PhillyFolk Artists

Anna Rubio

Flamenco Dancer

Anna Rubio began her training in dance and music at age four. After studying ballet at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, she started modern dance in her early teens with renowned instructors Joan Kerr and Susan Hess. Ms. Rubio moved to San Francisco in 1982, continuing her modern training with several teachers, including Lucas Hoving and Ed Mock, and commencing flamenco studies with Rosa Montoya (of the important Montoya Gypsy clan) and with the late Maestro Cruz Luna. By 1986 she was a member of Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco under the direction of Miguel Santos. In 1991 she returned to Philadelphia and became a member of the Flamenco Ole company under the direction of Julia Lopez. Ms. Rubio and her husband, flamenco guitarist Tito Rubio, spent two years in Spain before returning to Philadelphia, where they now teach at the University of the Arts and perform with Flamenco del Encuentro and the Herencia Arabe project.

Ms. Rubio was awarded an Artistic Fellowship in 2001 from the Independence Foundation and a Leeway Window of Opportunity Grant in 2004. She returns to Spain regularly, where she continues her studies with acclaimed dancers La Chiqui de Jerez, Javier Latorre and Juan Polvillo. She performed in the Folklore Project’s Dance Happens Here program in December 2007 and is featured in PFP’s 2007 documentary photo exhibition All That We Do.