Calzados Artefyl offers this self-portrait of :

“I like people who are musical and melodically complex”

by Manuel Moraga

The encounter
My relationship with flamenco didn’t begin until the age of 18 when I started to go to Amor de Dios. I had no contact with flamenco in my childhood or adolescence. My maestros were very encouraging. At 19 I went to Sevilla. I began working at Los Gallos, I set myself a soleá and a taranto and started to live with dance.

My maestros
The first person I took classes with was Paco Fernández. Afterwards, La Tati, Goyo Montero... But the people who influenced me most were my mother (Carmen Mora), Carmen Cortés, La Toná and Cristina Hoyos who, although I never danced with her, made quite an impression on me, especially in her concept of presenting a show, and of being a flamenco dancer.

My inspiration
I admire Cristina Hoyos, Milagros Menjíbar, Eva Yerbabuena (the best dancer now, and for some time to come), and Israel Galván has influenced me a great deal. I think we all influence each other. I have the good fortune to work with Mayte Martín who is the one I like best. It’s a true privilege. In guitar, I really like Gerardo Núñez, and Manolo Sanlúcar too, I think he has great sensitivity, subtlety and wonderful honesty. In addition to being a good artist you have to be honest in your work and defend your opinion even though sometimes it goes against the grain, or what you believe is criticized or unfashionable. Manolo Sanlúcar is a person who has always followed his own path.

My dance
My concept of dance has changed over the years. At this point in my life and my career, what I want is to enjoy myself when I get up on stage; you suffer a lot when you dance because of the technical demands, those of the audience and of the profession. I like to tell about things that are part of my life. My dance is subtle and very much based on the music. I like people who are musical and melodically complex. That’s how my dancing is. It’s deep and full of shading.

My reality
I like doing what I like with the people I like. I just put together a show with Rafaela Carrasco, and soon I hope to collaborate with Teresa Nieto and Ángeles Gabaldón. I’m trying to unite performing with enjoying my favorite people. Doing shows on my own is no longer fulfilling, and since there are a lot of people whose dancing I like, I want to try bring us all together.

My dream
In the short term it would be to take off for six months. We’re always so afraid to stop for a while, but I need it. In the long term I have several dreams. One is to have a space for creation which is open, where musicians and dancers work together, where they share choreographies in a closed circle, like jam sessions with no audience. We’d also like [she’s referring to Joaquín San Juan, director of the Amor de Dios dance school] to have a small theater where the people from Amor de Dios can present their choreographies. In general, they’re all dreams about putting things together for the good of the dance profession, but with collaborations. In this profession we have a hard time working together and sharing projects.

Calzados Artefyl:
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C/ Duque de Fernán Núñez, 5 CP 28012 Madrid.
Metro “Antón Martín” (frente academia “Amor de Dios”)
Tel/fax 34 91 527 57 13
Web: www.artefyl.com.
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