Born in Elche (Alicante), where she began her studies in classical dance and Spanish dance in the school of her mother, Pilar Sánchez. At the age of 18 she moved to Madrid where she began her professional career in dancing with different companies: Compañía de Carmen Cortés, Manolete, Antonio Canales, El Güito, among others.

During that time she combines her work dancing in the most important tablaos of Madrid (Corral de la Morería, Venta del Gato, Alcazaba, Al Andalus, Café de Chinitas, etc.) and Mexico (Gitanerías, Triana).

Since 2000 she runs her own tablao, one of the most prestigious in Madrid, Las Carboneras, where she currently dances every night.

She is a founding member of the company Arrieritos with whom she has worked in many of its productions, including “13 rosas”, winner of the Max 2007 awards for the best show and the best choreography. The company Arrieritos was created in 1996 and since then has premiered the shows: “Arrieritos somos” (1996), “Ande yo caliente”, “Todos los gatos son pardos”, “Diario de un abrigo”, “Tablaos, fiestas y saraos “, “Despacio y solitos”, “Entablao” and “Oh solo mío”. The company has managed to consolidate a line of work based on the miscegenation of different styles, both musical and choreographic, between the world of flamenco and that of contemporary stage dance.

She has also developed her teaching work in countries such as the United States, England, Italy, Israel, Brazil, as well as in various schools in Spain. In 2017 she taught a flamenco course and participated in the tablao of Albuquerque (New Mexico).

Tacha: “In a tablao is all like more animal”

The artistic co-director and co-founder of the Tablao Las Carboneras, plus dancer, talks about her 28-year career in flamenco, from “El Güito”, Antonio Canales, and Arrieritos; the dream fulfilled which led to her having a tablao, and her vision of contemporary flamenco, that she says it is between the vanguard and the old.

—The Tablao Las Carboneras is the culmination of all your experience, is the result of everything you wanted to do in flamenco when you were 18?

—Well, I had not thought of it as I wanted to have a tablao, but it is true that with time and when I started dancing professionally flamenco and I started to find out that it was flamenco for tablao what I liked as form of expression. I love to dance in companies, theaters and shows, but flamenco for tablao is what fills me. Yes, I did have a dream of having a tablao.

—Everything went to reach that conclusion at the end that was having a tablao.

—And it was a dream that one day I dreamed of and that it suddenly happened. I was lucky: I met Manuela [Vega] and Ana [Romero]. Manuela’s husband [Ernesto Díaz] had already opened a restaurant [Las Mañanitas] and he knew well the hostelry part. When they saw this place, she realized that this was a tablao: “This is a tablao, Ernesto”. She had been mom and was a little off, but we had been long time partners in other tablaos and we knew how to work together. Then she told us to Ana and me (and other people) to be partners of the tablao.

— It could have happened that you created a flamenco company, but you did this, which is something different.

—Of course, because our focus has always been dancing flamenco for tablao farther than for theater. Is our way of seing flamenco, or to feel it, let’s say.

—Because improvisation is important?

—Yes, because when you’re in a tablao everything is improvised and an energy is created that it isn’t created in a scenario when all is assembled. Improvisation makes you free and that’s why is a therapeutic dance. The truth is that the feeling you get when working like that, that you do not know what will happen, between freedom to vertigo, it’s a feeling that the theater is not giving you. In a theater you have to go with an assembled show, rehearsed music, cuts … here you come in and here you go out … In a tablao’s all is very tradicional, like always, respecting the canons and codes and all what surrounds flamenco, but from a more animalistic site. It’s like going to a jam session, there plays the singing, guitar, dancing. It’s like a game, really.

—Besides, you usually vary greatly the group of artists involved in that game.

—Sure, every fortnight the tablao cast changes and people are always very alive, very active, very receptive. Because, of course, we are the ones who are always there, we come in and out, but for those coming from outside always have a day of adaptation of the guitarist with the other guitarist; Ángel Gabarre, which is permanent, which is one of the best singers for dancing in Madrid, and all singers want to work with him because they learn a lot. So is created…  in our tablao professional people go for pleasure, because they enjoy working there because our way of working encourages them, and moves them, they like it a lot, they enjoy it a lot.

—Would you like to mention the people who have influenced you in your time of dancing in tablaos and companies?

—Yes, of course, I have coincided with many people. But what influenced me was being with Antonio Canales, with all the musicians who worked with him, with “El Viejín” with Ramón Jiménez, from whom I learned a lot, but I’ve also been with “El Güito”, although with him it was sporadic. With Antonio I was five years. Also, with my colleagues we created a company, Arrieritos, which still exists, what happens is that I am no longer in the new productions, but that was also a beautiful work that we did because we were investigating with flamenco and contemporary dance; I would not call it fusion because I kept dancing flamenco in Arrieritos, not nothing but dancing flamenco, but let’s say that the concept of the shows was more contemporary and also marked a change for all the flamenco people and their way of building shows: Arrieritos pioneered in that field.

—And after seeing these two aspects of flamenco, what sense do you have of where flamenco is today, both tablao and theater?

—Now? Well, now there’s so much … There are two extremes right now, is what I see. At the end it is Israel Galván, which is not considered flamenco by many people, as purists. And I do see it as flamenco, what happens is that he is on the stratosphere, it’s like dancing flamenco in 3D, he’s from another galaxy. But in my opinion he uses flamenco and he knows how to use it, really. That’s one end … O Rocío Molina, who is also a researcher. And then there is the flamenco among the rest of us mortals, because these are immortal, haha​​, among others there are many people, who dance very well, which are returning to the oldest. It is like fashion, now leads eighties, seventies, sixties, ranging cyclical. Well, in flamenco is a bit the same, it is becoming much looking at the old, to the formerly form of dance, of course with the evolution that has taken apart the dance, guitar and singing. I see young people today focusing on the oldest form of dance.

—Another of the successes you have had with the flamenco tablao is the creation of a dance competition, which is where you see what is being cooked now.

—There it is. There are most of the contests there in flamenco, but not all, where you perform your dance prepared. Actually, this contest is designed for tablao, you get to the tablao not rehearsing with anyone, you raise and dance and everyone know their profession. In that aspect the contest is focused, people come with no rehearsal, to dance with the musicians we give them, and so they are all equal and have to know how to dance all styles: we ask you to tell us at least three palos that do not match and they can be put on a show; while we do a competition, we’re seeing a show, audience come to it and there can not be four alegrías or soleás. The competition is having a really cool effect that has also caught in a moment of crisis and for us is an effort, but on the other hand, we see that people have no goals, no illusion because there is no work and this, of course, motivates them to set a goal or at least enjoy a day of work with a few awesome musicians and a very cool atmosphere is created, all the comrades go, everyone supports everyone, a day in order to enjoy the musicians behind them so that they best express themselves.

—Well thank you.

—’re welcome, haha.

Tacha, dancer and co-founder of Las Carboneras

“We maintain the tradition that existed in Madrid of singing the jaleos”

«About who would I highlight about my artistic training, I have had many wonderful flamenco teachers with whom I have learned many things, but I, on this occasion, would like to highlight my mother, Pilar Sánchez, who was the one who taught me classical dance and bolera school. She taught me a very strong classical ground that later has served me in my profession for many things that I have done in flamenco and with my company, Arrieritos, in which we met different languages ​​within dance. She also taught me discipline, to love dance and to be on stage since I was little. It was a very nice apprenticeship and every year we walked on stages from a very young age. So, I would highlight my mother because it is always true that discipline is instilled in you from a young age, and the love for dance and respect for teachers.

»I spent two intermittent years in Mexico and, when I went back the year 92, the first most important thing I did was in the Sala Caracol with Belén Maya clapping and dancing. There they saw me dance and, two or three days later, one day I was at home and my boyfriend told me: “Antonio Canales is calling you on the phone.” I was washing clothes by hand because I didn’t have a washing machine, I was washing my dance clothes in the bathtub, there raca, raca. I thought it was a joke and he insisted that I get on. I got on the phone and I was dead, at that time there were no mobiles and there was nothing. And he told me if I wanted to join the company, that the following week we were going to Canada. And in a week I had to learn all the repertoire that they carried. I almost die. Of course, at that time Antonio Canales was booming and for me it was, you know, wonderful. It is an anecdote that I have very recorded, but above all the fact of being washing clothes in the bathtub and not believing it.

»For me dancing in a tablao is, first, therapeutic. Second, you enter such a state of meditation, due to the level of improvisation that there is and the concentration that you have to have, as well as the communication between colleagues and teamwork, which is wonderful. It’s like meditating and, at the same time, I feel free and there is uncertainty, there are many sensations at the same time. The uncertainty of not knowing what is going to happen, the wonder of the energies, how they flow, some days very well and other days they flow very badly, but it is the uncertainty that causes you. Then freedom. Above all, that, which for me is very therapeutic and enriching.

»Las Carboneras. It is one of the most important tablaos in Madrid, I would place it among the top three most important in Madrid, where the artists feel very comfortable and where we have created a very personal way of deconstructing the dances. We have created like a school, on an artistic level. Later, many tablaos have joined us, for example at the beginning in terms of schedules. Now we have joined them because they make the passes even earlier, times change. But our tablao was like a revolution. And it is one of the tablaos in which we maintain the tradition that existed in Madrid of singing the jaleos, although now we make them more modern and musicalized, before they were sung without a guitar. It is a tradition of the tablaos of Madrid and we are the only one which maintains it. And I think that for artists it is very important to come to Las Carboneras, apart from how good they feel ».

Olga Aznar García, better known as Olga Llorente (Sant Adrià de Besós, Barcelona, ​​1990), is a dancer and choreographer. Graduated in Spanish Dance at the Professional Conservatory of Barcelona (Institut del Teatre). Training at the La Tani flamenco school and at the Pilar Domínguez school. Later she received classes from teachers such as Antonio Canales, Javier Latorre, Farruquito, La Chana, Marco Flores, Belén Fernández, Rafael del Carmen, Rafaela Carrasco, Carmen Ledesma, Antonio El Pipa, Eva Yerbabuena, Belén Maya, among many others.

She has collaborated as a dancer in the film “Flamenco” by director Carlos Saura. She has performed in the festival Más y Más in the tablao Los Tarantos (August 2008); in the play “Fedra” directed by Javier Latorre and Miguel Narros sharing the stage with Lola Greco, Alejandro Granados, Amador Rojas, Carmelilla Montoya (2009-10); at the festival in Gorbió (France) in 2013; at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid with Rafael Amargo (2013); in the show  Ópera y Flamenco at the Poliorama theater and Palau de la Música in Barcelona (2013/14); at the Teatro Real (Madrid) with Ara Malikian in November 2014; in the Generalife gardens at the Granada and Lorca Festival as the first dancer with the show “Poeta en Nueva York” by Rafael Amargo (2015); in the company of Antonio Canales (2015); at the Jazz Festival of AARUS with Perico Sambeat and the Jazz Orchestra of Denmark (2016 and 2017).

She has collaborated as a choreographer in the show of José Agudo (choreographer/ assistant of Akram Kham) in his show “Silk Road“.

She has performed and toured Colombia, Santo Domingo, China, Israel, Turkey, Korea, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, Argentina, Morocco, etc.

She has danced in the following tablaos: Los Tarantos, Tablao de Carmen, El Molino and El Cordobés (Barcelona), Los Gallos, El Arenal and Cristina Hoyos Museum (Seville), Tablao Albaicín (Granada), Tablao Villarosa, Corral de la Morería, Casa Patas, Tablao Cantares, Las Carboneras and La Estación de los Porches (Madrid). She performed in Japan at the tablao El Flamenco in 2010-2011 and in Garlochi in 2017-2018

She has shared the stage with artists such as Pastora Galván, El Farru, José Maya, Marco Flores, Manuel Liñán, La Repompa, Belén Maya, Diego Carrasco, Juan Ogalla, El Junco, Rafael del Carmen, Barullo, etc.

“Vicente Escudero” Award for her dance by seguirilla in 2006 at the VIII Young Values ​​Competition of the city of L’Hospitalet. First prize in Spanish Dance at the Dance Contest of the city of Castellón, 2009. Contest of the Perla de Cádiz, prize for free dance for siguirilla in 2013.

Interview Olga Llorente

«For me it was a very significant change of stage the moment I went to Madrid to live, opening my mind and seeing flamenco in a different way: much wider, different styles …

»In my dance I have been influenced by many teachers, trying to have my own personality, but at the same time influencing myself by maestros like Juana Amaya, Antonio Canales, Carmen Amaya, La Chana, among many others.

»For me tablao is where authentic flamenco is lived, the audience that comes to a tablao receives very closely everything a dancer throws off with his or her dance.

For me it is one of the places where I feel better because the communication I have with my colleagues is very close, it is as if we had a conversation in which each one intervenes, contributing with everything he or she has. It is the place where I let all my emotions flow. I always try to keep moving forward and the tablao is the place that gives me the opportunity to continue with my learning ».

(Cádiz, 1986). At the early age of 5 years she began to receive flamenco lessons. Currently, with more than 10 years of experience, she combines performances in tablaos (such as Las Carboneras), festivals and most important national and international stages. She stands out for a technique acquired thanks to her training and professional career. She has carried out shows with her own signature as her last work, “Hilenco, danza homenaje al amor-arte del Rey del pop Michael Jackson”, a project that the artist is currently developing.

She has shared stages with relevant artists of the scene and is required to teach courses both in Spain and in other countries, among which are Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica, the United States, Japan, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Throughout her career she has collaborated with artists such as: Antonio and Juana del Pipa, Sara Baras, Marco Flores, Rancapino, Remedios Amaya, Duquende, Niña Pastori and Josemi Carmona, among others.

The most important works she has done in recent years are:

• Premiere of the show “Cai se bebe el sol”, on tour in South America (2018)
• Premiere of “Hilenco“, Videodance (2018)
• Flamenco Festival in Paris, Circo Romaní (2018)
• Albuquerque Festival (New Mexico), special collaboration with Marco Flores

(2017)

• Finalist of the National Competition of Córdoba (2016)
• Special collaboration in the show “Entrar al juego” by Marco Flores in the XX

edition of the Festival de Jerez (2016)

• Participant of the III Flamenco Festival of Japan (2014)
• Bailaora soloist of the Antonio el Pipa company (2008-2014)

Some of her most outstanding creations:

• Hilenco, dance tribute to the love-art of the King of Pop Michael Jackson

(Currently)

• Cádiz–Sevilla, Qué maravilla (2015)
• Ni el hambre la vamos a sentí (2014)
• Con alma (2009)

Work for press and advertising:

• She has collaborated with the magazine GQ New York under the direction of Pedro Almodóvar, sharing photographic report with Jon Kortajarena, Inma Cuesta, Adriana Ugarte, among others.
• She has also collaborated with the jewelery firm Carrera y Carrera in Macao, China

Claudia Cruz interview

«I love Las Carboneras tablao, it is a sublime and exquisite house»

«What would I highlight about my learning during my entire career? Well I would highlight the way I have learned, that I think is a bit special and different from what I have seen or heard from other people, who have studied in the typical academy where they teach you this dance or the other. I have had a very special teacher, who had another method of teaching, which has gone very well for me and I have learned a lot. Throughout the time I have also thought that the classes were a little hard for the young students we all were. I started my school learning flamenco with four years old, because in Andalusia extra-school classes are available after school. My teacher taught me a very good foundation, hands, I learned my first tanguillos, alegrías, escobillas, castanets … And then with 9 years old I started with another teacher who really taught me a lot. They were not the typical academies where you can learn the guajira or the soleá por bulería, maybe my teacher in a step spent two months. Each of the teachers took out our personality, we could not compare to a partner to do it. That is what I would highlight about my learning, emphasizing what we feel and what we want to convey with each step and each exercise according to the palo we were learning. After that, it was a lot of thinking and dedicating time, as I was growing up I had my personality settled since I was very small. I have to emphasize that I have learned a lot from all my colleagues with whom I have come together in each period of my life. Everyone learns and takes something out and then you transform it according to your personality, your tastes or according to what you can execute with your body. I have also received some flamenco courses, which have not been many because when some teachers came to Cádiz they were very expensive and my mother could not afford them, or I was small and had no money. And then, when I got older, I did some courses with teachers, of course. But the teaching has been from my first teachers, first my school teacher, who was Lourdes Florido, and then Charo Cruz, who was my second teacher and is the one who has really taught me a lot of things: apart from dancing, the attitude in a stage And of course, the day-to-day teaching, the work and all my colleagues, who have taught me a lot.

»What would I highlight in my career? I would highlight every moment, which is very difficult because there are many of them already, and everything that I have left if God wants, that I hope will be many years that I can live of art and flamenco. Every moment is remarkable. Why? Because you start little by little, for example, I started working in hotels in Cádiz, in private parties … For me that were very relevant moments because I was small and I went with more consecrated artists, with names, that danced very well. I have to highlight that. As the years went by, I went to Barcelona for a tablao, which was my first tablao and the first time I met other artists from other cities, with other teachings. That is also remarkable. Everything for me at every moment is remarkable. Or the first time I went to Japan, I did a tour with very big artists and it was very important for me. The collaboration I did with Niña Pastori, which was a very different thing and a big surprise for me because she had not taken artists dancing in her shows and I was an admirer of her since I was a little girl. Every moment of life is remarkable. And it is a before and after because every moment is a unique experience and for me all are valid and precious.

»Finally, what is it for me to work in a tablao? For me, working in a tablao is what I like the most because it is my day to day, my diary dialogue. It’s where I’m most comfortable. I also find it very interesting and magical because every day is different, maybe you coincide some days with some colleagues, other days with others, then that also changes a lot. It is very magical because you never know what is going to happen, according to the day or the people or how they come there are very good days, there are more regular days, there are fantastic days, days of more sadness or more energy. Everything happens. It is the language that we have daily, and it is reflected there. I believe that the tablao is a very big truth. And for me it’s a place where I feel super comfortable and I think it’s one of the best things I know how to do. I love it because it is magical and you never know what is going to happen or what may arise, you always have it as if waiting and open to several things that can happen to you. It is also a very direct language with the public because it interacts a lot in the sense that the public is very close and sees all the details of the artists. All. A lot of things happen too, as better laugh, cry,

they get excited, they talk … There is everything. I like that, too, that there is more freedom. And for me to work in the tablao Las Carboneras is one of the most wonderful places, I love you very much, which is an exquisite treatment, I think it is unique in all the tablaos, to tell you the truth, whenever I go I feel a lot of love, much admiration, respect, love, and that is very important to take care of and that artists feel that way. And the truth is that I love it, it is a sublime and exquisite house ».

Born in Malaga in 1983. He began his professional career in flamenco as a solo dancer in different tablaos, theaters and flamenco festivals in Spain and abroad.

Tablaos: Los Tarantos, El Arenal, El Carmen, El Cordobés, Casa Patas, Las Carboneras, Villa Rosa.

Festivals: City of Málaga Flamenco Festival, Antonio Mairena Flamenco Festival, Boyazil Festival (Turkey), Athens Festival (Greece), Newcastle Guitar Festival, Brussels, Luxembourg, Amsterdam Flamenco Festival, Olla Flamenca Casabermejas (Málaga), Flamenco London Festival, Geneva Flamenco Festival, Kazakhstan Festival (Astana), etc.

Winner of the First Prize in the National Contest of Cante and Flamenco Dance of Estepona (Málaga).

He stars in the role of Jeremías in the musical flamenco “Los Tarantos” represented in Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Athens.

Participates in the II, III, IV and V Bienal de Arte Flamenco de Málaga in different shows such as “Yo no sé la edad que tengo“, by José Losada; “Carrete“; “En familia”, by Trinidad Santiago “La Trini”; “Sabor a Malaga“, produced by the Diputación de Málaga.

Premieres and produces the show “Otros” at the Carthima Theater in Cártama (Málaga) and at the Echegaray Theater in Málaga.

Young bailaor born in a gypsy family of artists: painters, actors and writers. His ancestors are the historic bailaora Fernanda Romero and the cantaor Rafael Romero “El Gallina”. He is also related to the famous painters Antonio Maya and Jerónimo Maya. He began his career as a bailaor with nine years of age sharing a billboard in Madrid with dancers such as Antonio Canales, Juan Ramírez and Joaquín Grilo.

With only thirteen years he is already part of the companies of “El Güito” and Manolete doing various tours around Spain. In 1998 he obtained the Copa Pavón award and participates as guest artist in the show “Raíces” by Antonio Canales.

Prize to the best dancer in the Choreography Contest of the Community of Madrid in 2000. Scholarship by the Author Foundation at the prestigious Chair Alicia Alonso of Classical Dance, with which she acts as a guest artists at the Young Ballet of the Community of Madrid.

In 2005 he is claimed by the French filmmaker Tony Gatlif to be the first dancer of “Vertiges“, doing an extensive tour of France and Italy. Since 2007 he is a member of the guitarist Tomatito’s sextet touring Europe, America, China, Russia and Japan. Premieres with Farruco and Barullo “Al natural“, a flamenco musical acting for a month at the Theater Alcalá of Madrid and presented at the Jerez festival.

That same year he is invited by the producer Pino Sagliocco to dance in the concerts of pop stars like Marc Anthony and Beyónce with whom he performes in the Palacio de los Deportes de Madrid and at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona.

In 2008 he presents “El velero de las rosas” together with Lola Greco as guest artist, premiered in the Corral de Comedias of Alcalá de Henares in the Suma Flamenca Festival and in the Veranos de la Villa in the Sabatini Gardens.

In 2010 he premiered “Grito” with Alfonso Losa premiered at the festival Flamenco in Torrelodones, represented at the Suma Flamenca festival and in the Teatro Central of Seville within the framework of the programming of the Seville Biennial 2010.

In 2011 he presents “Maya” at the Flamenco Festival of Jerez, receiving a great reception on the part of the critic. He toured the USA and Canada with the show “Tengo compás” represented at the Albuquerque International Festival, in New York’s Skirball Center, Marines Memorial Theater of San Francisco and at the International Percussion Festival of Montreal.

In 2012 he presents his show at the Flamenco Festival of La Villette of Paris. In 2013 he participated in the tribute show “Carmen Amaya en la memoria” with Pastora Galván, Karime Amaya and Gema Moneo. In 2014 he premiered his latest creation at the Le Palace theater in Paris “Latente“.