Cristina Hoyos
Who is Cristina Hoyos?
Cristina Hoyos Panadero was born on June 13, 1946 in Seville. She began dancing at twelve and made her debut in the Spanish pavilion of the 1964 New York World’s Fair; she then worked in Sevillian tablaos and toured the United States with Manuela Vargas’s company, an experience that proved decisive before her great professional leap. Her technique was forged alongside masters such as Farruco, Pastora Imperio and Manuela Vargas herself, though it was her long artistic relationship with Antonio Gades that defined the course of her career.
Career
Between 1969 and 1988 she was principal dancer of Gades’s company, touring the world with him for nearly twenty years and starring, between 1978 and 1985, in the three films Carlos Saura devoted to Spanish dance: “Bodas de sangre”, “Carmen” and “El amor brujo”. She also worked frequently with stage director José Carlos Plaza. After parting artistic ways with Gades in 1989 she formed her own company, and later drove the creation of the Museo del Baile Flamenco de Sevilla, a pioneer worldwide in combining exhibition, stage and dance school; in 2004 she also took on the artistic direction of the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía. She has also directed and choreographed productions based on the work of Lorca, such as “Yerma”, “Romancero gitano” and “Poema del cante jondo”, and appeared in film and television with titles such as “Torero” (1999), “Montoyas y Tarantos” (1989) and the series “Juncal” (1987).
Style
She is recognized for a refined technique, a very personal handling of the arms and an exceptional ability to convey intense emotion on stage, qualities that made her one of the most influential dancers in contemporary Spanish dance.
Legacy
In December 1996 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, an experience she faced with determination —she preferred to say she had “had surgery for cancer” rather than consider herself ill— and which she later shared in the book “¡Ánimo p’alante!” to encourage other patients. She has been honored with the Premio Nacional de Danza (1990), the Medalla de Oro de las Bellas Artes (1992), the Premio Andalucía de la Cultura de Danza (1997), the title of Personalidad Española del Año (1997) and appointment as Chevalier of France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1997), among many other honors, and continues to pass on her legacy to new generations of bailaoras.