Fuensanta la Moneta, flamenco bailaora. Interview

“Every detail is important in baile flamenco,
right down to the last eyelash”

Silvia Calado. Madrid, May 2006

It wasn't in her family, nor her race, nor being a flamenco follower. It wasn't something in her past, nor her environment, nor her genes. Fuensanta la Moneta is a flamenco bailaora because that's the way she's always felt it had to be. The revelation came with Carmen Amaya: seeing her made her understand that the artistic impulse she felt as a young girl was flamenco. And that impulse took control at the caves of Sacromonte in Granada. There she trained as a bailaora, and one who shot to fame at the age of nineteen with the flamenco dance award at the Festival de La Unión, going on to become a member of Javier Latorre's company. Three years later, she continues to prove her worth every time she steps up on stage, standing out among the rising stars of baile for her balanced and highly personal combination of temperament, aesthetics and technique... from her hands to her waist, from her feet to her eyelashes.

How did you start out in flamenco?

	Fuensanta la Moneta (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

The truth is in my family nobody had ever taken flamenco seriously, and they weren't even flamenco-lovers. As far as I know, there are no precedents. I came out this way, that's all there is to it. It's really strange because they've never instilled it in me. But ever since I've been able to think for myself, I've liked this. As a girl I'd take the spoons from the kitchen and start dancing and singing. And I didn't even know what it was until once, I don't know how old I was, I saw a video of Carmen Amaya and that was when I realized what I liked. It was just by coincidence, a special report they were showing on TV... I fell in love.

Who were your first teachers?

The truth is I was just so sure about it. I kept on at her so much that my mother, at the age of eight, sent me to a local academy, Carmen Mari it was called. At the age of ten I started to study with Mariquilla and at twelve I went to dance at the caves of Sacromonte. I never name all the teachers I've had - and there have been plenty, with plenty of examples to follow, but my real school was the caves, that's where I really gained experience. At the age of ten I worked there from time to time, but at twelve I was working every day, combining work and study. At fifteen I started to make a name for myself here in Madrid, as Granada felt too small for me by then. That place, sadly, is very limited and I wanted to get out, see, learn, discover.

You turned professional early on, didn't you?

Back then I was already making a name for myself at venues like Suristán and Cardamomo, the Madrid theater circuit, the tablao Casa Patas... At that age I also made my first trip overseas, to a festival in Frankfurt. I carried on working and studying everything I saw that I could learn something from. I'd go to Seville and I studied endlessly with Javier Barón, Juana Amaya, Matilde Coral... loads of teachers. Between the ages of 16 and 17 I went abroad more often: I was in Greece, France, Luxembourg... And at 19 was when I entered, by coincidence, for the contest at La Unión 2003. I'm not really a fan of contests, but some friends from France entered me. And I went without any illusions about winning, just to make a name for myself. I danced and I went home. When they called me and told me I was in the final, that was when I started to take it seriously. And I won first prize in 2003. Later I was in Japan, where Enrique el Extremeño took me. Currently I'm working with the Javier Latorre Company and on my own.

And after winning the ‘Desplante’ award, did anything change?

Yeah. The first award always opens a lot of doors for you.

Why don't you like contests?

I don't know, you get really nervous. And I don't think you should have to go through so much stress for people to acknowledge your work. I'm more in favor of just taking it one step at a time, and for your work to be recognized as you mature. Just because I won an award doesn't mean to say I'm any wiser. If wanted to be wiser, I should have carried on studying and trying to make a name for myself. Of course it helps you, it gives you a boost, it's some recognition for your efforts, it gives you lots of things. But I don't know, at 19 years old I didn't feel the need to get that recognition. My attitude was and still is to evolve, so that later on I can demonstrate what I am or what I know.

As soon as you won the award you joined Javier Latorre's company, when the normal career move would have been to embark on a solo career...

	"You have to experience a tablao, a company, and doing solo work... Although in actual fact, it's solo work that builds you"

Yeah, that's usually the most logical next step, but I was only 19. I'd never formed part of a company. And I think you have to try your hand at everything. I learned a lot from that genius - I love him, he's taught me so much as a person and as a teacher. I've learned about being on a stage, because when you've been up on stage since you were a kid, practically self-taught and doing whatever you wanted, it's a whole new ballgame having to keep your place and leave space for the other dancers. You learn a lot about choreography; one person performing alone is very different from eight people moving around a stage at the same time. I think you have to experience that. You have to experience a tablao, a company, and doing solo work... Although in actual fact it's solo work that builds you, that's where you search for yourself and find yourself. I never thought that at the age of 19 I'd be shot to stardom, because what I would have done would be to make a hash of it. If I'd formed a company and put on a show, I don't think I would've done it well. I didn't have that maturity - and I still have plenty to learn. I'm still only 22! What would I be doing talking about maturity? I think everything comes in time.

Fuensanta la Moneta (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Your solo recitals are becoming more and more frequent. What projects of your own do you have?

Now I am working on putting my first show together. We'd thought about doing it for this year, but in the end I'll present it next year. I know that the first show is never going to be the best; it's your first time. It's the first taste and I want do it slowly and carefully, I have time, it's not like I'm getting old or anything.

The door opens and in comes Carmen Linares, with whom this evening she'll share the stage and dressing room at the legendary San Juan Evangelista of Madrid. La Moneta takes a few seconds to recover...

What are your artistic goals? What drives you? What inspires you?

The idea is to do a monologue, something fairly daring because I don't leave the stage at any time. It's called ‘De entre la luna y los hombres’. I dance several pieces that correspond with several moods of a woman, several different ways of viewing love in relation to men: the unfaithful wife, motherly love... There are texts by Teresa Gómez and Ángeles Mora, two really good poets from Granada. And the music is by Juan Requena, with contributions from Antonio Campos. I still don't know who to turn to for the choreography and the stage design, I don't have anything firm.

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