Antonio Gades


Antonio Esteve Ródenas or Antonio Gades was a Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer. He helped to popularise the art form on the international stage. He was father of actress María Esteve and singer Celia Flores, daughters of his ex-partner Marisol, a popular actress and singer.

Career

Flamenco

Gades's most notable works included dance adaptations of Prosper Mérimée's Carmen and Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding, as well as a feature-length adaptation of Manuel de Falla's 23-minute ballet El amor brujo.
In the 1990s, he toured the world with his show Fuenteovejuna, based on Lope de Vega's play of the same name.

Film

Gades collaborated with the Spanish director Carlos Saura in the filming of the adaptations of Carmen and Blood Wedding, which also featured Cristina Hoyos.

Ballet

Gades co-founded and became the artistic director of the Spanish National Ballet in 1978.

Personal life and death

Gades was prominent as a political activist in Alicante, where he proclaimed self-determination for the Catalan nation during the Spanish Transition between the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain, a Marxist–Leninist organization. In 1987 he was a member of the jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival.
He was married to the Spanish actress and singer Marisol for four years; they had three daughters.
He died in Madrid from cancer.

Awards

About six weeks before his death, Gades received the "Order of José Martí", one of the highest honors of Cuba, from Fidel Castro, in Havana, Cuba.
In 2004 his ashes were interred at the Mausoleum of the Frank País Second Eastern Front, a memorial cemetery in Santiago de Cuba.

Filmography