CARMEN AMAYA

“Dance is a poem of which every movement is a word.”

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The night Carmen was born, Barcelona was lashed by a fierce storm. Being Roman gypsies, flamenco dancing was in the blood of her family. When Carmen’s father first saw her dance, he wondered if her soul represented the storm. Carmen’s aunt, a talented dancer, taught her flamenco. But Carmen never played by the rules. To earn money she danced barefoot in the “tavernas” down by the water-front. The toughest sailors respected her talent and nicknamed her “La Capitana”- the Captain. Soon, she began to perform in big theatres, earning enough money to provide for her family. They moved out of a shack to an apartment. They could afford to eat ham sandwich instead of sardines. Onstage, Carmen preferred tight-fitting trousers and a high-cut bolero jacket to the “traje de flamenco” (the traditional dress worn by female dancers). Initially, the audience was in an uproar about how “this slip of a girl” wore men’s clothing. They shouted nasty things at her, but were immediately silenced when Carmen began to dance. Stamping out lightning-fast rhythms, she sometimes broke the floorboards! Her footwork was ferocious, “almost supernatural”

Carmen was such an incredible dancer that to this day, she is remembered as the Queen of Gypsies.