ROCÍO MOLINA, Premio Nacional de Danza 2010 

Estela Zatania

 “The girl was good enough to eat (as the saying goes) and a new era in women’s flamenco dance has been inaugurated”.  With those words I ended my review of the show “Almario” presented February 27th, 2007 by Rocío Molina at the Festival de Jerez.  And this week, November 30th, 2010, the Málaga dancer obtained Spain’s Premio Nacional de Danza 2010, annually awarded by the Culture Ministry.

In this way, Molina enters the elite club of flamenco dance that includes former winners such as Lola Greco (2009), Javier Barón (2008), Manuela Carrasco (2007), Israel Galván (2005), Aída Gómez (2004), Sara Baras (2003), María Pages (2002), Eva Yerbabuena (2001), José Antonio (1997), Antonio Canales (1995), Mario Maya (1992), Cristina Hoyos (1991) and Antonio Gades (1988).  In 2009, the New York Times named her as one of the best dancers in the world.

Rocío’s talent began to call attention when she failed to reach the semi-finals of the La Unión contest.  Just months afterwards, at 19, she was soloist with the Festival Flamenco USA along with Manuela Carrasco and Chocolate, partnering Israel Galván no less.  If some found her too young or green at that time, others of us took note of the dancer’s genius from the first moment.

The prestigious institutional honor also went to the Catalonian choreographer Angels Margarit, 50, in the category of creativity, and each winner receives 30,000 euros (about 39,000 US dollars, or 25,000 GBP).  Rocío, who still has the face of a cherub and barely looks her age, is, at 26, the youngest winner in flamenco of this prize, in addition to being the first person from Málaga.  The flamenco community of Málaga is in full celebration since the announcement that made Rocío’s legs shake as she declared shortly afterwards.  She is currently preparing the eighth work of her meteoric career.

The panel of judges made up of last year’s winner, Lola Greco, in addition to the director and sub-director of the Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música, Ana Victoria Cabo González, Omar Khan Ibarra, Manuel Llanes Barrios, Julia Martín Alafont and Alfonso Ordóñez Maray, cited Molina’s “versatility and strength as an interpreter who is able to bravely manage a wide variety of styles at will”.

Already a legend is the anecdote of just a few months ago when Mikhail Baryshnikov got to his knees before Rocío Molina after her performance in New York.  The good news of this recognition multiplies the flamenco world’s still recent joy of just two weeks ago when the art-form was named World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO.