Check Out Jelena Ristic’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jelena Ristic.

Hi Jelena, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I spent a great deal of my youth from around age 14 looking for ‘my thing’ as I called it. I was looking for a relationship with the arts like someone might look for finding the love of their life. In that sense, I ‘dated’ many art forms including classical guitar, drawing, painting, sculpting, a little theatre and other dance forms such as Salsa and Belly Dance but nothing swept me off of my feet until I met Flamenco in 2000 quite late at age 28. It was genuinely love at first sight and 25 years later, after a dramatic separation and a very careful reunion, I am 100% certain I’m one of those lucky people who get to experience a life long love affair that gives far far more than it will ever demand, though it has demanded a lot. Flamenco is not an easy dance to learn, but for me, it has been worth every difficulty 10 times over.

The first time I walked into a Flamenco studio, I still hadn’t seen the dance form performed. I went because I was tired of looking for a serious Salsa partner and being hit on in clubs. I wanted to dance, not flirt. It was a work colleague who got me to go by stating that she didn’t read me as a Salsa dancer but rather a “Flamenca.” I had exactly zero idea what she meant. She invited me to take a class at the The Academy of Spanish Dance in Toronto, Ontario to find out and the rest is history.

By the time I walked out of that first class I felt sure I’d arrived at a long lost home and I never wanted to leave. If you’ve ever taken a beginner dance class, you’ll know it’s quite odd to be so moved. It was as the Spanish might explain it, the ‘aire.’ the air or atmosphere of that class and space that gripped me and I’ve never lost the connection even over some very severe life experiences. I love the old world. I’m very old school and not very ‘fancy,’ so I believe the raw feeling of the studio space itself hidden in the basement of a historic old building in the arts District of Toronto, the aged photos all over the studio of the director Esmeralda Enrique chronicling her history as a dancer from the age of 12 in Texas, through Spain and finally settling in Toronto, and the familial hospitality of my first teacher Nancy Cook on that very first day struck a profound chord with me. As a young girl traveling ‘back home’ to Serbia with my parents many many times, I had a strong affinity with anything European and full character, strength and pride and that’s what I immediately sensed from Flamenco in even just one class. When the instructor turned on the music and I heard those profound soulful gritty voices and rhythms that only Flamenco has, it brought tears to my eyes and I just knew I’d finally found ‘my thing and the love of my life.’

Within a week I’d bought shoes, a practice skirt and signed up for 3 different classes a week, Sevillanas, technique and beginner 1 – Tangos. Within a year I was performing any place I could and with 2 to 3 years I was co-ordinating rehearsals for community events and began being hired to dance at weddings. Every Friday night I was a fixture at Plaza Flamingo the most popular regular Flamenco Show at a Latin Restaurant that had Salsa dancing upstairs soaking in every lyric, guitar strum and dance step. I never once went upstairs to salsa. I became best buddies with Kolio, the resident classical guitar player from Bulgaria who would open the show. He lived near me and would pick me up after work from teaching ESL at Hunber College and drive me down to “Plaza” to watch the show. He would ride me every time about when I would get up on the stage and I’d tell him that for that kind of a show, I was not ready yet…until one day, I had no choice. One of the dancers had fallen and needed to get stitches in Emergency and couldn’t make it for a huge corporate Christmas event. Kolia informed me that in fact that night was my night whether I was ready or not. He then drove me to The Academy of Spanish Dance to get my costume and back just in time to hop on stage after a quick run down of the show from the other dancer and guitarist. I not only survived, I did well. That’s how I got my first regularly paid gig. I loved it. I lived for Friday nights at Plaza. I’d start my days at 6am, teach all day with my costume and shoes in tow and then get my ride from Kolio to Plaza and dance and learn every single Friday night. My joy wasn’t about the thrill and ego of performing on a stage. In fact, back then it made me very nervous. The thrill and joy for me were about being invited to the table to learn from people so much more advanced than me. People who’d actually studied in Spain. It was about that community and finding a place I’d rather be more than any other place in the world. To this day, when I’m rehearsing in my home studio, in a class, workshop or on a stage, absolutely nothing else exits and there is absolutely no other place in the world I’d rather be.

But my journey with Flamenco wouldn’t remain that clear and easy. It went from a dream to a nightmare due to medical negligence. That story itself is very long, heavy and arduous to tell, so I will shorten it this way. The wrong treatment for a grossly misdiagnosed injury in 2009 left me unable to walk and in so much chronic pain I was suicidal. The amount of pain was so terrible that I had almost stroked out from it in emergency before the right cocktail of meds was found to keep it ‘tolerable.’ The injury did not come from dance directly. Dance caused a formerly undiagnosed labral tear at age 18 to slowly tear at all the structures around my hip, S.I.. joint and lower back until I was in constant pain. The labral tear was overlooked, I was given chiropractic care that took those dozens of tiny microtears over the edge and I ended up with such severe sciatic dysfunction and hip laxity that I could no longer sit, stand or walk without a mix of 6 pain and other types of medication. It took me 10 years to unravel what had gone wrong and then to make it right with a regenerative therapy called Prolotherapy. It’s a miracle for anyone in chronic pain due to soft tissue damage. I had lost the ability to dance, my job, my home, my relationship and everything that I knew made me me until I was turned into what felt like nothing but a vessel to hold and experience agony, heart break and excruciating physical pain day in and day out. If it weren’t for my Prolotherapy doctor who is an artist in his own right, for the support of a loving family, friends in and out of the Flamenco community and from my college, I don’t think I’d be here today, much less dancing stronger and better than I ever have before.

I did not get back to even trying to dance until 2019. Frankly, I never thought that would be possible again, and even if it were, after all the trauma I’d suffered, I’d be too afraid to even try. But you can’t evade true love. By 2019 I’d moved to the U.S. which is where I found the doctor who finally healed me and my husband along the way. We were living near Philadelphia and I saw a poster for a workshop with one of Flamenco’s greatest dancers Carmen Ledesma at a Philadelphia Flamenco studio called “Pasion y Arte.” By then I was walking fine, and off of all pain killers, but not yet 100%. I was still undergoing treatments to fully heal the remaining tears that were showing up on ultrasounds. I looked at my husband and said, “I want to try.” He was terrified for me, but I was adamant I’d be careful and pull back if I experienced any strain. I didn’t even have Flamenco shoes anymore. I went in my Mary Jane Sketchers. I explained to the director of the school what situation I was in and that I’d just like to ‘try.’ She was incredibly encouraging and understanding and I made it through the workshop as well as spent a weekend in a brand new, but equally warm and inviting Flamenco community with one of Flamenco’s greats. This is actually a very common thing in Flamenco; to be able to take workshops with best all over the world. I had that experience many, many times before in Toronto. I was in heaven again. My body was still far from ready to go all out, but I was back home finally. I had to restart my journey at the level of a brand new student as that was all my body would allow, but with more treatment, careful and regular practice I’m now here 6 years later a member of the Phoenix World Arts Collective in Arizona, a dancer with Franchesca Flamenco and starting my own little school here in Peoria, Flamenco For Life. The name holds a double meaning. For life in the sense of ‘forever.’ but also “for life” in the sense that there is no single thing that has held me up and improved my life, allowed me to heal, grow and contribute to the growth now of my students than Flamenco. When Flamenco truly sweeps you off your feet, it carries you into a whole new life, an elevated and profound way of being, of seeing the world and of appreciating life.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I explained the major hurdle in answer to the last question, but other struggles still exist Those have always been to find the time and funds to continue to grow as an artist. Flamenco doesn’t pay the bills unless you’re the best of the best, and even then, it’s on a relatively humble scale. But it does cost quite a lot to be in regular classes for choreography, technique, workshops, and then there are the costumes and shoes which are also very expensive. One pair of professional shoes run $300.00 and $200.00 is considered extremely inexpensive for a dress. They can easily run 350 to even 700 dollars or more. Not to mention castanets, shawls, flowers, etc… I have for example, never been to Spain. I had to sell my house in Toronto and clean out my retirement funds to attain medical treatment in the U.S. It was my only option to recover and I don’t regret a single penny of it, and if faced, God forbid, with the same choice again, I wouldn’t hesitate, but the fact remains I struggle to make ends meet and support my dancing. My dream has always been to study in Spain, even for a semester, I haven’t been able to afford it yet, but I haven’t given up. Current struggles I believe are interest in an ‘old world’ art from in and increasingly digital and modern world. That makes it harder to get students than for example dance forms like hip hop or pop or anything you might see at a Taylor Swift show. Flamenco is quite antithetical to the music and dance forms that are most popular today, though I believe some artists like Rosalia maybe bridging that gap a little.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I teach Flamenco classes in Peoria as well as teach ESL at Peoria Accelerated High School. I’ve been an ESL teacher since 1998 at all types of schools both internationally and nationally, in class and online and I bring that expertise as an educator into every one of my dance classes. Teaching well and efficiently for your students is itself an art form. After so many years, I do specialize in the art of teaching, not just the profession and practice of it. I’m known for having a ‘systematic’ and very effective, detail oriented and analytical approach to teaching anything that I teach that allows students to truly feel and experience what I mean. Yes, we learn with our minds, but we learn best when our hearts, souls, senses and even sense of humor are engaged. I will use any metaphor or mnemonic at hand to create solid conceptual anchors for my students to understand a concept and then take them through individually tailored experiences and exercises to get it ‘into their bodies’ so they can grasp how it feels quickly and rely on it. My current students have started one just in January and the other in July and have already performed Sevillanas at the Herberger Theatre and ALAC for Dia de Los Muertos sponsored by PWAC with Franchesca Flamenco and Julia Chacon with live music provided by Simon Marquez and Mari Paz. I’m extremely proud of them and their accomplishments because it was. a big and long show featuring about 15 dancers sharing one stage. I”m not a ‘proud’ person myself in the way I understand the meaning of pride. The word carries a little too much ego for me. I prefer the word joyful. I’m genuinely bursting with joy that I get to keep doing what I love share it with people who also love it and I get the beautiful opportunity to being a guide for my students who are just entering and exploring the world of Flamenco for the first time. Nothing makes me happier. What I think sets me apart from others is that after the trauma I suffered, I was blessed and lucky enough to experience post traumatic growth vs just PTSD. I have a little of that in very specific circumstances, but it’s about 10% of my experience. 90% of it is what feels like an endless reserve of gratitude for every minute and every detail at my second chance at both life and Flamenco. That 10 year break also forced me to develop an extremely effective methodology for learning very efficiently and quickly in order to even approach catching up with my peers. It’s that same methodology that I use with my current students which has allowed them to go from their first steps into a Flamenco class to their first steps onto a big stage with a crowd of dancers and hold their own in less than a year.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My parents deserve the bulk of the credit. They have always encouraged me to lead with my heart, soul and fully humanity, be loving and share before anything else. My brother and I were both born quite sick. I had a congenital heart defect and had to have surgery at age one and a half to have it corrected. The surgery was still new and there was no prognosis – just the hope the fix would last and knock on wood, it has. My brother has severe asthma and my parents were immigrants to Toronto, Canada who barely spoke English with two severely sick babies. Still, we never wanted for anything and they took out loans to make sure we spent time with and got to know our family back home in Serbia. In me particularly, they fostered my love for culture and the arts with those trips alone. I have deep reverence for the kind of people they are, the example they set and consequently, the kind of people they encouraged both me and my brother to become. They also sold properties and sacrificed a significant chunk of their retirement and comfort in their old age, they are in their 80s now, to support my medical costs and recovery so that I could heal and have a normal life. Without them, I wouldn’t be here at all. They saved my life twice, and Flamenco for Life wouldn’t exist. My mother particularly adores Flamenco dance and keeps up with me daily. Daily. I owe them everything. Beside them, my very best friend in the world and soul sister is Katerina Giannakopoulou who I met at a Flamenco workshop in Toronto in 2004. She is Greek by ethnicity, lived in Germany most of her life and studied and danced Flamenco in Spain. We support each other with anything and everything we need artistically and personally without question or thought. She helps me with choreographies and business advice. She is another blessing Flamenco has brought me. Then there is Esmeralda Enrique the director of the Academy of Spanish Dance where I started dancing in Toronto. Her acute attention to detail and technique laid an incredibly solid foundation for future growth which she also heavily fostered by bringing in Flamenco giants from all over the world to give us workshops at least twice a year. She will always be my Flamenco mother. There is also my Flamenco singing teacher Silvia Temis without whose patience and dedication to the art form I would not be able to sing a note nor understand Flamenco the way I do now. And then of course here in Phoenix is the whole community who have offered everything from friendship to financial support. Particularly though I would like to mention Carlos Montufar and PWAC. I met Carlos at Tapas Papas Frita where he was dancing on a Friday night and he pulled me into his world of La Pinta Flamenca. Ever since he’s provided opportunities to perform, meet other artists. and advertised my school on his nonprofit’s website. Without his generosity, artistry and support I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have grown and advanced as much and as quickly as I have here in Phoenix. Carlos is as they say genuinely ‘the best!”

Pricing:

• First trial class is always free.
• $25.00 for a drop in classes
• $110.00 for a card of 5 classes
• $280.00 per 14 week semester.
• $50.00 for 1hr private class.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://flamencoforlife.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flamencoforlife/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558241561012
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FlamencoForLife

Image Credits
Mauricio Lopez, Courtesy of Phoenix World Arts Collective.