Calzados Artefyl offers this self-portrait of:

“To flamenco I owe the opportunity to improve every single day”

by Manuel Moraga
photos: Klaus Handner

Behind the window
My mother tells me that when I was 5 and she used to pick me up at school, she’d always find me peeking into a window where they were giving flamenco dance classes inside, so she decided to enroll me with the woman who would be my first teacher. I began going Tuesdays and Thursdays. But I wanted to learn more, so my mother took me to Carmen Parra’s dance school, and that’s when I started dancing at peñas and in flamenco groups. By 12, my mother took me to Angelita Gómez’ school in Jerez where I started to dance solo and attended all the master classes and workshops that came to Cádiz, Sevilla and Jerez. At 13 I started studying with Manolo Marín in Sevilla, combining this with my studies at the studios of Spanish Dance and Classical Ballet.

Feet firmly on the ground
I’ve been dancing on stage since I was very small, but my professional career began when I started dancing solo, especially after winning the first prize for young flamenco artists in Huelva. I’ve studied with many teachers, and learned a lot from all of them - each one is present in my dancing. Manolo Marín, Angelita Gómez, Mario Maya, Manolete, El Güito, Ciro, Matilde Coral, José Antonio… Then there are the artists I’ve admired, like Carmen Amaya, Manuela Carrasco, La Yerbabuena, Juana Amaya or Farruco. And as for dreams, I’d have loved to dance bulerías, even if it was just at a fiesta, with Camarón singing. And right now it would be a dream come true to do a concert with Paco de Lucía or Tomatito.

Strength and sensitivity
I think people are dancing too avant-garde these days, and audiences don’t get it. With all the fusion, a lot of flamenco dance is being lost, and worse yet, the dancers’ resective personalities. Then too, I place a lot of importance on music because I love guitar, and really love to dance and choreograph and make everything come together. Dancing for the sake of dance, combining arms and feet. In my dances I like to express both strength and sensitivity.

Not for all the money in the world
The brightest moments of my career so far have been with the company of Antonio El Pipa, first as guest artist, and then as first dancer. It has been a great source of pride and a great learning experience. El Pipa not only gave me the opportunity to grow artistically alongside him, but he also gave me the chance to be in the world’s greatest theaters and festivals to show what I could do. But aside from that, the best moment in the life of an artist is that special something which is created on-stage when audience, musicians and dancers are all connected and having a good time. That feeling and that moment when you see the musicians having a good time along with you and the audience is head-over-heels applauding, they are unique moments I wouldn’t trade for all the money in the world.

Bucking the trend
One thing I’ve learned, to dance solo you have to sacrifice and suffer. Having your own company is very hard, you take a lot of abuse and many doors are closed. It’s like the name of my show, “A Contracorriente” [bucking the trend]. And something always gets lost along the way: you don’t go to university, your friends call to go out but you’re busy rehearsing or traveling… On the long trips and tours loved ones get left behind. But even though I’m far away, I know they’re always with me, supporting me.

All about my mother
But flamenco has given me a great deal of satisfaction, like the applause, the excitement of doing something new, and above all else, see how happy it makes my mother when I go up on stage, because I owe everything to her, I want to make all the dreams come true. To flamenco I owe the opportunity to improve every single day, and the sheer joy of being on stage almost every day.

“Aires de Cái”
My most immediate plans, in addition to the commitments of coming months, is to debut my new show, “Aires de Cái”, which is also the debut of my own company. I’ve put all my effort and dreams into this thing, and not only mine but those of an extraordinary technical and artistic team. We’re giving it everything we’ve got and then some – it will be ready by the end of the year. The show tells of Cádiz, my hometown, and of flamenco, color, feelings, flamenco legends, and all with the single aim of offering high-quality flamenco to thrill audiences.

Dancing on and on…
My goal is to dance, and dance a lot, and carve out a place for my company, however small, in the history of this art.

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