Havana
Festival de Eindhoven	2012
Gira por Holanda con 28 funciones por todo el país	2012
Festival Internacional Ceiba	2013	Tabasco, México
Festival Internacional de la Cultura Maya	2014	Mérida, Yucatán, México

Awards and honours

Award	Year
Premio Nacional de Danza Flamenca Antonio Gades en Córdoba	2004
Primer Premio de Baile Flamenco y Trofeo “Desplante”	2006
Premio a la mejor solista flamenca con la obra “El encierro de Ana Frank”	2006
Mención de Honor del Gran Teatro de la Habana	2006
Embajadora Universal del Flamenco por el DIF Estatal de Tabasco, México	2011

References

1. Breña, Carmen Morán (19 November 2022). "María Juncal: "Es una heroicidad bailar flamenco en México"". El País México (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 June 2023.
2. "9th Festival Cumbre Flamenca in Los Angeles". Vida Flamenca. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
3. "An Excelencias Cuba Award 2018 Goes to Maria Juncal | Arte por Excelencias". www.arteporexcelencias.com. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
4. "MARIA JUNCAL". Vida Flamenca. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
5. "Maria Juncal Compania Flamenca - Dance from Spain". dancefromspain.feced.org (in European Spanish). Federación Estatal de Compañías y Empresas de Danza. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
6. Fischel, Marion (14 August 2018). "The legendary Maria Juncal dances in Tel Aviv". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
7. "María Juncal". Flamenco Barcelona en Tablao Flamenco Cordobes (in European Spanish). Retrieved 19 June 2023.
8. «Proyección. Documentales». Ayuntamiento de Almería.
9. "Válgame Dios qué alegría tiene esta gente, qué fatigas tengo yo. Flamenco de raíz » Premios Goya 2023". www.premiosgoya.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 June 2023.