A Stanmore resident is reflecting on his 60-year career as a Spanish dancer, from founding Pineapple Dance Studios to appearing on the silver screen.
Ramon Villar, who has lived in the area for 50 years, is a British-born flamenco dancer who was the first person in the UK to set up his own Spanish dance company, the Flamenco Playa Dance Company.
Ramon is not his real name, but it’s the one he’s been known as professionally for more than half a century.
He first became interested in flamenco at an early age.
Speaking to STANMOREnews, he said: “It’s been an amazing career. I’ve worked in more than 400 theatres across the country, and I was a founding member of Pineapple Dance Studios.”
One of his early highlights as a dancer was appearing in the 1964 horror film The Masque of the Red Death, starring cinema icon Vincent Price, which was filmed at Elstree Studios.
Shortly afterwards, he formed his own company specifically focused around flamenco, and thus, the Flamenco Playa Dance Company was born.
Over the years, the company has performed all across the country, including at prestigious venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s South Bank, the Dominion Theatre in the West End, the Barbican Centre and Buxton Opera House.
Despite these great heights, Ramon still sticks to his North London roots. He’s a teacher at Harrow Arts Centre, and he says he’ll still keep dancing, no matter what.
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