Rosario Toledo, flamenco bailaora. Interview

“The artform is always evolving
so long as it's alive inside you”

Silvia Calado. Mont de Marsan, July 2008
Translation: Gary Cook

Rosario Toledo is all energy. No project is too great a challenge for her. One minute she's ‘Alice’ (yep, in Wonderland), and the next she's dancing to the music of guitarist José Antonio Rodríguez. But after so many joint ventures the time has come to find her own way. And at the recent Mont de Marsan Flamenco Festival she gave not one, but two samples of what she has to offer. There's a full-blown show, the generous dose of baile and cante that is ‘Aires de Cadiz’. And out on the streets, there's her team-up with vocalist David Palomar in ‘Del primer paso’. She's already engrossed in her next adventure, a première for the Festival Bienal de Sevilla prepared jointly with Ana Salazar. And it isn't a problem of hyperactivity - she's just a living artist.

Rosario Toledo with Juan José Amador in 'Aires de Cádiz' (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

How did the show ‘Aires de Cadiz’ come about?

The pre-launch was at the 2007 Festival de Jerez at Sala Compañía; it was a preliminary sketch. It appeared as a show proper in Seville's Jueves Flamencos season. Although I didn't do it as much as I'd like over this year and a half. I hope Mont de Marsan will give it a boost. I like it more every time I do it, my fellow artists are totally absorbed; we love doing it. Too much work went into it for it to just drift into obscurity. It's my first solo show using my own idea and with people chosen by me. Before I'd only done snippets in collaboration with another artist.

What's your aim with this first solo show?

I wanted to recall my homeland, Cadiz. I never want forget it, whatever I do, but I wanted to make a gift in the shape of this repertoire that I've selected - you can tell it's from Cadiz. There are a few more special things such as the malagueña, and more popular things like the alegría or tangos. I also wanted to highlight the fact that Cadiz isn't just tanguillos, alegrías and the carnival... there's always been a high standard of performance, a high standard of creativity and it has its own school of baile flamenco.

Is there a clear-cut Cadiz flamenco tradition?

Yeah. I think that Cadiz has its own way of singing and its own form of expression in both flamenco dance and cante. I've been listening a lot, reading... And I was struck, above all, by a really beautiful text by Caballero Bonald, whose title inspired me. It said there was no explanation for what it was in that substance, in that Cadiz air, that meant there were dancers there since before Roman times and there still are today. Of course his words were a lot more beautiful that this explanation I've given you. (She laughs). That's what I want to show people, from my perspective, at my age and seen from my understanding. I think the key is to be like you are, with respect, with fondness and with a lot of commitment.

That was how it was in the performance at the 2008 Festival de Mont de Marsan?

I think that was what happened the other day here in Mont de Marsan with my fellow artists, with the audience and with myself. I found my bearings from the middle of the show onward, I think it got better. And that's important because it's hard to keep up the pace of a show; you always run the risk of it slowing down. I don't think we were really ‘wearoutable’. And we enjoyed ourselves. That's what I want people to see. I consider myself a performer because as Carmen Mora - Belén Maya's mother - used to say, “if you want to be a good bailaora, you have to be a good performer”. Apart from the steps, the movement, the flow... it's what you want to transmit. Either you worry about it and you make people feel it, or it isn't going to come across the same way. I try to get it all out and share it.

Rosario Toledo with José Valencia in 'Aires de Cádiz'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)

What in your opinion characterizes flamenco dance from Cadiz?

As far as I know, for example, it was La Mejorana who raised her arms for the first time - something very daring in those days. There is a lot of self-assured naturalness, a lot of freshness... and a lot of cheek too! That all sounds really superficial or really easy, but I think it's the hardest thing of all. It's a lot easier to show sorrow, pain and introspection. But sharing enjoyment... Many fellow artists say to me that, on top of all that, I don't stop laughing while I dance. I think that's how it has to be. And it's good that there's such variety, that there are different schools, all that richness.

Do you see Cadiz flamenco dance booming right now?

Yes - and women, women! Right now there are Cadiz people dancing really well. It's true that most of us don't live there, but those are individual circumstances. But that's where we're from and there we have a way of seeing things that's really joyful, we act naturally, have a good sense of humor. There's always the odd problem, but there it's another way of life. Maybe it's the fresher temperature, the saltpetre or the wind that blows one way then the other, and makes you sway from side to side, but you live well there. And if that shows when we go up on stage, then I'm glad.

Going back to the show, did you plan what gets sung and who sings it?

The malagueña is as clear as crystal, I tried to make it a gift to Don Enrique (El Mellizo). Although in the end to give rhythm and forcefulness to the choreography we did a soleá por bulerías, the soleá was from Cadiz and had the feel of how it was danced there - it wasn't as slow or heavy as it often is with other schools. Down there it's a lot more rhythmical, I think that's something characteristic of Cadiz. I know the tangos are tientos, but in Cadiz they used to sing tientos por tangos. And the alegrías... what can I tell you? We did take care when we came to choose the cantes. But then when you have the privilege of being on stage with cantaores like Juan José Amador, something I'm always grateful to him for, I like to listen to them, hear what they have to offer, what they suggest... and I let them make changes. I think if art flows like that and we all express ourselves, the show moves ahead, so long as we never lose sight of the fundamentals of the show. But I'm open to ideas.

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