We would like to pay our respects and acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land of the Eora nation and also pay our respects to elders both past, present and emerging.
Marina Tamayo provides professional choreographic services for theatre, film and tablao.
Commissioned choreography uniquely crafted for each client.
Marina Tamayo, Zilah in Carmen by Benjamin Millepied Sony Classics Pictures, Goalpost Pictures , 2023 – Choreographer/dancer
Marina Tamayo celebrates an illustrious 45 years career of performance, teaching, producing and choreography. Tamayo’s skills are embedded in authentic storytelling handed down from Andalusian heritage and Gypsy cultural knowledge. Her studies of Flamenco began traditionally, at home with her mother de Granada, and in Sacromonte with her abuela. Her first Flamenco studies began in 1982, in Granada with the local gitanos.
After a life time dedicated to Flamenco and Spanish dance, Tamayo shares her mastery with teaching, speaking and performing globally.
Flamenco Australia (c. 1998) is dedicated to promoting and preserving Spanish and gypsy cultural storytelling.
As a seasoned artist, Tamayo brings Flamenco and Spanish and gypsy Dance Theatre excitement to your event or project. The services include commissioned commercial, artistic explorative, contemporary and traditional formatted choreography.
Marina Tamayo with Rossy d Palma, Maria Pages, Farruquito, Damian Jalet, Pedro Almodovar, Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, JulioBoca, Pastora Galvan, Carmen Linares, Jesus Carmona y ArcAngel for International Dance Day 2021 produced by Maria Pages, El Centro Coreográfico María Pages de Fuenlabrada.
Marina Tamayo Flamenco is a Sydney based Flamenco choreographer and dance artist. She an active board member of AUSDANCE NSW, a registered and an accredited Proficient Teacher with the New South Wales Education Department. She is a trained Project Manager, Composer, and qualified Production Audio Engineer, and recently awarded a Fellowship by the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Sydney for her contemporary collaboration ‘BOLERO’ with Victor Zarallo, 2023.
Tamayo studied RAD and Cecchetti Ballet, Flamenco and Spanish Dance. During 1974 – 1983, she trained with Kenneth Norman, Garry Carse, Jackie Johnson, Jacky Thompson and Antonio Vargas. In 1984, she studied privately with the gypsy masters Paco Torres, Mario Maya, and Manolete, Sacromonte, Belen Maya, Luis de Luis, Manuel Antonio Reyes and advanced Spanish classical with Graciela Rios Saiz, in Buenos Aires and Merche Esmeralda in Madrid.
As a dance teacher, Marina Tamayo has a masters knowledge for Gypsy Flamenco and Spanish classical choreography. She offers authenticity consultation services. In practice, she draws on various strategies of teaching including scaffolding, differentiation, and inclusive teaching to support students learning outcomes.
Tamayo holds a Bachelor of Education and a current NESA Proficient teacher accreditation. She offers teaching services aligned with AITSL teaching pedagogy standards of excellence, to professional performing arts schools, academic institutions and communities world wide.
National College of Dance, Summer School 2023 – Flamenco with Marina Tamayo
As a choreographer, Marina Tamayo is a multi awarded and nominated nationally recognised professional. Since 1982, Tamayo has produced a plethora of commissioned choreographies for Australian Dance Theatre, cabaret, TV, video and film, specialising in Flamenco.
The unique blend between Flamenco, ballet, contemporary and Spanish dance has become signatory in all of Tamayo’s work. The ground breaking work has generated a new Australian discourse. Tamayo further explored this new discourse collaborating with former National Ballet artist Aitor Hernandez Sanzano and dancer from Royal Scottish Ballet and former Sydney Dance Company Victor Zarallo.
“Tamayo’s solos are wild and expressive; soft arms are a foil for the complexity of her lower body” Lesley Graham, The Mercury, 2017.
Hernandez Tamayo – EMERALD
As a performer, Tamayo is a solo artist for Spanish and Flamenco Dance Theatre. Tamayo has performed globally.
Photo: Soloist at The National Gallery of Victoria, for the Centurian Picasso curators dinner, Winter series.
In 1998, Tamayo founded Flamenco Australia. She began travelling to coastal, rural and past the black stump locations, offering workshops, and shows. This was a pioneering venture for the Spanish Arts and self funded.
The demand for Tamayo’s services grew exponentially. After moving to NSW in 1998, Tamayo expanded her audience engagement into international markets. This was achieved by inviting guest artists and self producing multiple world class shows over a fifteen year period.
Tamayo educated herself in various skills to further develop and support her business acumen. The focus of her business model is on creating new audiences, either as participants or observers and through education across the Asia Pacific region.
In 2018, Tamayo was formally recognised by the Australian Dance Council for her contributions to the Australian Arts industry. She was nominated in the The Australian Dance Awards 2018, for her ‘Service to Dance’.
In 2019, Tamayo was recognized by being nominated by the Australia Dance Council, for her choreographic Spanish contemporary work EMERALD. The nomination was for the category ‘Outstanding Achievement in Choreography’.
Marina Tamayo Award for Outstanding Achievement in choreography
In 2023, Tamayo was awarded a Fellowship of AMPA by Professor Ian Bofinger Executive Dean and Dr. Maya Gavish (Faculty of Dance Performance) at the 2023 Graduation ceremony of Bachelor, Masters of Dance.
Photo by Marina Tamayo Fellowship Award Wenny Tan, AMPA, 2023
Marina Tamayo Fellowship Award, Photo by Wenny Tan, AMPA 2023
Marina Tamayo Fellowship Award, Photo by Wenny Tan, AMPA 2023
In 2018 – 2021, Tamayo worked with Classical Ballet 121, full time classical ballet academy, with Gilly Reevie and Iohna Loots. During this tenure, she designed and delivered the exam curriculum for the Spanish and Flamenco dance studies in the Australian Teachers of Dancing full time Certificate 4 and Advanced Diploma in Elite Performance course, 2021.
Tamayo designed and delivered school incursions for a period of 18 years. These incursions are aligned to cultural dance curriculum for K to HSC levels NESA Syllabus. In addition, she has contributed to various academic PhD papers on Flamenco and duende. These contributions are formal research papers, sharing her knowledge and experience in Flamenco to the academia in Australia:
The University of Sydney Ms Lillian Shaddick and Dr Amanda Card at Discipline of Theatre and Performance Studies; Bond University, Leisurely seeking duende; Making meaning through the embodied experience of flamenco dance; Grant Sean Hawkes, University of Sydney; Spanish What is Flamenco?; ABC Radio Melbourne with Warwick Long, Flamenco and its Roots, ABC Hobart, Flamenco and Duende.
Recent Projects
Feature Film – Working as dancer/choreographer with former Artistic Director of The American Ballet and Los Angeles Dance ProjectBenjamin Millepead. Millepied is a choreographer, filmmaker, and former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and former Artistic Director of Paris Ballet Opera and now Directs the Paris Dance Project.
Review 7/9/2022 Jazz Tangcay: for VARIETY U.S Edition
“Millepied’s movie, is a complete re-imagining, debuting Sept. 11 at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival released by Sony Pictures Classics, begins in Mexico with a jaw-dropping flamenco number that showcases Marina Tamayo as Carmen’s mother on the grounds of the family’s house. “
Millepied casted Tamayo as the mother of Carmen. Her roles are Flamenco Dance choreographer and as a soloist performer as the mother of Carmen, Zilah on his latest project, first feature film ‘ Carmen’. It was released worldwide in 2022 by Sony Picture. Classics. It premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival, the showed at Miami, Quebec, Toronto, Paris and Sydney film festivals, 2023.
IMdB profile Marina Tamayo (II) .
US theatres including Los Angeles and New York, Ireland, UK, Mexico, Paris, Canada, New Zealand and Australia wide.
Photo by Ben King
Director Benjamin Millepied Original Score By: Nicholas Britell Written by: Alexander Dinelaris and Loïc Barrère & Benjamin Millepied Starring: Melissa Barrera, Paul Mescal, Rossy de Palma, THE DOC #Carmen#TeaserTrailer#SonyClassics#PaulMescal#MelissaBarrera
Las Peinetas Spanish Dance Theatre – A Flamenco Ballet.
Photo by Sebastián Estrada, WoW Moments Production, 2022.
Las Peinetas Spanish Dance Theatre – Fusion of Flamenco and Ballet.
Since 2015, Tamayo formed the Flamenco Ballet performance group called ‘Las Peinetas’. The group is made up of professionally trained ballet graduates who have studied at prestigious National and European Ballet schools, Sydney Dance Pre professional.
Las Peinetas perform Flamenco Ballet. This is a signatory style of Tamayo, a true unique blend between both genres, and it is the first group of its kind in Australia. They present traditional works in a contemporary context whilst maintaining the authenticity of Andalusian folklore, and Flamenco storytelling.
Adelaide Festival, 4.5 stars The Sounds of Spain AD and Choreographer
Marina Tamayo’s Las Peinetas . Photo by Sebastian Estrada of Wow Moment Productions. 2022
Further Education
Ballet in Australian Dance Assessment Program,
RAD and Cecchetti methods,
Bachelor of Education, Curtin University,
Classical Pianoforte Music Composition and Theory at AMEB The Conservatorium of Music,
Certificate in Business Analysis,
Project Management
Diploma in Audio Engineering
Postgraduate studies in Production Sound Engineering.
NSW Primary school teaching specializing in performing arts – NSW Dance Curriculum for stages K – 6, at an EAL/D school and coaches the senior boys dance group.
Photo: Verano with Clarissa di Salvo de Argentina 
