BIOGRAPHY

PR Information in English and Spanish (PDF). Brief version of biography for media usages.

Biography in Spanish (PDF)

ULRIKA FRANK
Flamenco Dancer, Teacher and Choreographer

Ulrika Frank studied dance in her native Sweden at the University College of Dance in Stockholm, earning a degree equal to a BFA in Dance Education. Being accepted after audition, she took courses in dance method, music, rhythmics, anatomy, pedagogy, psychology, dance history, improvisation, composition and teaching/performing practice. Ulrika graduated in 1990, with a specialization in flamenco, modern, jazz and character dance.

Flamenco and several scholarships, including the Carina Ari - scholarship for Swedish young dancers took Ulrika to Spain, where she lived periodically between 1991 and 1998. She studied at Amor de Dios in Madrid with famous flamenco artists, such as Manolete, Carmen Cortés and Cristóbal Reyes. Since moving to Atlanta in 1999, she has attended annually flamenco festivals in New York and Albuquerque. Her master teachers at the festivals have been Antonio Canales, Israél Galván, Mercedes Amaya, Eva la Yerbabüena, Mercedes Ruíz, and others.

Before moving to Atlanta, Ulrika taught and performed throughout Scandinavia and Europe. She took different forms of dance, such as flamenco, jazz and modern to the stage in Finland and Sweden, and character dance in Russia. Her flamenco career started in Stockholm, Sweden, with the Carmen Lucena Flamenco Dance Company. She also danced and choreographed with other flamenco groups performing at theaters, festivals and schools. Eventually, she started to produce her own performances, managing both the performing and marketing herself. Her productions have been nationally acclaimed on television, in newspapers and in other media.

Besides being a dancer, she has also had a successful career as a model.

After graduating from the University College of Dance in Sweden, Ulrika immediately received offers to teach regularly and give master classes in modern, jazz and flamenco at various dance schools in Stockholm. She was frequently invited by the dance schools to choreograph for her students at recitals.

In Atlanta, Ulrika taught flamenco dance in the Emory University Dance program and at Casita Flamenca, her own dance studio. Atlanta Ballet Center for Dance Education gave her the first opportunity to teach in Atlanta, where she started in their Adult Open Division. She has been invited to teach at Atlanta Ballet's summer program in Midtown and Milledgeville for the past summers, a teaching offer which she has accepted with great enthusiasm.

Ulrika founded Perla Flamenca Dance Company in 2001 to give her most talented flamenco students in Atlanta a chance to perform on stage. A group of new talented students was added to the company in September, 2003, and they performed with the company in the spring of 2004.

In addition to leading Perla Flamenca, Ulrika also performed in the Atlanta area with various artists. In the spring of 2000, she helped found the flamenco group Pasión Flamenca, an Atlanta Flamenco Productions company. She choreographed and danced with Pasión Flamenca at numerous festivals, theaters and different Spanish events, such as the Cuban Club, Georgia Museum of Art and Andaluz Tapas Bar, where the group was awarded "Best Entertainment in Atlanta" by Creative Loafing. The group performed their own production, ¡Vivir! (to live), with great success at the Cannon Chapel at Emory University and Roswell Cultural Arts Center, both in Atlanta.

Ulrika moved to Washington D.C in August, 2004. She was excited to continue her flamenco career in another part of the United States, even though she was sad to leave her colleauges, her company and the growing Atlanta Flamenco Community behind. To view article about her work in Atlanta, click here. Her legacy in Atlanta was also mentioned in Airtran's inflight magazine in January, 2005.

Ulrika started teaching at Joy of Motion in Friendship Heights, D.C., in the fall of 2004, and shortly thereafter she started to give classes at D.C. Dance Collective. She was introduced to the D.C. Flamenco Community by Michael Perez, D.C's own flamenco web master, who published an article about Ulrika's teaching philosophy. Almost directly she also started teaching private classes at home.

After an audition in D.C, Ulrika started a new company on October 9th, 2005, which she called Mirada Flamenca Dance Company. Ulrika´s vision with the company was to create a more modern flamenco dance style based on traditional movements and music, since she believes in the challenge of combining the modern with the traditional, give and take from both forms, to keep the art form alive and constantly developing. The company has performed at numerous D.C. events and with Ulrika at her own productions, Dentro, in March 2006, and Café Flamenco, in March 2007.

Besides producing her own flamenco performances in D.C., Ulrika has been invited to perform together with the local artists at various D.C. establishments such as La Taberna del Alabardero, Restaurant Tutto Bene Italian Bar & Grill, and D.C.'s own Flamenco Feria, to mention a few..

Currently, Ulrika is only giving private classes at her home studio due to her move back to Sweden in July, 2007. It is indeed with mixed emotions she and her family leaves the United States, since she has led a very happy life here, both in regards of the social life with friends, as well as flamenco life. However, she is also looking forward to be closer to her family, and the heart of flamenco, Spain.

Ulrika's past, present and future has been, is and will always be the art of flamenco – her true passion in life. She dedicates her talent to her grandmother who taught her the beauty of life; her father who gave her inner strength; her husband who never ceases to support her; and last, but definitely not least, her daughter who gives her life the utmost meaning.

Ulrika expresses her feelings about what flamenco is to her, in this poem ¡Vivir! (to live) which has been used as an introduction to present the performance with the same name, in Sweden in 1998 and in Atlanta in 2001-2002.

~VIVIR~ To Live (in English)
– By Ulrika Frank –

The flamenco flows through me, heavy and warm
through my body and out through my veins
it flows in swelling waves, heavy and warm

The flamenco flows above me, light and haunting
Swirls above, tangling my hair
teasing my thoughts, light and haunting

The flamenco flows below me, deep and thundering
pounding down there, like hoofs in earth
weighing and pulling, deep and thundering

The flamenco flows heavy and warm
light and haunting
deep and thundering through life

So shall we live
live for him whose time is running out
live for her whose life just has dawned

Live, live ~ Vivir, vivir ~


~VIVIR~ (in Spanish)
– Translated by Carmen Deal –

El flamenco corre a través de mí, poderoso y ardiente
atravezando mi cuerpo y entre mis venas
flotando como olas embrevecidas, poderoso y ardiente

El flamenco flota sobre mí, ligero y perseguido
torbellinos encima enredando mi pelo
atormentando mis inquietudes, ligero y perseguido

El flamenco mana debajo de mí, profundo y fulminante
golpeando allí abajo como pezuñas en la tierra
pesando y tirando, profundo y fulminante

El flamenco flota poderoso y ardiente
ligero y perseguido
profundo y fulminante, a través de la vida

Por lo tanto viviremos
viviremos para él cuyo tiempo se le termina
viviremos para ella cuya vida justamente ha amanecido

Vivir, vivir


~VIVIR~ Leva (in Swedish)

Flamencon sveper genom mig, tung och varm
genom min kropp och ut i mina ådror
den sveper svallande i vågor, tung och varm

Flamencon sveper ovanför mig, lätt och gäckande
virvlar där ovan, trasslar mitt hår
retar mina tankar, lätt och gäckande

Flamencon sveper nedanför mig, dov och mullrande
bullrar där nere, likt hovar i jord
tynger och drar, dov och mullrande

Flamencon sveper tung och varm,
lätt och gäckande,
dov och mullrande genom livet

Så ska vi och leva,
leva för honom vars tid rinner ut,
leva för henne vars liv nyss har grytt

Leva, leva ~ vivir, vivir~