OBITUARY. MARIO MAYA

The art of respect and admiration

S. C. Seville, September 27th, 2008

Mario Maya. Festival de Jerez 2004 (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

Nobody realized it, but the 'Mujeres' gala scarcely two weeks ago at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville was his farewell as an artist. Mario Maya wasn't there to receive the applause for directing the show which was so marvelously performed by Merche Esmeralda, Rocío Molina and his daughter Belén Maya. But he did leave the invisible postscript there to a life dedicated to flamenco art, its evolution and its dignification.

The bailaor and choreographer - born in Córdoba and a resident of Granada - died last night in Seville. A fulminating bout with cancer took him away. And the heavens seemed to know it. It's been raining non-stop today while the funeral chapel is being set up at the city hall of the town where he used to live and where he carried out much of his career. He directed the Compañía Andaluza de Danza (Andalusian Dance Company) here, marking an entire generation of bailaores. Like Isabel Bayón, who was to have presented her 'Tórtola Valencia' today to the media. "I can't believe, it's not possible", she said with great difficulty. And the thing is that the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla 2008 has become paralyzed. A couple of days ago the press conference was already canceled in which the maestro himself was going to present his Mario Maya Flamenco Center for Performing Arts Studies which was getting started this year in the Seville-area town of Carmona. A similar initiative to the one he had already carried out at the facilities of La Chumbera in the Granada neighborhood of Sacromonte a few years ago, and which gave rise to a new company and shows such as 'Un, dos, tres, faaa...' and the remake of his 'Romance del Amargo'.

Mario Maya (Photo Daniel Muñoz)