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Interview with María
del Mar Moreno, dancer
"Offstage I don't know how to act like
an artist"
Silvia Calado Olivo. Jerez, March, 2002
Can a dancer who only wants to be a dancer be called a 'rare bird'? María
del Mar Moreno is one of the few professional artists in the world of flamenco
who manages to resist giving in to the theatrical format, in spite of the commercial
disadvantage which that represents. The dancer from Jerez searches the ground
with her movements, from the sky to the earth, without making any fuss about it:
"I'd like to dance a soleá without any closings at all". And
it's not because of any lack of technique, because thanks to years of study, technique
is an integral part of this dancer. Freedom comes from not wanting to make use
of it: "I just want to dance!". To dance... and be a human being.
María del Mar Moreno (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
The dancer from Jerez got hooked on flamenco because of its mysterious mixture
of strength, fire, passion and elegance which dazzles everyone. "You can
even see it in a photograph on the Internet". And that's the reason she believes
that flamenco makes itself understood without the need for any sort of code language.
I was recently able to see this for myself in the classes she was giving people
from Taiwan, Japan, Malta and Argentina within the framework of the Sixth Festival
de Jerez. In that little piece of the Tower of Babel María, as her friends
call her, enjoyed every day to the fullest because, as she commented to her students,
"one of the things I like most about dancing is getting to meet so many different
people".
One of her challenges is assuming the role played in her own career by the
maestros Angelita Gómez, Matilde Coral, Rafael el Negro and Mario Maya.
Now she is fully aware of the responsibility of being a teacher herself: "It's
harder to be a teacher than to be a dancer, because you have to get everything
you can out of the student". And she confirms the influence she has on her
students remembering that "the teacher influences everything...the way you
comb your hair, the way you speak...". She notes that this is especially
true with children, "they're even aware of your mood". Although the
sense of responsibility is greater with adults who "tend to take up flamenco
as a kind of therapy". The dancer, who partnered Antonio el Pipa in several
of the company's works, explains it like this: "Some people go to a psychologist,
and some people take flamenco dance classes".
The dual facets of teacher and artist give her cause to reflect on such profound
matters as the alleged racial identification of flamenco... a debate which generates
as many contradictions as she herself has experienced. One example: in spite of
being a non-gypsy she stars in Manuel Morao & Gitanos de Jerez's new TV series
-just as in earlier productions such as 'Sentir Gitano'- where at the same time
that an attempt is made to relate flamenco to the grape harvest, radical pro-gypsy
principles are promoted. Things seem simpler than that. A contrary example: at
her Jerez school María instructs a Chinese girl adopted by a local family
in the fine art of flamenco. And she knows there aren't, nor will there be any
difference with respect to other girls who also dance, because "she's got
flamenco in her body, since she's from here".
But above and beyond her profession, María is a real person. She likes
"things that are genuine", like letting off steam doing some seguiriyas
with her brother when she gets home, or enjoying a chat... where she tends to
dominate the conversation. "I talk too much, don't I?". Her integrity
and naturalness represent obstacles in the dubious climb to fame. She realizes
that she doesn't know how to sell herself, nor does she know how to act like an
artist off-stage. Maybe that's precisely her strength.
revista@flamenco-world.com
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