La Chunga

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Micaela Flores Amaya La Chunga

La Chunga , actually Micaela Flores Amaya (* 1938 in Marseille ), is a Spanish flamenco dancer and painter .

Life

Childhood and youth

Micaela Flores Amaya was born in 1938 in Marseille to Spanish parents. She was a cousin of Carmen Amaya . In early childhood she was called chunga , depraved, because, according to her own words, she was "very small, very black and very, very ugly." The family moved to Barcelona soon after their birth . The family lived there in poor conditions in a barrack in a slum area.

Even as a child she danced in front of bars and at parties. On these occasions she was able to shower, had her hair done, dressed and adorned with a necklace, while the simplest means of personal hygiene were lacking at home: "I stank, that was normal," she said in a 2003 interview about this time. She later danced in the bars on Calle Escudillers. It was during one of these appearances that the painter Francisco Rebés became aware of her.

His acquaintance opened up a way out of her precarious circumstances. He hired her for a fee as a model and as a dancer for the parties he gave. He later got her an engagement in the prestigious Barcelona cabaret El Emporium and introduced her to the circle of Catalan intellectuals and artists. Pablo Picasso , Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí were among her friends. Blas de Otero , Rafael Alberti , León Felipe , José Bergamín and José Manuel Caballero Bonald dedicated poems to her. In addition, Francisco Rebés introduced her to the art of painting in his studio.

Career as a dancer

La Chunga also hired the elegant Los Caracoles restaurant for dance performances. In 1956 she was discovered there by Pastora Imperio . She engaged them for her tablao La Pañoleta in Palamós . Together with Pastora Imperio and her ensemble, she performed at the Tablao Corral de la Morería in Madrid. Because of her outstanding performances, the owner hired her as a solo dancer. One evening the actress Ava Gardner saw her dancing, was enthusiastic about her performance and engaged her for a party for the journalist Teresa Tessier in Maxim’s in Paris . From there the next step in his career led to Hollywood , where La Chunga got a role in the film Tip on a Dead Jockey . This was followed by appearances in New York , among others with Carmen Amaya, and a television appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show . Further engagements followed in Mexico .

In 1958 she returned to Europe and performed at the Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona. This was followed by a tour of major European cities. Back on the American continent, she performed in the United States , Mexico , Cuba , Venezuela , Argentina and Chile . After that she performed in the ballrooms of the big cities in Spain and founded her own company . In the following years she created a series of her own dance shows for them and went on tours around the world. With a performance in the Tablao El Cordobés in Barcelona, ​​La Chunga said goodbye to public appearances for a few years in 1971.

She returned to the stage in 1977 with an engagement as a star dancer in Tablao El Café de Chinitas in Madrid . This was followed by performances abroad and participation in Lola Flores ' dance show Con casta .

Painting exhibition

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Corral de la Morería in Madrid, La Chunga exhibited a collection of her paintings there in 2007.

Filmography

During her career, La Chunga has appeared in a number of motion pictures. In addition to the aforementioned Hollywood film Tip on a Dead Jockey , these were:

She appeared on television in 1978 in Ciertos reflejos: La Chunga and in 1991 in La Chunga .

reception

La Chunga, right, in the wax museum in Barcelona. Pastora Imperio on the left, Carmen Amaya in the middle.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, La Chunga was one of the most popular Spanish performing artists in her home country and abroad. This is partly due to their exotic charisma. Since she used to dance barefoot, some admirers called her la gitana de los pies descalzos , the barefoot Gitana .

Her dance style was considered fresh, powerful, creative and individual, far removed from conventions and technical rules.

Awards

  • Laurel de Oro de Chile
  • Gold medal of the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid
  • Gold medal of the Asociación de la Prensa de Sevilla
  • Trofeo Delfín of Alicante
  • Alicante City Prize

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ La Chunga 1938–. In: VIAF. Retrieved November 22, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f La Chunga. In: El Arte de Vivir el Flamenco. Retrieved November 22, 2019 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III. Signatura Ediciones de Andalucía, Sevilla 2010, ISBN 978-84-96210-72-1 , p. 202 .
  4. ↑ Deviating from the sources mentioned above, Navarro names García 1937 as the year of birth.
  5. ↑ Santillana Universidad de Salamanca (ed.): Diccionario Salamanca de la lengua española . Grupo Santillana de Ediciones, Madrid 1996, ISBN 84-294-4371-1 , p. 318 .
  6. ↑ "Era muy pequeñilla, muy negra y muy fea, muy fea, muy fea."
  7. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 203 .
  8. ^ Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957) - Full Cast & Crew. German title: Air freight for opium. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  9. ↑ a b c d José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 204 .
  10. ↑ a b c d e José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 205 .
  11. ^ Micaela Flores, "La Chunga", muestra en El Corral de la Moreria su faceta como pintora. In: Europa Press. March 21, 2007, Retrieved November 24, 2019 (Spanish).
  12. ↑ Baila La Chunga. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Back to the Door (1959) | Full cast & crew. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  14. ↑ El último verano (1962) | Full cast & crew. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  15. ↑ La ley de una raza. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  16. ^ Vampires in Venice (1988) | Full cast & crew. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Ciertos reflejos: La Chunga. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  18. ↑ La Chunga. In: IMDb. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Golden laurel wreath
personal data
SURNAME Chunga, La
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flores Amaya, Micaela
BRIEF DESCRIPTION spanish flamenco dancer
DATE OF BIRTH 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Marseille