Antonio "El Bailarín"
Who is Antonio “El Bailarín”?
Antonio Ruiz Soler, known as Antonio “El Bailarín”, was born in Seville on November 4, 1921 and began training at the age of six with maestro Realito in bailes de palillos, later completing his flamenco technique under maestros Otero and Pericet, and specializing under Frasquillo. He made his professional debut in 1928, at just seven years old, at the Teatro Duque in Seville, and very soon formed an artistic partnership with the girl Rosario, giving rise to the duo “Los Chavalillos Sevillanos”, which stayed together for twenty-two years until their split in 1952.
Career
The duo undertook a long American tour that began in Argentina in 1937 and continued through Chile, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and the United States, where they performed at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, before returning to Spain in 1949 and also opening themselves up to European stages. In 1953 he founded his own company, “Antonio Ballet Español”, and later led “Antonio y sus Ballets de Madrid”; between 1980 and 1983 he headed the Ballet Nacional Español.
He choreographed and premiered landmark works such as “El sombrero de tres picos” and “El amor brujo”, both set to music by Manuel de Falla, fusing flamenco with classical Spanish dance and theatrical ballet. His filmography spanned several decades, including titles such as “Duende y misterio del flamenco” and a new version of “El amor brujo” in 1973.
Legacy
He received the Cruz de Isabel la Católica in 1950, the UNESCO Medal of Honor in 1963 and the French Legion of Honor in 1971, along with numerous gold medals from dance academies in various countries. He retired from the stage in 1979 in Sapporo, Japan, and died in Madrid on February 5, 1998, leaving behind one of the most international and acclaimed careers in twentieth-century Spanish dance.