Antonio el Pipa
Who is Antonio el Pipa?
Antonio Ríos Fernández, Antonio el Pipa, was born in 1971 in the Santiago neighborhood of Jerez de la Frontera, into a prominent gitano flamenco family: his grandmother was the bailaora Tía Juana la del Pipa, and his father, also a bailaor, already carried the same stage name that he would inherit. He trained entirely within that family environment, and specialized in the traditional palos of Jerez-style dance, such as alegrías, bulerías, soleá, tientos, petenera and caña.
Career
Throughout his career he has collaborated with figures such as Cristina Hoyos —with whom he took part in her production of “Yerma”—, La Tati, Lola Flores, Antonio Vargas and tenor José Carreras in an operatic adaptation of “Carmen”, as well as working alongside José Mercé, Tomatito, Manuela Carrasco, Carmen Linares and Matilde Coral. In 1995 he won the Juana la Macarrona award for alegrías and the Paco Laberinto award for bulerías at the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba, and in February 1997 he founded his own company, with which he has premiered shows such as “Vivencias” (1997, dedicated to his grandmother Tía Juana la del Pipa), “Generaciones” (1999), “Puntales” (2000), “Pasión y Ley” (2004) and “Puertas Adentro” (2007). His company has brought these productions to international stages such as New York’s City Center in 2007 and the Irvine Barclay Theater in Los Angeles in 2008, and has also taken part in the documentary “Gypsy Caravan”.
Style
His dancing is rooted in the most traditional Jerez gitano school, with particular mastery of cantes de trilla, romances, pregones and tonás as well as the festive and jondo palos native to his region, a broad repertoire that combines technical rigor with a strong family imprint.
Legacy
Among other honors, he has received the Copa Teatro Pavón from Madrid’s Círculo de Bellas Artes as breakthrough artist of 1997, the Premio Nacional de la Crítica Española in 1998 and the Palma de Plata de Algeciras in 2015. Critics today consider him a worthy successor to Antonio Gades, Mario Maya and El Güito, and one of the great bailaores of the current flamenco scene.