CULTURAL ASSOCIATION OF FLAMENCO
PROFILE

OUTLINE

Why the name of Carmen Amaya for our association?

Carmen Amaya, was an icon for her era and her own style of dancing, becoming to us the best female dancer in the history of flamenco.

In Spain the name of Carmen Amaya has not been given the relevance it deserves and still hasn’t, that is why we want to carry her name so it will not be forgotten.

The reasons for Dolores Giménez, our president and founder to give such name to pay homage to Carmen Amaya were among others the following :

“Her name has always been part of my life, to begin with my mother telling me all about Carmen Amaya her life and her ways of dancing as well as how good a human she was. Even today my mother in her eighties carries on telling me of how she would go on stage bearing majesty, nature of spirit and how she would pass it on to the audience. She had it all. There will be no other like Carmen Amaya.
As a person the humanity she had made her all the more special.We know well because my mother and Carmen were neighbors , my family lived in Somorrostro a nearly forgotten neighborhood in Barcelona where Carmen was born.
My eldest sister remembers that once Carmen was performing at a theatre in Barcelona and as they run out of tickets and quite a few gypsies could not get to see her ,some for not having the money,Carmen finding out went to her neighborhood and danced for her gypsies.
At 13 years of age I took dancing classes with Mrs. Concha Borrull. my surprise when she tells that her father the famous guitar master Miguel Borrull, gave Carmen Amaya a contract for his theatre El Villa Rosa in Barcelona.If I was already full of excitement about Carmen Amaya from then on it has been like falling in love completely. Due to having all this input about her and the influence she has on me what better tribute than having her name for our association.”

During her time, Carmen Amaya, made the guidelines for today’s flamenco dancing, introducing the use of the feet for the dancing of a female flamenco dancer when women, to that point, were to dance mainly using the arms. Not to forget she was the first woman to wear trousers to dance. In tose days a definitely wow!

The association was established in November 1.995 with the main pursuit of approaching flamenco to every type of person from kids to the elderly, offering among others; talks, dialogues, discussions, lectures, debates as well as guitar and dancing classes.

In the classroom we always try to give as much information as posible about the different styles of flamenco, commonly known in spanish as palos (sticks), but above all we want to give away that humanity and generosity Carmen Amaya represents.