Compañía Antonio Gades

Just months before he passed away, Antonio Gades created a Foundation in charge of looking after his artistic heritage and helping to disseminate his work, promoting a greater knowledge of Spanish dance all over the world. Back on the stage at the request of this Foundation, the Antonio Gades Company is now solely responsible for staging the ballets of the choreographer from Alicante, keeping the original spirit and guidelines his works were devised with intact.

Under the artistic direction of Stella Arauzo (who danced with Gades for many years, taking over from Cristina Hoyos in the performance of Carmen), and technical direction of Dominique You (so many years the illuminator and right arm of the Maestro), the new formation has several members from the old company who, together with new faces, ensure the transmission of the lines which characterize the work of Gades, expressing the most profound human concerns, within a aesthetically refined language rooted in the traditions and culture of the Spanish people.

After performing Carmen in the Roman Theatre, and touring almost constantly since them, the Antonio Gades Company has recovered for the stage Carmen, Bodas de Sangre, Suite Flamenca and more recently Fuenteovejuna. His work has not only been endorsed by the large number of spectators who have gone to the shows but also the awards received such as the Giraldillo de Oro of the Flamenco Biennial from Seville, the Demófilo award from the Fundación Machado and the award of the Teatro Rojas in Toledo which fills the company with special pride since it is awarded by the public.

The Antonio Gades Company has been resident in Getafe since 2006.

On Carmen

The theatre version of CARMEN was conceived roughly at the same time as the shooting of Carlos Saura's film. The film's success, which took even Gades and Saura by surprise, encouraged Antonio Gades to produce a version for the theatre that turned out to be another masterpiece in the line of BLOOD WEDDING and FLAMENCO SUITE. The premiere in Paris in 1983 was a considerable popular and critical success, revealing Antonio Gades to be not only one of the most important dancers in the world but also one of the greatest choreographers.

Antonio Gades' reasons for creating this work can be summed up in the ideas that he explained in a press conferences. In his view "Carmen is neither a frivolous woman nor a man-eater. She's just an honest woman who when she loves says she loves and when she doesn't love and says she doesn't. "

Cast
Artistic Director / Stella Arauzo

                                                  Carmen                            Vanesa Vento
                                                  Don José                          Ángel Gil
                                                  Toreador (Bullfighter)         Jairo Rodriguez
                                                  Husband                          Joaquín Mulero