Merche Esmeralda

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Merche Esmeralda , actually Mercedes Rodríguez Gamero (* 1947 or 1950 in Seville ), is a Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer .

Childhood and youth

As the only child of her parents at first, she was enthusiastic about dance from an early age. In Andalusia it was completely normal, she said herself. Everyone in her house was enthusiastic about dancing, although nobody there danced at a professional level. Around 1959 she entered the Academy of Adelita Domingo. After only 15 days she had learned to dance the soleá , known as La Alcalareña , to the piano accompaniment of Adelita . Then she attended the school of Enrique el Cojo and that of Matilde Coral . When her family could no longer raise money for education, she learned by observing and imitating famous artists such as El Farruco .

Eventually she was ready to move to Madrid and earn some money there so that she could finance her further education and even support her family. In 1963 she debuted in the Teatro San Fernando in some matinees , which Galas Juveniles called. Immediately afterwards, she began to dance in the most important tablaos of the time: In Seville in the Cortijo el Guajiro , in Madrid in El Duende , the tablao by Pastora Imperio and in Las Brujas , where she always did later, until the 1970s reappeared. She also danced in Los Castaneros , in the Café de Chinitas and in the Venta del Gato , before returning to her hometown of Seville to dance there in Los Gallos .

Early successes and international appearances

In 1966 Merche Esmeralda performed at the Mairena del Alcor Festival . Antonio Mairena saw her dancing and joined her as a singer. The joint appearance gave her access to the important festivals of the time: the Festival del Cante de las Minas in La Unión , the Gazpacho de Morón , the Caracolá de Lebrija and the Festival de la Bulería in Jerez de la Frontera . Two years later she entered the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco in Córdoba and won the La Argentinita Prize . She shared it with Matilde Coral, her former teacher. With her, the Spanish television studios opened up for Merche Esmeralda, with her she had her first appearance abroad. In 1969 she took part in the last performance, which took place at the Teatro San Fernando in Seville before it closed. She surprised the audience with her sophisticated interpretation of Tarantos .

Nevertheless, she strived for further perfection. In 1970 she studied Spanish dance with Mariemma , Victoria Eugenia and Raquel Lucas , as well as classical ballet with José Granero and Karen Taft and regional dances with Pedro Azorín .

In 1972 she won the Premio Nacional de Baile of the Cátedra de Flamencología de Jerez . In 1973 she was appointed professor of dance. In 1977 she was awarded the prize for the best foreign dancer in the Italian city of Cremona . In 1978 she appeared in the television program Horas doradas in two roles as a dancer and as a presenter. In 1979 she finally founded her first company , for which she could win no less than Manolete , El Güito and Ricardo el Veneno as dancers. She toured a number of European countries with her ensemble.

1980-1999

In 1980 Antonio Ruiz Soler hired her as prima ballerina for the Ballet Nacional . She danced there until 1982 and then switched to Ballet Español de Madrid . Her most important appearances in those years were in El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla and in numerous flamencos. In 1984 she was hired by the television company Televisión Española as a dancer and choreographer for the series Proceso a Mariana Pineda . In 1986 she returned as an invited artist to the Ballet Nacional and stayed there until 1989. Outstanding appearances in those years were her interpretation of Soleá 1986 and her performance in the new production of Medea by José Granero and Manolo Sanlúcar , in the Boléro by Maurice Ravel , in the sombrero de tres picos as well as in Los Tarantos and Don Juan by José Antonio . In the latter play she embodied the role of death. With the Ballet Nacional she traveled to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Israel, Australia, Germany and Italy, New York and Washington.

In 1989 the government of the Autonomous Region of Murcia commissioned her to found a state ballet: the Ballet Región de Murcia . The first performance took place in September, a few months after it was founded. At the Teatro Romeo de Murcia she played the title role in Medea . In the rest of the program, the Ensemble performed Triana by Isaac Albéniz and Sinfonía Española by Édouard Lalo to choreographies by José Granero. The audience celebrated the performance with jubilant applause. In 1991 she directed El cielo protector based on the novella by Paul Bowles. At the side of Joaquín Cortés and Antonio Márquez she danced one of the leading roles. In 1992 she resigned from her post as director due to conflicts with members of the regional administration. When she left, the Ballet Región de Murcia ceased to exist.

In the same year she appeared in Carlos Saura's film Sevillanas . In 1993 she danced as a guest star at the side of Joaquin Grilo in the show Cibayí by Joaquín Cortés.

1995 was a particularly eventful year for Merche Esmeralda. She toured Spain as the goddess in Antonio Canales ' show Venus y Narciso . In A cuerda de tacón she also worked with Antonio Canales. In Carlos Saura's film Flamenco , she danced an outstanding interpretation of the guajira . She had another film appearance in Chus Gutiérrez 's work Alma Gitana . She founded a dance school in Madrid. She ended the year with a performance at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in front of the Spanish royal couple.

In 1996 she founded her own company again. With her she performed Mujeres at the Teatro Principal in Vitoria . Next to her, Sara Baras and Eva Yerbabuena appeared as the stars of the evening; in solos, duos and together with three people. The three dancers each embody their own dance style, which clearly distinguishes them from the other two. In addition to this exciting confrontation, the instrumental accompaniment was also a daring break with tradition: In addition to the classical accompaniment with guitar and clapping of hands, drums, violin and double bass played.

In 1997 she was elected to the board of the Asociación de Escuelas de Danza . Together with Mario Maya , Antonio Canales and Manuela Carrasco she appeared in the Gala de Danza Flamenca in Seville. Her most important appearance that year was undoubtedly in the Gran Teatro of Córdoba in the play Todas las primaveras. Its director Ángel Fernández Montesinos called it a symphony of language, music and dance. In the first appearance, Encuentro , love appears; in the second, La plenitud , it is fulfilled. In the third act, El Sur , the words become music, with melodies from the Alhambra and the Albaicín . The last part of the piece is devoted to loneliness. Merche Esmeralda embodied love. As such, she moved the man, portrayed by Carlos Ballesteros , to recite poetry.

A year later she interpreted the role of the moon in Francisco Suárez's version of Bodas de sangre at the Getafe Autumn Festival . For this achievement she was nominated for the Premio MAX of the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores . In 1999 she dared one of the most remarkable innovations in the recent history of flamenco: in the show Ciclos at the Valladolid Dance Festival, she danced to the singing of Freddie Mercury . Overall, she combined classic flamenco with contemporary elements in this show without betraying the reputation of the classic palos . The critic Juan de la Plata emphasized, among other things, her masterful interpretation of the Seguiriya , her stylish Soleá and her tangos danced in the best tradition . A year later, in 1999, she performed at the Seville Biennale in homage to her former teacher Matilde Coral. There she danced a granaína and a levantica , two dances that had not yet been included in the standard canon of flamenco. The play, Tormento de arena , was directed against violence and terror and was dedicated to the victims.

2000-2015

In 2000 she danced at the Gala Día internacional de la Danza in Madrid and in 2001 again in Madrid at the Gala de la Danza Española y el Flamenco . In 2002 she appeared in the role of the sorceress in Juan Carlos Santamaría's version of El amor brujo in Madrid. In 2002 she danced as the star guest in Juan Carlos Santamaría's company in their performance Embrujo. At the Festival Internacional del Castillo in Aínsa she danced in the show Nacida en el sur .

In 2006 she was awarded the Compás del Cante Prize, and in 2008 she was honored with the Calle de Alcalá Prize . In 2008 she danced in Mujeres with Belén Maya and the young Rocío Molino .

In 2010 she announced her retirement from the stage. She gave her farewell performance with a new performance of Medea , which she danced with the Ballet Nacional in 1986. She continued to teach. However , she could not resist the poetry of the play Última parada with verses by Miguel Hernández , and so she appeared again in 2014 at the Seville Biennale and later in Madrid. In the play, she embodied a young woman, a victim of the Spanish civil war , who had spent her entire youth in prison. On her last night, she dreams of what her life would have been like without the war. Also in 2015 she performed in Última parada in Madrid.

Teaching

Since 1997 Merche Esmeralda has taught in numerous courses and master classes. She has taught in Barcelona , Madrid, Santander , Seville, Jerez de la Frontera, at the University of Alcalá de Henares , but also abroad, especially in Germany and Japan. In 1999 she presented her self-developed teaching method for flamenco. This was taken over by the University of Alfonso X el Sabio in Madrid. In 2006 she was appointed professor at the Conservatorio Superior de Danza in Madrid.

reception

Merche Esmeralda enjoys the unanimous appreciation of the specialist criticism. Ángel Álvarez Caballero called her dance luminoso, and Juan de la Plate wrote that it was “the present and future of dance”. José Luis Navarro García wrote:

"Es el suyo un baile femenino, delicado, elegant, estilizado, imaginativo, intuitivo, innovador, reposado, majestuoso y señorial."

"Her own is a feminine, subtle, elegant, stylish, imaginative, intuitive, innovative, calm, majestic and mature dance."

He also praised her foot technique , which artistically enters into dialogue with the guitars and gives the transitions in a dance their own meaning. José Luis Ortiz Nuevo emphasized her artistic guidance of the arms and hands:

«De todas las bailaoras que conocemos, ninguna como ella es capaz de mover los brazos con tan variada perfección honda. Inimaginables y preciosas son las formas que esta mujer puede conseguir cuando, despiertos sus brazos, las manos se disponen a emborracharse de bellezza. "

“Of all the dancers we know, none of them is able to move their arms in such a varied, deep perfection. The shapes that this woman creates when she moves her arms and her hands seek the intoxication of beauty are unimaginable and precious. "

Merche Esmeralda masters all styles of flamenco, wrote José Luis Navarro García. In the Soleá she finds herself most strongly as a person, and she is also particularly masterful in the Seguiriya.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Merche Esmeralda. In: El arte de vivir el flamenco. Retrieved September 10, 2018 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Merche Esmeralda in the Internet Movie Database (English)Template: IMDb / Maintenance / Unnecessary use of parameter 2
  3. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III. Signatura Ediciones de Andalucía, Seville 1910, p. 149 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Merche Esmeralda . In: Revista DeFlamenco.com . August 3, 2012 (Spanish, deflamenco.com [accessed September 10, 2018]).
  5. ↑ The ages given in the sources differ from one another. El Arte de vivir el flamenco writes A los 12 años de edad and assumes a year of birth 1947.
  6. ^ Historia del tablao flamenco El Patio Sevillano. In: website of the tablao. Accessed September 10, 2018 .
  7. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 149-150 .
  8. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 150 .
  9. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 151 .
  10. ^ Proceso a Mariana Pineda (TV Mini-Series 1984). Full cast & crew. In: IMDb. Retrieved September 12, 2018 .
  11. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 151-152 .
  12. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 152 .
  13. ↑ Flamenco (1995) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  14. ↑ Alma gitana in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  15. ^ Association of Dance Schools
  16. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 153 .
  17. ↑ La luna , the moon, is female in Spanish
  18. ↑ At the end of the 1990s, the ETA organization was still active in Spain with terrorist attacks.
  19. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 154 .
  20. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 155 .
  21. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 157 .
  22. ^ Ángeles Castellano G .: Batas de cola y danza contemporánea . In: El País . July 18, 2008, ISSN  1134-6582 (Spanish, elpais.com [accessed September 16, 2018]).
  23. ^ A b Margot Molina: Merche Esmeralda o la sabiduría de medio siglo sobre las tablas . In: El País . June 9, 2015, ISSN  1134-6582 (Spanish, elpais.com [accessed September 16, 2018]).
  24. ↑ luminoso. In: PONS online dictionary, Spanish »German. Retrieved September 16, 2018 (dazzling, in the sense of excellent).
  25. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume III, p. 156 .
personal data
SURNAME Esmeralda, Merche
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rodríguez Gamero, Mercedes (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1947 or 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Seville