Gades, the choreographer

Antonio Gades coreógrafo

“It isn’t the step that matters, but rather what comes between steps”. Gades used to say that he became a choreographer because he didn’t have the money to have things produced for him. And so he had no choice but to create his own choreographies himself. He learned choreography from his teachers, drawing from his […]

Gades, Company Director

Antonio Gades 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, […]

The Teachers

Los Maestros de Gades

“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 […]

Ethics of dance

Pilar López enseñó a Gades la ética de la danza

“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 […]

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 […]

The Carlos Saura trilogy 1981-1990

In the theater, the audience members has a 180º view, while a move makes a 360º view possible. Fired from the National Ballet, Gades partners with former members of his company and other members of the Spanish National Ballet to form the GIAD (Grupo Independiente de Artistas de la Danza), the Independent Group of Dance […]