The Team
Who We Are
Monica Mota
Founder & artistic Director
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Monica Mota is Director of Quiero Flamenco. She created the company as a way to bring Flamenco to the Inland Northwest. To date, she has produced a performance each year since founding Quiero Flamenco in 2017 with 2019's show (Flamenco Aire) receiving a Spokane Arts grant and taking place at the Bing Crosby Theater.
She started dancing professionally as a ballet dancer with the New Mexico Ballet Company and as a modern dancer with the UNM Dance Company. When she was nineteen she attended her first Flamenco class and found her love. She has performed as a soloist for the Denver Flamenco Fantasy Dance Theatre, Oleaje Flamenco of Seattle, Chicas Patas of Spokane, Flamenco Denver, Solo Flamenco of Portland and Underground Flamenco of Denver. Additionally, Monica has performed her own solo choreography at On the Boards in Seattle.
Monica has trained under Sara de Luis of Pacific Northwest Ballet. She was fortunate to teach at the Pacific Northwest Ballet summer academy and coach Seattle Opera dancers. She had studied extensively in Spain and at the University of New Mexico where she earned her BA in Dance. She also earned a Masters in Teaching from Whitworth University.
She is now on a mission to produce and create dance opportunities for local dancers.
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CarliAnn Forthun Bruner
Founder & Executive Director
From the age of two, she as been a mover, first as a gymnast then a dancer. She received her Bachelor in Fine Arts in dance and minor in kinesiology from Simon Fraser University in 2012 and her Masters in Fine Arts in dance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2021. Since her receiving her formal education, CarliAnn has been on a scholarly and personal journey to understand her Indigenous heritage (descendant of Confederated Tribes of Colville - Okanagan, Secwépemc, and mixed European) more fully, using her dance and embodiment to uncover ways of knowing the world that were once taken from her ancestors.
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Her choreography has been presented by On the Boards, Seattle International Dance Festival, Inlay Dance, Velocity Dance Center, YAW Theater, Intrepidus Dance, and Terrain 11. She has performed professionally with Khambatta Dance Company, Intrepidus Dance, 127th St. Dance Company and as a freelance performer. CarliAnn has enjoyed touring internationally in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Lithuania, and India.
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Currently, CarliAnn is an adjunct professor of dance at Gonzaga University, where she teaches technique, arts leadership, improvisation, among other subjects. As an educator, CarliAnn's goals are to encourage each student on their own movement journeys and to feel more trusting and comfortable in their own bodies. ​
As a dance creator, CarliAnn investigates human interactions that are universal and transcend language, exploring the ineffability of life.​
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Audrey Parks
operations Manager