"The only thing 'lite' in my life are the cigarettes I smoke!"
La
Tati, considered to be, along with El Güito, the outstanding representative
of flamenco dance in Spain's capital, has striven to project herself through Lorca
in Spanish theatre's most complete drama. A story of love and death, colored with
rebelliousness. Sobriety in the costuming and stage sets, overhead lighting for
La Tati in the center... in the center as if she were the matriarch of the cast
of good, young female dancers; Carmen Iglesias, La Truco, Lola Mayo, Nuria del
Río and Montserrat. The powerful voice of flamenco singer Manuel de la
Malena, gives a stark and sober touch to the show, far removed from any commercial
embellishments.
The
stylistic spark of this Madrid dancer shines through in all of the forms: "I'm
a very special Bernarda, I'm "La Tati". On opening day the dancer threw
herself so totally into the presentation that actual tears welled up in her eyes,
pure feeling.
In
fact La Tati has been performing for nearly forty years. Her vitality becomes
evident when it comes time to dance, always smiling: "It's that I like what
I do. I have fun doing this job" she exclaims with her mouth open wide.
This
woman, known by many as "Madrid's flamenco dancer", was raised in the
Rastro area on Toledo street during the years following the Spanish civil war.
Surrounded by Andalusian neighbours she heard flamenco and popular Spanish songs
all over the neighborhood. At the age of six she met the maestra Quica, Frasquillo's
wife, and with her discovered that dance was her vocation: "I saw her dance
with 'bata de cola' on the day of the feast of the Paloma and said to myself:
'This is what I want to do'. She never gave me a dance class, but many plates
of food and the opportunity to learn to dance".
Photo by Anahí Cármody
La
Tati is a self-taught dancer. At 16 she was dancing at Torres Bermejas. Any time
a regularly scheduled artist would fail to show up, the fearless Tati didn't hesitate
to go up on stage. She paid for her own costumes peseta by peseta. Now she designs
her wardrobe and single handedly directs her own show like some kind of Joan of
Arc. "In Spain no one will give money for flamenco, there's no kind of support
for private iniciative. It all comes out of your own pocket, you risk everything
and on top of that they give you very little publicity time so the general public
doesn't have time to find out in time to go and see your show. The situation here
is criminal". The dancer, who is concerned about the here and now of flamenco,
goes on to comment: "The present danger is the multinational enterprises
who are taking advantage of flamenco's current popularity to create stars as quickly
as possible, but they don't really care about the art at all".
La
Tati's shows travel outside of Spain where they receive wider support. This woman's
words, full of vitality, show that she has no intention of throwing in the towel,
since she's in love with what she does: "I invent life as I go along and
do whatever I feel like". Yet she acknowledges that in spite of the fact
that there are more aficionados every day, times aren't what they used to be:
"For me today's flamenco lacks identity, it's a little 'lite' and me, the
only thing lite in my life are the cigarettes I smoke.
Fátima
Yráyzoz
Translated by Estela Zatania
