Antonio Canales (Seville, 1961) chat with expoflamenco about the Tablao Villa Rosa in Madrid, his way of understanding his dance and his learning about it flamenco. He also gives us some insight into his performance on August 27, 2025 in Pamplona, with top-level guitarists, with Montse Cortés in the cante, a special collaboration with Pepe Habichuela, and under the artistic direction of journalist Jose Manuel Gamboa. "What I ask and demand of the dancers is that they be themselves. I don't make my costumes. I like to tailor-make them," he says.
An interview with Manuel Cid.
– You have sponsored the legendary Tablao Villa Rosa in Madrid, founded in 1911. How is it? What is the experience like? How do artists and fans experience it?
– Well, I was very lucky to be at its restoration, and of course at its brilliant inauguration. Truth be told, we were thrilled to be able to rescue a peerless gem: the grandfather of the cathedrals of the flamencoIt took months of painstaking, painstaking work. All of the tiles designed by the great maestro Benlliure were cleaned. And we rebuilt it with the utmost respect, care, and fidelity, to make it the temple par excellence. I directed it for a year, without stepping on the stage. I orchestrated from the cast of great artists and a team. flamenco even the maîtres, waiters and technicians. But today times have changed and that model of flamenco gourmet is impossible to bear. So there it is, every night, working at high speed and with great quality. But that flamenco that I expected and intended to give, in these times, the Spanish public does not want to consume it.
– Do you think it is important that the flamenco adapt to modern times and reach a mass audiences? Or do you think it should remain cult music?
- flamenco It is unstoppable and a living thing in constant evolution. We can't pretend to put gates in the field. In all times there was room for everything. And thanks to many restless hearts, flamenco It has been nourished and continues to be nourished in all directions. The problem lies with the public. In the demand. In the ignorance, which is very bold.
"Alzapúa always has the allure of untold mystery! We're eager and excited to give it our all and pour our hearts into the magic. Pamplona and On Fire deserve it."
– He began his career as a dancer with the National Ballet, feeling a great influence on your way of understanding dance and dedication to the craft. How has it influenced by classical studies? What did it incorporate into your dance style? flamenco?
– I still contaminate it day after day. If there's a channeling style, it's because of this. My soul is always searching for new forms. Knowledge takes up no space. Emptiness weighs much more.
– Do you think the obsession with dance is essential? You have often claimed that To dance you have to dedicate yourself entirely, you have to dedicate your life to it. And I ask him, Antonio: What has dancing given you? And therefore, what has it taken away?
– Of course you have to give yourself body and soul to him. If you don't take that vow of enclosure, it's impossible to feel his divinity. It's a very short vocation, and time is both your friend and your worst enemy. He's given me my whole reason for being. And he's taken away everything that didn't serve me.
– The role of the spectator in the is interesting. flamencoFrom the young man who paid the performances in those years of Franco's regime, the audience at the Café Singer Accompanying the music with a glass of cognac, tobacco and conversations, the connoisseur of the peñas, the compadre on a day of revelry. How does the audience influence dancing?
– Therein lies the dilemma that poisons the quality of our eternal art. If children studied in schools, flamencoI assure you that all this would have different meanings and values. We are Intangible Heritage of Humanity because we have survived many shipwrecks. Now we must educate with conscience and skill, first our Spanish public, and then the world.
– I would like to ask you about the man's body in the flamencoIn the "beginnings" He considered the male body as the one that accompanied the dancer, thinking to serve as her partner. Estebánez Calderón already mentioned it in 1847: "The The dancer followed her less as a rival in skill than as a mortal who follows a goddess." You have been a reference in bringing the human body to the stage, as an autonomous body. How have you experienced the evolution of male dance in the flamenco?
– Before me, I had great teachers and role models. Escudero, Antonio, Gades, and many others. I've been able to dance their great works, which are part of our national repertoire, and I've felt the evolution you speak of firsthand. Just like in Classical Ballet, at the beginning, the man only carried the woman. But it was only to be expected that the bird would grow wings and fly free on its own.
«Times have changed and that model of flamenco gourmet is impossible to bear. There it is, every night, working at high speed and with great quality. But that flamenco "What I expected and intended to give, in these times, the Spanish public does not want to consume it."
– Vicente Escudero commented on the man's straight dance, without moving his hips and with her hands cupped. She said, "Iron dance!" "Bronze dance! That's how I would dance!" How would you talk about your dance, Antonio?
– I like being weightless, yet a granite rock. But what I like most is challenging balance. The rest, straight lines or curves, comes naturally.
– He mentioned in an interview that he is in the twilight of his career as a dancer. He says that is more focused on choreographing and directing. What interests you about that creation as choreographer? What do you ask of the dancer?
– The world of a choreographer doesn't have much to do with that of a performer. They're parallel, but they travel separately. What I ask and demand of the dancers is that they be themselves. I don't make my costumes. I like to sew custom-made ones.
– How do you plan to perform in the show Alzapúa III at the Festival? Flamenco On Fire on August 27th? Looking forward to taking to the stage?
– Alzapúa always has the allure of untold mystery! What I can tell you is that we're eager and excited to give it our all and pour our hearts into the magic. Pamplona and On Fire deserve it. ♦
