All texts:  Estela Zatania

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About today’s dance.....I think Carmen
would look for more art in the technique,
and the magic of genuine flamenco

I was in direct contact with Carmen from 1940 until 1943 when she and my father, Antonio Triana, were partners. In New York after 1955 when I was starting out on my own, we picked up again.

When I was a little girl the thing I most remember are the get-togethers she used to have at her luxurious house in Hollywood in the neighborhood called “Los Feliz”. Her little sister María and I, and a couple of other kids would play, and they gave us bread with tomato and oil, the “pa amb tomaquet” that’s so typical of Catalonia. We had a grand time, and even today, every time I eat bread with tomato, I remember those days.

“She knew she was an extraordinary being”

Antonio Triana & Carmen Amaya

I remember the rehearsals at the Hollywood Bowl with the symphony orchestra, in that huge shell, the atmosphere was very different from what she was used to, she complained she couldn’t hear or feel the music. But in the end she gave everything in her dancing like always. My father had to put up with more than anyone...because he was the director, in addition to first dancer, and the only one who could speak some English to be able to deal with the ins and outs of the production. I remember on stage, the shows were unforgettable...Carmen touched everyone’s soul.

Billboard for Hollywood Bowl 1943

“She wanted to show the main path of flamenco”

My father was with her for more than three years, he set and directed the shows. I think she did the classical dances because in those days being a “ballerina” had a lot of prestige, she knew she was an extraordinary being, but never pretentious, and I think she showed what she could do by including classical dances.

She was always faithful and true with her companions, and generous with her family. In 1955 when I was about 23 and was beginning to make a name choreographing and dancing on my own, without my father, I went to New York to work at the Chateau Madrid, where she had also been working, and I was able to really get to know her.

She went to see me perform and invited me to her apartment in Manhattan where for several weeks we tossed around ideas about things she wanted to present. One of them was she wanted to show the main path of flamenco (the compás, the different forms). Her idea was to go through all the forms without stopping until getting to her alegrías. In other words, we’d begin with fandangos, then on to tangos, farruca, a few other things, until getting to her number. It was going to be a unified work, something that would have been quite a novelty in those days, but done with absolute authenticity. We were never able to do it because I had a commitment at Carnegie Hall. Her tour began just a few days earlier, and there was just no way to combine both things, but at least I had the opportunity to see what a good person she was, she took me as a member of her family and gave me advice...in those days she was very happy with Juan Antonio, her husband.
“The day she died...I couldn’t believe it...the first thing I did was take out my brushes to paint her portrait...”

Portrait of Carmen by Luisa Triana

More than Catalonian, she felt her gypsy roots... She loved to talk, and tell anecdotes, and I think she missed her family, although she had become saturated from having worked all those years for them. To see her so happily married was a powerful influence on me and I got married a short time afterwards.

I remember the day she died in 1963. I was in California, already married and out of contact with her and with my theatrical life in general. It was a tremendous shock, I couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t even aware of her illness. The first thing I did was take out my brushes to paint her portrait... It didn’t come out at first, but after a time I was able to get a face that represented the way I remembered her, and I was fortunate enough that the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco in Jerez bought the painting and it’s on display. I never knew her when she was ill. That was later on...she was strong as an ox when I knew her.

“Every show had its magic...things
that weren’t captured on film”

Carmen, Antonio Triana and Luisa, Sabicas with moustache, 1941

About today’s dance... I think Carmen would look for more musical art in the technique...and the magic of authentic flamenco. To see Carmen in person would touch your soul. She used her technique to “create art”, the musicality of her feet would transport you to another level, it was pure creation, each show had its magic, her alegrías couldn’t be matched, and audiences never wanted it to end, things that weren’t captured on film. That’s why any flamenco fan who never saw her perform live, can’t understand how important she really was.

Luisa Triana

Next week read part three of the series “Carmen”
with the comments and memories of Pepita Fúnez.

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