Concha Vargas, Bailaora
Fátima Yráyzoz Aranda
2001

What do you feel right before going on stage?

Well, I get very tense and nervous when it's time to go out, I have a kind of heaviness. And it's worse as you get older! When I was young I didn't take it so to heart, I just wanted to go out and dance. The more I go on stage, the more responsible I feel, and the more apprehensive. But it's just the moment. Once I get into the thick of it it's all the same.

Do you notice anything different when you dance outside of Spain?

No. I don't notice any difference with foreign audiences. They're very respectful, maybe because there isn't so much available there. They're even more appreciative.

You give classes in places as far flung as Paris and New Mexico. How do you do it?

I give classes in the Carbonería in Seville, I'm always there. What happens is, sometimes I get courses of a few days or a week. And the funny thing about these courses is that I have a lot of Japanese girls, and considering we're so far away from them, both in distance and culturally, I often ask them... "Why do you like this so much?" And they don't know what to say. They say it's a mystery. Funny, isn't it?

Do you consider yourself a dancer primarily of feet or of arms?

Look, I use just the right amount of feet because I've never been that interested in that, but the arms yes, from the waist up. A bailaora is a woman so she must dance more with the top part because from the waist down, that's what men are for, they're the ones who have to push with the feet. I've always liked Pastora Imperio's dancing, the majesty she had, and that's precisely why I think that although I'm not an old woman, I'm no spring chicken either, that's why I still keep dancing. And that's why I still do things, because it doesn't affect me. In fact, I think that with every year that goes by, the essence becomes more concentrated, I mature.

Your carriage is similar to that of Manuela Carrasco. Do you identify with her?

Manuela Carrasco and I started out together, in the Cochera, a tablao in Seville. In the cuadro there was Lole Montoya, Farruquito, Manuela, and myself. Farruco always used to come and watch the cuadro and he would define us, saying that she was more a heelwork dancer, and I was more arms. Although we both dance with temperament, her way of dancing is completely different from mine.

You started out dancing very young. Do you remember those beginnings?

Of course I remember, I was eleven years old and it was in the festival of Morón, with Diego del Gastor and bunch of incredible people. I went to see the festival, I was in a dance school and my teacher was Pepe Ríos, I was with my father watching my teacher, and those giants like Chocolate, Fernanda.... magnificent... My teacher presented me saying that there was a gypsy girl and that he wanted her to come up and do a little bulerías. And I remember that not only Mairena, but also Bernarda and Chocolate, each time they would finish a verse they would stick another one in so that I wouldn't stop. The next day I was on the front page of the ABC surrounded by all those famous people. The truth is, my initiation was beautiful!

In dance is perhaps where there is the most debate due to its constant evolution. Do you think that flamenco dance is in danger?

I think that's true in a certain sense, because in my opinion, when a dancer puts on some dance shoes and spends seven or eight hours in the studio, that's worthy of respect. The truth is, they have a lot of technique and they do it very well, but I don't think that's everything. And despite the respect that I assure you I have for them, I would tell them not to forget that that "little something" isn't just technique. You have to dance to the cante. In fact I go to the theater and my heart doesn't respond, I don't get goosebumps. It's a shame! I think that some men or women are calling flamenco, that which is not flamenco. I think that this should go back to how it was before, know what I mean? Because with the greatest respect for today's dancers, I think they are carbon copies. They all dance the same. Please... forget about so much technique! Flamenco dance is something else... they should dance... dance and feel.

Fátima Yráyzoz Aranda
Translation: Estela Zatania