AWARDS
jonathan pacheco
2024-2025 has been a great season for our dancer Jonathan Pacheco:
- Dance/USA to honor Jonathan Pacheco - More information here
- Named BEST DANCER of 2024 by the Chicago Reader - More information here
- Recognized as a flourishing cultural leader by the publication Negocios Now in its “Latinos 40 Under 40” List - More information here
Latinx Community Award
Our Executive & Associate Artistic Director, Jorge Perez, was awarded the 2021 Latinx Community Award from Wintrust Community Bank.
2020 “25 to Watch”
Luis Beltran has an intrepid mix of charisma, confidence and sex appeal. He seduces audiences with a fair share of tantalizing machismo, but it’s not boorish, and it’s balanced by a blithe and jaunty stage presence in Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater’s folk dance repertoire. Beltran manages to find the nuances in each Spanish style—folkloric, flamenco, classical and contemporary—but shines most in the company’s big, bold, unabashed and spectacularly over-the-top group works.
The native Ecuadorian started dancing with an outreach program hosted by Chicago’s Ensemble Español at age 7, then rose through the ranks to join the company in his late teens. Now 25, he’s on track to rise to the top of a company whose Spanish dancers are among the best in the world.
Chicagoans of the Year
2019 Dance Chicagoans of the Year: Jorge Perez and Irma Suárez Ruiz awarded by the Chicago Tribune.
Latinos 40 Under 40
Negocios Now announced their 2017 list of Latinos 40 Under 40 in Chicago including Julia Hinojosa, Ensemble Español's dancer.
The 40 recipients were selected after a five-month nomination and selection process, and they represent business, government, nonprofits, politics, sports and education, among other fields.
Who’s Who in Hispanic Chicago
Negocios Now Special Edition “Who’s Who in Hispanic Chicago” with more than 150 Hispanic leaders profiled including Jorge Perez, Ensemble Español's Executive & Associate Artistic Director.
“It is truly an honor to be recognized in Negocios Now’s 2016 Who’s Who in Hispanic Chicago. Currently, our company reaches over 50,000 audience members and over 26,000 students annually. Supporting arts organizations is one of the best ways that a business can support its community” - Jorge Perez
president barack obama
Honors include White House President Barack Obama sending Ensemble Español a letter recognizing the organization's work.
Lazo de Dama de Isabel la Católica
In 1983, Dame Libby Komaiko was awarded the “Lazo de Dama de Isabel la Católica” by the Spanish Royal Court and government.
This honor was bestowed for her superlative work in spreading the cultural and artistic values of Spain throughout the United States.
She was the first American choreographer to receive this honor.