Eduardo Serrano Iglesias has passed away at the age of 82. The dancer, better known as The Güito, is a legend of art jondo, with a career spanning seven decades after starting to dance at just 14 years old in the Pilar Lopez Company. With it we say goodbye to one of the last great masters of dance. flamenco that remained after the death of Antonio gades y Mario Maya.
In the neighborhood of El Rastro, one of the most flamencos of all Madrid, Eduardo Serrano Iglesias was born. His sister Embodies –blue-eyed blonde– was surprised to see him and said “what a black guy he is, mom!”, referring to the dark tone of his skin. Without knowing it, Encarna had given the nickname to one of the most legendary dancers of the flamenco.
His mother, a lottery agent by profession, left the boy with the neighbours when she went to sell tickets. They took him out to the courtyards to dance at every party. In addition, Güito also sometimes accompanied his mother and climbed up on the counter of the taverns they visited to dance.
«In the Plaza General Vara del Rey my mother took me, as always, to Quica. I was very young. But when I was two years old I moved to Antonio Marín. I went there when I was eleven and when I was twelve I was dancing soleá, and since then I have never stopped dancing it, because it is where I feel best, where I am most comfortable, where you can dance slowly…», explained the dancer in an interview with Souk Flamenco.
Güito, with his mother, went regularly to the tavern La Concha, where there were spaces reserved for artists to perform. Secretly, little Eduardo saw the dancers dance for the first time. Antonio Farruco and it was quite a revelation.
"From expoflamenco We join in the mourning for his passing and say goodbye to a teacher, choreographer and genius for Soleá, a creation that will remain forever in the history of dance. flamenco»
«I started dancing when I was four years old. Because I had that drive, my mother took me to a children's competition, a radio program called The Magic Wave. I appeared in several films, one with Marujita Diaz, another with Carmen Seville, with Antonio Molina… I had no control, the dance either comes out or it doesn't. Look: none of my children dance. On the other hand, I have a grandson who, when he was fifteen months old, if you tell him 'dance like grandpa', you can't imagine how he moves. I started dancing when I was eleven years old. Antonio Marin, I learned a lot from him," Güito himself narrated in an interview published in the summer of 2024 by El Mundo.
In 1971 he was a member of the legendary Madrid Trio along with Carmen Mora and Mario Maya, a trio that would continue until 1975. He then embarked on a rising career with tours as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Spain, The company of Manuela Vargas and the Spanish Ballet of Madrid.
«He has stage presence, he has seriousness, he has elegance. He is one of the dancers – few, very few – who makes a permanent exercise of expressive sobriety in his dance, stripped of all accessories, but who is nevertheless rich in new solutions, displaying a beautiful repertoire of steps and attitudes that form a coherent and harmonious whole in which there is no room for anything that is not true, authentically. jondo", wrote Angel Alvarez Knight, critical flamenco, El País back in 1995
"I was inspired by the singers, I gave them their space, I didn't step on them. I really liked it." Chano Lobato, what for canteThe party scene was unmatched. And he wasn't even a gypsy. Enrique Morente I loved him, what a personality he had. He wasn't a gypsy either. It's just that he flamenco It's from the gypsies, and the dance is from the gypsies. Four or five payos have come out, but this is ours. We have a different feeling. Like blacks with the blues. It's the only thing we gypsies have. And that's it, right? I continued giving classes until a few years ago, but I can't anymore. It's over. What a shame," concluded Güito in his interview for El Mundo.
From expoflamenco We join in the mourning for his passing and say goodbye to a teacher, choreographer and genius for Soleá, a creation that will remain forever in the history of dance. flamenco.
