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Internationalization

La Argentinita with Antonio Triana and Luisa Triana in Buenos Aires (Luisa Triana's album)

But the internationalization of flamenco dancing had been a long time coming. There are documents from as far back as the 19th century informing of the shows by bailaores and bailaoras all over the world. La Macarrona performed in Berlin in 1895. Antonia Mercé ‘La Argentina’ had already toured countries such as France, Great Britain and Russia in 1914. Serge Davillier’s Russian ballet company took Félix el Loco with it to London in 1915 for him to stage pieces with a Spanish air. As researcher José Luis Ortiz Nuevo relates in the book ‘Mi gustar flamenco very good’, it might have been in 1879 when flamenco dancing started to be exported: “And it was in Paris, at the Hippodrome of Paris, where a fabulous Spanish party was held to raise funds for the poor victims (of floods in Murcia and Almería): And it was at that party, it might have been there, where flamenco was presented for the first in the city of Paris”.

	Carmen Amaya with Sabicas and García Matos in USA (Luisa Triana's album)

The daily newspaper ‘El Cronista’ relates that on June 13th, 1890 in Naples, “a flamenco dancing and cante company will perform in said city, most of the personnel available for this sort of show already being hired”. Going to New York in 1891 “hired by several theater companies” was dancer Natalia Jiménez, according to ‘El Porvenir’. And an article in ‘El Progreso’ published in 1893 echoes that going to Chicago “with the aim of holding Andalusian parties at the Expo, several cantaores, jaleadores and dancers among the best there are in the provinces of Seville, Cádiz and Málaga”. In the early decades of the following century, there were already internationally renowned stars, such as the aforementioned Antonia Mercé ‘La Argentina’ and Vicente Escudero, who starred in a talked-about encounter at Trianon-Lyrique Theater in Paris in 1925. Making an appearance a year earlier at the Olympia Theater in the French capital was Sevillian Laura de Santelmo, who, according to Ángel Álvarez Caballero in the book ‘El baile flamenco’, “until 1940, when she returned to Spain for good, nearly all of her career as a dancer/bailaora was developed abroad; she traveled to Russia, China, Japan and South America”. And Franco’s coup d’état and the resulting conflict did nothing other than to enliven the phenomenon.

A new batch of bailaores would begin to shine in this context. Forming the pair Los Chavalillos Sevillanos, Rosario y Antonio traveled around the world successfully. They worked in the show ‘La maravilla de las maravillas’ with Carmen Amaya in Argentina. And until they broke up in 1952 at the Champs Élysées Theater in Paris, they traveled to the main Latin America capitals and for an entire decade, the United States. Then Antonio Ruiz Soler, ‘Antonio el Bailarín’, continued with a brilliant solo career, proving himself as one of the best maestros of flamenco dancing and classical Spanish dance.

Antonio Ruiz Soler with La Uchi
(La Uchi and Toni el Pelao's album)

In 1946, one year after the death of La Argentinita, her sister took over. Pilar López founded her own company in New York which remained active until the seventies. Moreover, it became a fruitful breeding ground for bailaores. Using the elegant stylistic school of Los Pelaos - a legendary family producing figures such as El Gato, Juan el Pelao, Faíco and Fati -, she trained young bailaores who would go on to make a name for themselves. The list includes artists like José Greco, El Güito, Mario Maya... And also Antonio Gades, who gave theatrical flamenco dancing a new boost with shows such as ‘Carmen’, ‘Bodas de sangre’, ‘El amor brujo’ – a trilogy taken to the cinema by Carlos Saura - and ‘Fuenteovejuna’. Currently, the foundation bearing his name promotes a company that keeps his work on the bill. Moreover, he was the first director of the Ballet Nacional de España, which was founded in 1978 with the aim of sealing a commitment to the conservation and evolution of Spanish dance and flamenco.

Matilde Coral

Without leaving theaters but leaving aside storylines, flamenco dancing was also adapted to new stages in the fifties and sixties. Festivals, peñas and tablaos vindicated the return to traditional forms in every jondo facet. And of course, also in baile. They were the times of Enrique el Cojo, Tía Juana la del Pipa, Farruco, Matilde Coral, Toni el Pelao, Manuel Soler, Manolo Marín, Manuela Vargas, La Chunga, Manolete, Merche Esmeralda... Some of them making their way and others creating a school, some creating their own paths and others conserving those already forged. A fruitful moment which was fortunately portrayed in the television series ‘Rito y geografía del baile’, where in the intimacy of a set, bailaores display their work without embellishments.

And the most valuable thing about the history summarized here is that it’s still present. A step, a gesture, a stance, a flare of ruffles, a swerve, a stylistic detail... were, are and will be. From generation to generation, the legacy of flamenco dancing is gotten across, whether it is to conserve it or for it to evolve. A clear example is the Sevillian school, which artistically relates current bailaoras such as Isabel Bayón with historic figures like Rosario la Mejorana over more than a century. And the thing is that nothing like baile demonstrates the vitality of the artform which it is part of; flamenco art.

Antonio Gades on 'Carmen'
(Fram from 'Carmen' by Carlos Saura)

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