Manuela Carrasco
Who is Manuela Carrasco?
Manuela Carrasco Salazar was born in 1954 in the Seville neighborhood of Triana, daughter of the bailaor José Carrasco “El Sordo” and related on her mother’s side to the Camborios family. She grew up in a gitano environment steeped in flamenco art, and trained in a self-taught way, absorbing compás and movement from childhood without going through formal academies.
She made her professional debut very young, at eleven, at the El Jaleo tablao in Torremolinos, and shortly after spent a season performing at La Cochera in Seville. At thirteen she embarked on a two-year European tour with the bailaor Curro Vélez, a formative experience that seasoned her on stage even before she came of age.
Career
Her career took root at leading tablaos such as Los Gallos in Seville and Los Canasteros in Madrid, the latter under the wing of Manolo Caracol. In 1976 she performed alongside Camarón de la Isla in the show “Gitano” at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid, and in the following decade she took her art beyond Spain: in 1981 she appeared at the Teatro Olimpico in Rome, and in 1986 she starred in “Flamenco puro” in New York before the Queen of Spain. Over the years she has shared the bill with cantaores and guitarists such as El Lebrijano, Juan Habichuela, Fernanda de Utrera and El Farruco, and is married to the guitarist Joaquín Amador.
Style
Her dancing is defined by serenity and restraint: clean, precise footwork, executed without unnecessary flourishes, rooted in the most traditional core of flamenco rather than in gratuitous technical display. That expressive sobriety, combined with a natural elegance, is the hallmark that has set her apart since her earliest years on stage.
Legacy
In 1974 she won the bulerías prize at the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba and the Premio Nacional de Danza from the Instituto de Flamencología de Jerez, and the following year she added the Premio Internacional de Baile de San Remo. In the 21st century she received the Premio Nacional de Danza in 2007 and the Medalla de Andalucía in 2008. Critic Ángel Álvarez Caballero compared her to Carmen Amaya and Pastora Imperio, and later bailaoras such as Eva Yerbabuena have pointed to her footwork as a direct source of inspiration.