Female flamenco dancer |
| Female dancer |
| Name:Mercedes Rodríguez Gamero |
| Birth: 1947 Sevilla |
"We are the last Coca Cola in the desert, and we have no more help than the strength that flamenco gives us. There is a little ray of sunlight that I am enjoying, and the fact is that young people are becoming interested again in something more than what is even more difficult".
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Mercedes Rodríguez Gomero, who is known worldwide as Merche Esmeralda, began her career in flamenco by singing when she was still a very little girl. She soon began dividing up her time between singing and dancing. When she was twelve, she made her debut in her hometown's Youth Gala events. In the following year, she arrived in Madrid, where she became a professional as a Spanish classical ballet dancer and performed in several tablaos.
She was 16 years old when she was a solo bailaora (flamenco dancer) for the first time in a festival: it was her own impromptu decision to start up and sing in front of the legendary Antonio Mairena. Since then, she was sought after for the most important events of flamenco art. In 1968 she obtained the National Dance Prize in the National Flamenco Art Contest in Córdoba. She was filmed for her first television programmes and went on her first international tours, as well as expanding her studies with the greatest dancers of the different genres of Spanish dancing, and soon obtained the title of dance teacher.
During her career, Merche Esmeralda combined performances in tablaos in Madrid with international artistic tours and teaching. Since 1977, she taught numerous courses and master classes in Spain and abroad, especially in Germany and Japan, where she performed in a series of recitals in 1978. One year later, she set up her own company, with which she travelled around Europe. On her return, she entered the Ballet Nacional de España (Spanish National Ballet) as lead dancer on request from the great Antonio, who was its director at the time.
Years later, Merche founded the Ballet of the Murcia Region, which reached a very high standard in a short time. Among her numerous creations, the outstanding one was "El Cielo Protector", a work of theatre and dance whose directors and protagonists were herself, Antonio Márquez and Joaquín Cortés. This last artist brought her into his company in 1993 as a guest artist, and two years later she embarked upon a triumphant tour alongside Antonio Canales. In these years, Merche Esmeralda opened her own dance school and established her company again for the show "Mujeres", in which she included La Yerbabuena and Sara Baras. Hers has been a whole lifetime of flamenco art and dancing, which has been portrayed on the cinema screen thanks to films like "Alma Gitana" by Chus Gutiérrez, or "Sevillanas" and "Flamenco" by Carlos Saura. |
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