ABOUT
Encuentros is the name for the Duo Encuentros and the dance school Espacio Flameno Encuentros. It does not just stand for the encounters between Jessica and Tijn but also between the artist en audience, teacher en student, the cooperation with fellow artists and the way flamenco combines with other music and dance styles.
Companía Encuentros
The duo consists of Jessica Achten and Tijn van der Sanden. They work together with other dancers, musicians and other artists. Tijn and Jessica met each other in Sevilla, Spain, where they studied flamenco. In juli 2013 they came back to the Netherlands and started with giving classes, show and therefore started their duo Encuentros, Spanish for encounters.
Espacio Flamenco Encuentros
Since september 2017 Jessica started her school Espacio Flamenco Encuentros for flamenco dance in Eindhoven. In oktober 2018 she opened the new location at Strijp-S, Eindhoven. There are several classes during the week for different levels. The classes will be accompanied by Tijn van der Sanden. Go in the menu to classes to find out more about her classes as well as the guitar classes of Tijn.
Jessica Eights
Tijn van der Sanden (1989), born in Eindhoven. Tijn started at the age of 7 with electric guitar lessons with Frank Bogers in Eindhoven (Center for Pop & Jazz). When he was 16 he took the preparatory year classical guitar at the Conservatory of Tilburg, conducted by Hein Sanderink. He then continued his studies and went to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he followed Flamenco and jazz guitar as a minor from the second year. He received major lessons from Lydia Kennedy and flamenco guitar lessons from Eric Vaarzon Morel. During his studies he took master classes from Fabio Zanon, David Russel, Enno Voorhorst, Peter Constant and Lex Eisenhardt.
In 2011 at the age of 21 he graduated from the CVA and continued his studies in Seville; Spain. At the Fundacion Christina Heeren he received daily technique, singing and dance coaching lessons and took theory and history lessons. Lessons were taught by Pedro Sierra, Niño de Pura, Eduardo Rebollar and Paco Cortes. He also took master classes from Tino van der Sman, Manuel de la Luz and Antonio Rey.
In 2013 he started Encuentros in the Netherlands, together with dancer Jessica Achten. A duo that collaborates with various guest artists. They made a total of 3 performances. Flamencounters, Tierradentro and their most recent show Flamencolores. They played these in various theaters, they were also invited to other performances. They played in the De La Mar Theater, Paradiso, Parktheater Eindhoven, etc. They were also seen in various TV programs, among others. at Maestro, and Omroep Max.
From 2018 to 2019, Tijn studied at the Musicube Academy in Bonn, (Germany), where he studied Music for Film & Theater.
In addition, Tijn teaches since his studies in Amsterdam. He then started at Ceres Music School in Utrecht, then he started Guitar ShoolTijn and also teaches at the Muziekfabriek. At Guitar SchoolTijn he gives classical guitar lessons and electric guitar in addition to flamenco. He is an enthusiastic and passionate teacher. His studio is located at 157 Lijmbeekstraat and is situated next to the flamenco dance studio Espacio Flamenco Encuentros. Here he guides and teaches his students flamenco dance accompaniment. look at: http://www.guitarschooltijn.com
Jessica was born in the Netherlands in 1988. When she was 4 she started with classical ballet. At the age of 9 she started Flamenco classes with Maria Penders (Estudio de Flamenco El Candil) and a few years later also other styles such as modern dance, jazz and hiphop. After secondary school she decided to develop herself in these styles and went to Seville (Spain) and Lisbon (Portugal) for 6 months, to take many classes. There she prepared herself for the auditions back in the Netherlands. In 2007 she was accepted to ‘Hoge school voor de kunsten ArtEZ' (Dance academy in Arnhem), a dance education which consisted of teaching, choreographing and performing. With modern dance, classical ballet and Jazz as the main subjects, and other styles like flamenco, improvisation, hiphop, African dance and folklore as subsidiary subjects. She wrote her thesis about the modern influences in Flamenco, for which she went to Madrid for research for 2 months. In 2011 she graduated from the dance academy.
Since flamenco continued to intrigue her, she decided to go to Spain to focus on this beautiful and yet so complicated artform. Eventually with a scholarship from ‘Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds’ (a fund for the development of culture) she was able to stay 1,5 years in Seville. There she had between 4 and 8 hours of classes a day, practical and theoretical classes. Besides that she trained several hours on her own every day. She studied with flamenco artists like Belén Maya, La Lupi, Leonor Leal, Rocio Molina, Rafaela Carrasco, Úrsula López, Tamara López, Andrés Marín, Ana Morales, Ángel Atienza, Andrés Peña, Manuel Betanzos, Alicia Márquez, Carmen Ledesma, Chloé Brûlé, Patricia Lozano, Rosi Navarro Villanueva, etc. This time in Seville was very important for her to delve into this culture. With all the knowledge she gained during her time in Seville, she returned to the Netherlands after 1,5 years.
Read Jessica's column about Seville:
http://www.elflamenco.nl/03-Noticias/Column/02-2014-febr-Jessica15Achten.html
Recently Jessica is teaching weekly Flamenco classes in her own school 'Espacio Flamenco Encuentros' and she gives workshops on a regular basis. She has also worked as a choreographer for various shows. Besides teaching and choreographing, she is currently performing with Tijn van der Sanden in their duo ‘Encuentros’ and works with other know flamenco artists.
Together with Tijn and other artists she choreographed and performed in their theatre productions 'Tierradentro' (2017) and 'FlamenColores' (2019)