Aída Gómez
Aída Gómez Aguda (Madrid, 1967) is a Spanish director, choreographer, and ballet and flamenco dancer. She began dancing at a very young age and soon joined the Spanish National Ballet. She worked there as a ballerina from 1982 until 1998, when she was appointed director. In 2015, she became the director of the International Dance Festival. In 2016, she was also appointed director of the Festival de Suma Flamenca.[1]
Aída Gómez Aguda | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 12, 1967 Madrid, Spain |
| Genres | Ballet, flamenco |
| Occupation(s) | Director, choreographer, ballet and flamenco dancer |
| Website | http://aidagomez.es |
Early Career[edit]
She began taking Spanish dance lessons at the age of seven, and started learning classical dance at the age of eleven. At age twelve, she graduated with honors at the Conservatorio Superior de Danza in Madrid. Some of her teachers include Spanish ballerina Aurora Pons, flamenco dancers Merche Esmeralda and Juanjo Linares, guitar player Paco Fernández, and flamenco choreographer Manuel Santiago Maya 'Manolete'.[2]
Spanish National Ballet[edit]
She joined the Spanish National Ballet at age fourteen in 1981, which really pushed her career forward. She made her début thanks to Antonio Ruiz Soler 'el Bailarín' ('the Dancer'), playing the soloist role in Antonio Soler's keyboard sonatas as well as in other dances such as the bolero Puerta de tierra ('Soil door') and Corpus. Thanks to director María de Ávila, she danced solo in Guillermina Martínez Cabrejas' Danza y Tronío, Alberto Lorca's Rhythms and José Granero's Medea. In 1985 she became prima ballerina, and worked with Spanish dancer and choreographer Antonio Gades in his shows Don Juan, Carmen, and the adaptation of Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding.[3]
Later on, she took part in several other projects — the main ones being the tribute to dancer Antonia Mercé 'La Argentina' ('the Argentinian'), and the international Dance Star galas which took place in Trieste, Italy and Carcassonne, France. She danced the Puertas de Tierra pas de deux with José Antonio during one of the galas organized by the Spanish bolero school.[1] In december 1990, she played La Cachucha — a traditional, classical Spanish dance — with her castanets at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia as part of the dance festival Bailar España.[4]
While she was part of the National Spanish Ballet team, she joined flamenco dancer Joaquín Cortés' theater company in 1996 as a guest artist and performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Radio City Music Hall in New York.[1] In october 1997, she danced 'La Molinera' from The Three-Cornered Hat at the opening of the Teatro Real in Madrid. She followed Antonio Ruiz Soler's choreography and wore a dress designed by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso.[4][5] She was invited by French dancer Maurice Béjart to teach Spanish dance at his ballet company, Béjart Ballet Lausanne.[6]
In 1998 she founded her own dance company and was named director of the Spanish National Ballet, thus becoming the youngest director in the history of the institution. She performed Poeta, a tribute to Spanish poet Rafael Alberti, and planned the coreography for Semblanzas a year later. She launched Silencio Rasgado ('Broken Silence') and Mensaje ('Message'),[7] and her growing success led her to collaborate with dance masters such as Argentinian choreographer and dancer Julio Bocca.[4]
In the beginning of 2000 she had the opportunity to play the role of Frida Kahlo as part of a choreography curated by Antonio Canales. She also played the role of George Bizet's famous Carmen under the direction of José Antonio.
In February 2001, she was relieved of her position as artistic director of the Spanish National Ballet due to a series of work-related conflicts.[8]
After the National Ballet[edit]
In 2001, Aída Gómez founded her own show production company and released Solos en Compañía where she debuted as director, coreographer and costume designer.[4] In 2002, she released her new project Salomé featuring Carlos Saura as the stage director.[1] It was a musical adaptation of the biblical myth of Salomé, the woman who asked Herod for John the Baptitst's head.[9] It combined different dancing styles such as sevillanas, bolero, ballet, and Turkish dances. The rythmical base of the movie is flamenco, but its musical spectrum is quite wide as it takes inspiration from Arabic dancing as well as from several western religious pieces.[10] The movie was part of the Valladolid International Film Festival due to its success, and was awarded a Goya for Best Soundtrack. It was then projected in the opening ceremonies of the Brussels, Paris, and Miami film festivals.[1]
In February 2003, her show Sueños ('Dreams') permiered in Milan's opera house La Scala. The show was a combination of five short pieces she had coreographed herself. A month later, she appeared in the Spanish TV show Un paso adelante as a guest star. In May, she launched Duende for the Spanish Theatre Network under the direction of José Carlos Plaza.[1] She also released Suite Española ('Spanish Suite').[7]
In 2004, Aída Gómez joined Basque dancer Igor Yebra in Wallada, a symphonic rock musical production. It combined ballet, flamenco, and other Spanish dances and it premiered during the International Guitar Festival which took place in the gardens of the Alcazar in Córdoba. The show is based on a real story which took place during the Ummayad Caliphate in Córdoba, where the daughter of a caliph (played by Aída Gómez) seduces a poet and aristocrat (Igor Yebra). According to producer Javier García, their goal was to "provide the world with an answer in a moment where there is a lack of understanding among cultures", as "such an understanding existed" during the era of the caliphate.[11]
In 2005 she performed in 50 años de danza española ('50 years of Spanish dances'). The gala took place in Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and was organized in memory of Antonio Gades, who had passed away in July 2004. Other Spanish flamenco artists such as dancers Sara Baras and Manuel Santiago Maya 'Manolete', guitar player Paco Ibáñez, and flamenco singer Juan Peña 'el Lebrijano' also performed at the gala.[12] Aída Gómez and Antonio Gades had danced Blood Wedding together for the 10-year anniversary of the foundation of the Spanish National Ballet. In 50 años de danza she performed Silencio Rasgado[12] which she released in 1998 while she still worked for the ballet company.[13]
In 2006 she released her version of the show Carmen at Teatro Villamarta in Jerez de la Frontera. The show is based on Prosper Mérimée's novel which Bizet later turned into an opera. The story takes place in nineteenth-century Sevilla and it revolves around the tragic love story between Carmen and a high officer of the army, Don José, who ends up murdering her[14]. Although several different versions of this story have been put on stage — two of them choreographed by people Aída had worked with before — the show intended to break away from these past versions and provide the character with a new authenticity. According to Aída Gómez, “the most important thing was to bring something new into it [the character], to create a new vision which, without disdain for the past, the plot, or our tradition, manages to create the idea of a modernized Carmen who understands the problems of women today, which [...] in many regards are timeless”. On top of José Antonio Rodríguez's music, the show had twenty dancers on stage, a very simple set design, and the script told the story as a flashback in order to give it a feminine perspective.[15]
In 2008, her show Permíteme Bailarte ('Allow me to dance with you') premiered at Teatro Albéniz in Madrid. It reinterprets the traditional bolero, a type of dance that developed in Andalusia during the 18th century as a result of a mixture between traditional dances as well as more professional, complex, and baroque dances.[16] Permíteme Bailarte is influenced by music from different styles and periods because Gómez wanted to prove that the bolero is “something beautiful and vital to our culture”[17] and that it can be adapted to any other musical style.
In 2010, Aída Gómez worked together with filmmaker Bigas Luna to create a new choreography for the Spanish Pavilion at the Expo 2010 Shangai China, where she received the La Barraca Award from Menéndez Pelayo International University.[2] By the end of that year she also took part in a gala supervised by Spanish director Emilio Sagi at Teatro Real in Madrid. The show was broadcasted live all around Europe through TV channels ARTE and Channel 2 from the Spanish television. Other artists who took part in this gala include soprano María Bayo, tenor Ismael Jordi, guitar player Juan Manuel Cañizares, and Antonio Gades along with his dance company.[18]
Recent Works[edit]
In 2012 Aída Gómez worked with Suma Flamenca as well as guitar player Juan Parrilla and released a new show, Adalí. With this new project she intended to provide the audience with her own point of view regarding Spanish dance. She defined her way of dancing as a type of Spanish dance that includes all of the different versions and branches of flamenco. She believes both flamenco and art play a key role in Spanish cultural heritage, and wished to express this idea in Adalí — which means Madrid in the caló language. Gómez combined her theatrical, dancing, and creative writing skills, and collaborated with dancers like Christian Lozano and Eduardo Guerrero to create a unique show.[19]
In 2015, she worked on a new show called Madrid en Danza ('Madrid through Dance') along with eighteen different international dance companies from the United States, France, Germany and Japan such as Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company and Japanese companies OrganWorks and MatchAtria. They performed in Madrid as well as in other theaters around the region like San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Centro Cultural La Cabrera. Other Spanish artistic creators, like Pablo Esbert Lilienfeld, were also part of the show.[20]
In 2016 she joined Miguel Narros — as well as dancer Antonio Canales and singer Estrella Morente — in Narros' flamenco-style adaptation of Aristophanes’ comedy Lysistrata which he renamed La guerra de las mujeres ('The war of women'). She took upon the role of the narrator and told the story of a group of women who decide to go on a sexual strike in order to stop their husbands from going to war. The show debuted at the Roman Theater in Mérida and was greatly acclaimed.[21]
Awards[edit]
1997. Max Award for Best Dancer. Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers Foundation.
2000. Silver medal. Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico.
2004. National Dance Award (Performance). Spanish Ministry of Culture.
2005. Woman of the Year Award. Glamour magazine.
2006. Zapatillas de Plata Award. City Council of Almería and Indanza.
2007. Chivas Telón Award for Best Performer.
2008. Spanish Dance Teachers Association Award, and Culture Award awarded by the Community of Madrid.
2009. Teatro Juan Bravo Award.
2010. La Barraca Award. Menéndez Pelayo International University.
2012. Rojas Award from Teatro Rojas in Toledo, and Primavera Award from Peña Chicote.
2013. Actúa Award. Spanish Society for Management for Artists and Performers.
2015. Gran Cruz de la Orden del Dos de Mayo Award. Community of Madrid. 2017. Gold Medal for Work Merits. Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Compañía de Danza Española Aída Gómez". Redescena. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Aída Gómez - Biografía y premios". aidagomez.es (in español). Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ "Aída Gómez - Revista DeFlamenco.com". Revista DeFlamenco.com (in español). 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 País, Ediciones El (2001-02-18). "Aida Gómez". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
- ↑ "Ballet El tricornio (El sombrero de tres picos) - Danza Ballet". www.danzaballet.com (in español). Retrieved 2018-05-20.
- ↑ flamenco, El arte de vivir el. "AIDA GÓMEZ - BAILAORES/AS - El Arte de Vivir el Flamenco". elartedevivirelflamenco.com. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Aída Gómez — Danza.es". www.danza.es (in español). Retrieved 2018-05-20.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (2001-02-14). "Aída Gómez, destituida al frente del Ballet Nacional por los conflictos laborales". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
- ↑ 20Minutos. "Salomé - El cine en 20minutos.es". 20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in español). Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (2002-11-22). "Saura y Aída Gómez recrean la pasión enferma de Salomé". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (2004-07-13). "Igor Yebra y Aida Gómez bailan al son del rock". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 País, Ediciones El (2005-09-02). "Pilar López, Sara Baras y Aida Gómez recuerdan a Gades". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ "Centro Andaluz de Danza. Aida Gómez". www.juntadeandalucia.es. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ "Aída Gómez - Producciones". aidagomez.es (in español). Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (2006-08-21). "Reportaje | Aída Gómez presenta una versión libertaria de 'Carmen'". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ "Escuela Bolera - Danza Ballet". www.danzaballet.com (in español). Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ País, Ediciones El (2008-05-03). "Reportaje | La transformación de la diva". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ "Gala de fin de año del Teatro Real - Doce Notas". www.docenotas.com (in español). Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ Salas, Roger (2012-06-06). "Una visión contemporánea del baile flamenco". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ Salas, Roger (2015-10-22). "El Madrid en Danza de Aída Gómez". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ↑ EFE (2016-08-05). "Estrella Morente y Antonio Canales, ovación por su 'Lisístrata' flamenca en el Festival de Mérida". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
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