The cultural ambassador
“Inspiration and spirit don’t come without work”
Ethics of dance
“As a child, I witnessed the humiliation and contempt so closely that, over time, dignity is something that concerns me to the point of obsession”. Gades recognized in Pilar López the teacher from who he’d earn the ethics of dance, which is dance the dance without seeking easy applause. A dance without deceit, without selling […]
The Teachers
“You have to see and hear a lot, it’s integral to learning and growing”. Antonio was always very proud of the time when he lived and trained as an artist, “a time when each of us found a teacher who taught us what they knew, according to our physique”. And he said that nowadays they […]
Gades, Company Director
“There were five of us in my first company, in 1963, and in the last one I formed, thirty-six”. “My first company had two dancers, a dancer, a guitarist, a singer and we debuted in Barcelona, where I had a lot of success at a flamenco tablao called Los Tarantos”. Thirty years later, in 1994, […]
Gades the Dancer
“As with anything, you have to strip dance down to the basics”. Dancer or flamenco dancer. For many fans, Gades was a dancer who danced flamenco, and for the classics he was a dancer who also danced classical ballet. The truth is that he was one of the most versatile artists in his genre. And […]
Italy, France, Barcelona and Madrid 1961-1968
In the sixties I began an artistic journey that was going to result in the forging of my own choreographic style.” ITALY After leaving Pilar López’s company in 1961, Gades goes to Rome to collaborate on a choreography of the Bolero composed by Ravel, working with Anton Dolin, the British dancer of Irish origin who […]
From flamenco to Bodas de Sangre 1968-1975
1969 he creates the choreography for El Amor Brujo with the Chicago Opera. He performs the ballet in France, Italy, Spain, Japan, the United States, Morocco and Argentina, among other countries, with his own company, the Antonio Gades Ballet. Cristina Hoyos had already been dancing for a while at festivals and tablaos in Seville and […]
Between Altea and Cuba 1975-1978
His first masterpiece, Bodas de Sangre, debuted the year after starting his relationship with Marisol. His intention with this work was to pay homage to the poet, despite having to go to Rome to premiere it. According to composer Emilio de Diego, rehearsals for the show were held at the Estudios Amor de Dios in […]
Pilar López 1952-1961
After taking lessons from Manolo Vargas, the principal dancer in Pilar López’s company, Pilar calls me to Madrid and immediately hired me, making me the principal dancer of her company the following year, where I performed a good part of her extensive repertoire. It was she who gave me the stage name Gades. It was […]
Spanish National Ballet 1978-1980
I think we have the most wonderful dance in the world that could do so many things if there were a cultural policy… In 1978 the General Director of Music and Theater, Jesús Aguirre, who later became the Duke of Alba, named Antonio Gades director of the new great project for Spanish dance, the democracy’s […]
