ISABEL ESTRADA-JAMISON

As the daughter of the late writer and dancer Barbara Jamison, I was raised in the poetry cafés and dance studios of the Mission District in San Francisco. Thanks to her adventurous spirit I was exposed to dance spanning the continents from an early age, from the Carnavales of Panamá to the tablaos of Sevilla and the rumbas and tambores of La Habana. At age eleven I was introduced to Cuban music and dance when my mother took me to Havana for a dance and drum workshop. While there I was profoundly inspired by a performance by the renowned Afro-Cuban folkloric group Raí­ces Profundas. I began taking classes with Raíces Profundas every year when we would return to La Habana. Back in San Francisco I studied with Susana Arenas Pedroso and began performing with Arenas Dance Company in 2000. When I moved to New York to get a BA in Latin American Studies from Columbia University I began studying with Danys “La Mora” Pérez and soon joined her company, Oyu Oro Afro Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble, of which I am currently a member. In New York I also have the privilege of studying with Gilset Mora Amador. In 2014 I began an intense study of Flamenco with Sonia Olla and Ismael Fernández in New York City. In 2016 I had the great honor of spending two years performing with Raíces Profundas in La Habana under the direction of Ildolidia Ramos. Currently I dance and teach dance in New York City. I have performed throughout the United States and Cuba.