Joaquín Grilo
Who is Joaquín Grilo?
Joaquín Grilo Mateos was born on 20 July 1968 in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz. He started dancing with Cristóbal el Jerezano and, from 1981, moved on to the dance studio of Fernando Belmonte and Paco del Río, where he became lead dancer of Ballet Albarizuela, the company created by both teachers, with whom he stayed until 1988.
Career
With Ballet Albarizuela he toured France, England, Switzerland, Morocco, Israel and Japan, as well as performing on television in Italy, Germany and the United States; his first international tour took him, at just thirteen, to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 1983. In 1986 he performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the following year at the Reales Alcázares in Seville before the King and Queen of Spain and the Queen of England. Between 1990 and 1991 he was soloist of the Compañía Teatro Ballet Español, and in 1998 he headlined a full month of performances at the Peacock Theatre in London. He collaborated with artists such as Lola Flores, Antonio Canales, Joaquín Cortés, Vicente Amigo, Paco de Lucía and pianist Chano Domínguez, who came to use his footwork as if it were a percussion instrument. In October 1999 he founded his own company, debuting with “Jácara,” a show centered on the most primal palos of flamenco.
Awards and style
Throughout the 1980s he gathered several honors that confirmed his early promise: the “Juana la Macarrona” honorable mention at the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba in 1986, the dance prize of the television program “Gente Joven” in 1987 — with a jury that included El Güito and José Antonio — and the first “Vicente Escudero” prize at the Concurso Nacional de Córdoba in 1989. His dancing is marked by strong technical and artistic rigor, with his own productions such as “Apoteosis Flamenca” (1996) and “Samaruco” combining tradition and stage demand.