Antonio Gades

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Statue in Havana

Antonio Gades , actually Antonio Esteve Ródenas, (born November 16, 1936 in Elda , Alicante , † July 20, 2004 in Madrid ) was a Spanish dancer , choreographer and ballet director .

He dusted off folkloric flamenco and established it as a form of theater ballet through his reinterpretation. With his choreographies Bodas de Sangre , Carmen , Fuego and Fuenteovejuna, Gades created works of international standing that are still part of the repertoire of the renowned ballet companies. With his ensemble Compañía Antonio Gades , he performed at all the major dance theaters in the world and celebrated international success with his performances.

Through his collaboration with the Spanish director Carlos Saura in his films Blood Wedding , Carmen and Liebeszauber, Gades became known to a broad audience, including those who were not ballet-distant.

Life

childhood

Gades was born in the city of Elda in southwest Spain. His father was a bricklayer, his mother worked in a shoe factory. As a staunch communist , Gade's father left the family before the birth of his son to fight on the side of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Reunited, the family moved to Madrid and lived there in the simplest of circumstances in a two-room apartment. Gade's father worked there as a caretaker and was often ill, and the family's financial situation worsened due to the birth of another son. Gades left school at the age of eleven in order to earn some money. Among other things, he worked as a delivery boy for a fruit dealer and a society photographer. Gades also learned the photographic trade and at the age of 15 took a job in the photo lab of the Madrid daily ABC .

Gades later explained that times were very difficult and that social advancement without adequate schooling was only possible through “boxing, bullfighting or dancing”. He was ambitious and tried all the disciplines. But since he had a special talent for dance, he finally chose this option, "neither out of a calling nor out of a burning love for dance, but out of hunger".

education

With part of the money he earned, Gades financed his first dance lessons in a private school. He joined a dance group after just a few months and went on tour with them. This is how he met Pilar López , who accepted him into her renowned ballet company Ballet Espanol de Pilar Lopez . In the internationally successful group, Gades studied classical dance , flamenco and the combination of both styles. López's influence not only shaped Gades in terms of dance, she also created his stage name, which is modeled on the city of Cádiz in Andalusia.

Career

Years from 1952 to 1968

After only one year, Gades became the ballet company's first solo dancer. Successful tours took him to all major dance theaters in the world over the next few years.

In 1962, Gades left the group to take on new artistic challenges. He went to Rome to choreograph the piece Boléro with Anton Dolin at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma . After a stay in France, he settled in Madrid again in 1963 to found his first dance company. In addition, Gades worked in first films. In 1964 Antonio Gades achieved his artistic breakthrough with his company at the World Exhibition in New York.

The following year he directed Don Juan , his first choreography, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela . His interpretation of the Don Juan theme aroused mixed audience reactions, the performance was financially a disaster, the company was economically ruined.

In the next two years he worked in other films, all of which were great successes and received international attention through nominations for the Oscar and the Palme d' Or . Gades received engagements on the big stages of the world, among other things he danced at La Scala in Milan with Carla Fracci and Rudolf Nurejew . Nureyev outdid Gade's dance performance, but it is said that Gades later confidently declared that he was "the best living dancer". Nureyev heard about it and acknowledged it with the words: "Welcome to the club."

Years from 1969 to 1990

In 1969, Gades choreographed the ballet El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla at the Chicago Opera Theater. The performance was a great success and his company went on a world tour with the piece. In the same year Gades engaged Cristina Hoyos as first dancer, she accompanied the Compañía Antonio Gades for the next 19 years.

In 1974 he staged Blood Wedding (Bodas de sangre) by Federico García Lorca at the Teatro Olimpico in Rome . A tribute to the Spanish writer who inspired Gades to revive the “almost non-existent Flamenco culture” through the “ordinary tourist performances” required by the state. The piece was a resounding success and established Gade's international reputation as a choreographer. Bodas de sangre was filmed six years later by Carlos Saura under the title Blood Wedding , but the choreography from 1974 is considered a milestone in Spanish dance. The “traditional Spanish dance” became “the great ballet” “through the amalgamation of classical ballet and flamenco”.

In the autumn of 1975, five terrorists were sentenced to death in Spain. As a reaction and in protest against the Franco regime, Gades dissolved his dance company at the end of 1975 and retired as a privateer to the Spanish coastal town of Altea . In March 1977 he moved to Cuba to study Ad Libitum and Giselle with the dancer Alicia Alonso , who urged him not to give up dancing . Giselle was performed with great success at the Metropolitan Opera in New York .

In April 1979 Gades returned to Spain as he was appointed first director of the newly formed Ballet Nacional de España . He built up ballet and created a Spanish dance culture that fused the various Spanish dance traditions at the highest level. The ballet was successful with its performances and was awarded prizes, but in March 1980 Gades was dismissed by the incumbent Minister of Culture Ricardo De la Cierva, a partisan of Franco, under the pretext of a necessary structural change.

The Spanish film director Carlos Saura , who had seen rehearsals for the Spanish National Ballet, developed the idea for a dance film from his impressions “to show how such a performance is worked out, how it begins, how the dancers warm up, how they get ready how the motion sequences are structured ". Over the next few years, Sauras Bluthochzeit (1981), Carmen (1983) and Liebeszauber (1986) directed Sauras Bluthochzeit (1981 ) with Antonio Gades in the lead roles. The film Carmen was particularly successful and received numerous awards. The film series made Gades known to an international audience.

In 1983 Gades directed Carmen , which premiered at the Théâtre de Paris . The success was overwhelming. In 1989 the world premiere of his ballet production Fuego , a reinterpretation of El amor brujo , in German love magic , at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Gades was at the height of his career.

Years from 1991 to 1993

Gades needed an artistic break. All the work he had done in recent years and the responsibility for his ensemble members had exhausted him. He withdrew from all obligations in December 1991 and started with his third wife, the Swiss Daniela Frey, in January 1992 with a boat from Ibiza for an Atlantic crossing to Havana .

Years from 1994 to 2004

In 1994 he again founded a Compañía Antonio Gades , with 36 members his largest ensemble to date, which he cast equally with experienced and young dancers.

Gades achieved another sensation with his last production Fuenteovejuna , which premiered in December 1994 at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. Based on the poem The famous drama by Fuente Ovejuna by Lope de Vega , he choreographed “a brilliant piece of an ensemble's performance that is extremely precise down to the last detail, sometimes spirited and strongly folkloric, sometimes very subtle and even with ballet figures. Gades sends it through movement patterns that are as complicated to manufacture as the finest lace. Then again the director paints still lifes for a moment. "" The "dance-poetic masterpiece" [...] is at the same time a passionate commitment to justice and human dignity and an encouragement to defend oneself in solidarity against tyranny. "Gades explained:" Everything What I have gained in strength, experience and artistic spirit over the years has flowed together in this work. "

In the years that followed, Gades and his company made guest appearances in all the major theaters in the world and showed his dancing skills on stage at the age of 60. Gades dissolved the Compañía Antonio Gades in 1999 , but continued to support and accompany the Spanish national ballet on its tours.

In November 2003, when Gades was suffering from cancer, he realized his dream of crossing the Atlantic again in a sailing boat. As before, the destination was Havana. On July 20, 2004, he died of cancer in Madrid. His ashes were buried in Cuba at the Mausoleo de los Héroes de la Revolución Cubana . In the Plaza de la Catedral in La Habana Vieja there is a life-size statue of Antonio Gades. Gades leaves five children.

Antonio Gades founded the Antonio Gades Foundation a few months before his death . The institution’s mission is to preserve Gade’s creative legacy, manage his artistic legacy and impart and teach Spanish dance to the world. The foundation is headed by his fourth wife, Eugenia Eiriz.

Political activities

Coming from a communist family, Gades was part of the political opposition to the Franco regime in the 1970s. He saw himself as a Marxist and supporter of the Catalan independence movement. In 1979 he ran for the Bloc d'Esquerra d'Alliberament Nacional (BEAN) in the local elections in Alicante . He later became a member of the Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España (PCPE), a split from the Communist Party of Spain . He was a member of the central committee of this small left party until his death. In addition, Gades was a long-time member of the Communist Party of Cuba . Cuba had been his political home since the Cuban Revolution , and he felt a bond with Fidel Castro , the godfather of his children by their second marriage.

Gades' effect

Gades' "charisma, his technique, but above all the way in which he knew how to integrate flamenco into stories and at the same time purify it, made him the innovator and most important representative of Spanish dance in the second half of the 20th century." With elegance, coherent arrogance and masculine expression [...] he integrated Bulerías , Farrucas and Alegrías into his dramatic-theatrical choreographies and brought them to the big stages “[...]. He gave "flamenco" back its "dignity" by "saying goodbye to lace and frills" and "turning to sobriety". "The most Spanish of all dances was freed from the folklore corner by Gades with [...] glances at the playwrights and poets of his country without losing a single spark of passion."

Gades, who "was known for his pure, simple and passionate dance style, shaped the history of Spanish dance". He created a “universal” art form by converting “simple folk dances into true choreographic theater ballets”. His work is "a source of inspiration for younger generations of dance".

Choreographies (selection)

  • 1965: Don Juan
  • 1974: Bodas de Sangre
  • 1983: Carmen
  • 1989: Fuego
  • 1994: Fuenteovejuna

Gades developed a large number of other works, which are subdivided into Spanish Suite 1963–1974 and Flamenco Suite 1963–1983 listed on the website of the Antonio Gades Foundation .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1963: Los Tarantos
  • 1964: Three Girls in Madrid ( The Pleasure Seekers )
  • 1966: Con el viento solano
  • 1967: El amor brujo
  • 1967: Último encuentro
  • 1981: Blood Wedding ( Bodas de sangre )
  • 1983: Carmen
  • 1986: Love spell ( El amor brujo )

Awards (selection)

Antonio Gades has received countless awards and prizes for his work. Particularly noteworthy are the Spanish National Prize , which Gades received in 1988 as the first dancer in the history of Spain, and the José Martí Order , the highest honor in Cuba, which Fidel Castro bestowed on him in 2004.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nadine Meisner: Antonio Gades. Flamenco dancer and choreographer. In: The Independent , July 30, 2004. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (English)
  2. ↑ a b c Carmen Böker: And yet out of burning love. In: Berliner Zeitung , July 21, 2004. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  3. ↑ a b The world of flamenco mourns Antonio Gades. In: Die Welt , July 22, 2004. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  4. ↑ a b c Michael Eaude: Antonio Gades. Stunning Spanish dancer and choreographer. In: The Guardian , July 22, 2004. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (English)
  5. ^ Rachel Straus: Antonio Gades. Website: dance-teacher.com, July 1, 2010. Accessed January 5, 2015. (English)
  6. ^ Anna Kisselgoff: Antonio Gades, 67, Artistic Flamenco Dancer. In: New York Times , July 22, 2004. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (English)
  7. ↑ ESTRENO BE LA TRAGICOMEDIA MUSICAL PON JUAN EN LA ZARZUELA. In: ABC , November 19, 1965. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (Spanish)
  8. ^ Il mondo della danza ricorda Nureyev. La Fracci: "uomo di profonda solitudine e grandi tenerezze". In: Il Sole 24 Ore , January 5, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (Italian)
  9. ↑ Rubén Amón: Diez años sin el duende de Antonio Gades. In: El Mundo , July 18, 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (Spanish)
  10. ↑ Antonio Gades. The Daily Telegraph , July 22, 2004, accessed on January 5, 2015 : "He was said to have described himself as" the greatest male dancer alive "- when this remark was reported to Rudolf Nureyev, the great ballet-dancer said: "Join the club." "
  11. ↑ Yolanda García Villaluenga: El 'amor brujo' de Cristina Hoyos y Antonio Gades, esta semana en 'Imprescindibles'. Radiotelevisión Española , April 1, 2011. Accessed January 5, 2015. (Spanish)
  12. ↑ Antonio Gades. The Daily Telegraph , July 22, 2004, accessed on January 5, 2015 (English): “It was when he read the works of Federico Garcia Lorca, the Andalusian poet whose legacy helped to revive the almost defunct flamenco culture from the vulgar tourist caricature encouraged by the Franco government, that Gades was inspired to his vocation. "
  13. ↑ 35 of the “Bodas de sangre” by Gades. ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Website: esflamenco.com, April 7, 2009. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (Spanish)
  14. ↑ Michael Eaude: Antonio Gades. Stunning Spanish dancer and choreographer. The Guardian , July 22, 2004, accessed on January 5, 2015 (English): "This" fusion "of classical ballet and flamenco gave traditional Spanish dance the scale and technique of grand ballet."
  15. ^ Franco: Buried for the last stand. In: Der Spiegel , October 6, 1975. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  16. ^ Rosa Maria Pereda: Antonio Gades: "He preferido tener más ética que el ministro". In: El País , March 8, 1980. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (Spanish)
  17. ↑ Mar Diestro-Dópido: Saura's flamenco flights. British Film Institute , May 23, 2012, accessed on January 5, 2015 : “[…] to show how a performance like this is created, how it's started, how the dancers warm up, how they get ready, how the movements are articulated. "
  18. ↑ Mar Diestro-Dópido: Saura's flamenco flights. British Film Institute , May 23, 2012, accessed January 5, 2015 .
  19. ↑ a b Josel Oehrlein: Carmen and the tyrannical commander. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 13, 1996.
  20. ↑ Carmen Böker: DANCE / A village and a murder. In: Berliner Zeitung , February 23, 1998. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  21. ↑ a b Fiery, poetic flamenco fantasy. In: Die Welt , July 25, 2005. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  22. ↑ Antonio Gades crosses the Atlantic in 30 days despite cancer. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ; November 10, 2003. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  23. ↑ Murió Antonio Gades, bailarín y de gran prestigio coreografo. Website: ellitoral.com, July 21, 2004. Retrieved January 5, 2015. (Spanish)
  24. ↑ Fidel Castro condecora al "compañero Antonio Gades". In: El País , June 7, 2004.
  25. ↑ Lilo Weber: Charisma in Spanish. On the death of Antonio Gades. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , July 22, 2004. Accessed January 5, 2015.
  26. ↑ Patricia Boccadoro: REVIEW: COMPAÑÍA ANTONIO GADES. Culturekiosque, February 8, 2016, accessed on June 22, 2016 (English): “With elegance and a fair dose of arrogance and masculine virility, Gades gave respectability to bulerias, farrucas and alegrias, integrating them into his dramatic, theatrical choreographies and taking them into the theater, [...]. "
  27. ^ Company Antonio Gades. Website parisinfo.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  28. ^ Spanish Suite 1963–1974. Website antoniogades.com, February 25, 2015, accessed December 2, 2015. (English)
  29. ↑ Flamenco Suite 1963–1983. Website antoniogades.com, February 25, 2015, accessed December 2, 2015. (English)
  30. ^ Premios Awards and Recognition. Website antoniogades.com, March 5, 2015, accessed December 2, 2015. (English)
  31. ↑ Mauricio Vicent: Fidel Castro condecora al “compañero Antonio Gades” , El País of June 7, 2004, accessed on January 5, 2015 (Spanish).
personal data
SURNAME Gades, Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Esteve, Antonio (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish dancer, choreographer and ballet director
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Elda
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 2004
Place of death Madrid