Jessica Cerda, a native San Antonian, is a Flamenco Dancer who discovered the art of flamenco as a young professional working as the public relations manager for the local arts organization Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. Having been a live-long student and performer of dance - ballet as child, jazz and hip-hop throughout junior high and high school, experiencing her first flamenco performance ignited a spark, passion and desire to learn this art form and some day take the stage as a flamenco dancer. She enrolled in beginner lessons at the Guadalupe Dance Academy and then branched out to learn from different local instructors. After performing many ensemble pieces, trios and duets in numerous shows and recitals over the years, she traveled to Spain with fellow flamenco students.

Traveling to Spain to study at the world-renowned flamenco school in Madrid, Amor de Dios and around Sevilla were defining moments in her flamenco education. Experiencing the flamenco culture first-hand and grasping the true meaning of flamenco where it originated gave much more perspective than choreographed dances she had been learning back home. The locals danced bulerias, one of the most complex and fastest rhythms in flamenco, with style and ease and her desire to dance flamenco in such a way left her searching for the maestro or teacher who could help her learn in such a way. It would require learning about one of the most important and original elements of flamenco, the cante or singing.   

Before the pandemic of 2020 Jessica completed a series of tablao performances around San Antonio working with Seville native Guitarrista Luisma Ramos and local Cantaora, flamenco singer, Chayito Champion, as well as other professional performances managing both the artist collaboration and business sides.  During lockdown she took several classes via Zoom with Miguel Vargas, Founder of Centro de Arte y Flamenco de Sevilla, an instructor she had workshopped with many times learning choreography.  During these classes she realized his true teaching capacity and style as he was teaching about the cante and its origins, the thing that enables a flamenco dancer to feel and dance with the music, the instruction she had been looking for. Her dream is to some-day study full-time or even part-time, annually under Miguel in Sevilla to bring back the styles of dance along with the cante and toque, guitar, that are both original and cutting edge in flamenco.