María del Mar Moreno
Who is María del Mar Moreno?
María del Mar Moreno Benítez was born in 1973 in Jerez de la Frontera, cradle of one of flamenco’s most respected dance schools. She trained first with Angelita Gómez and later with masters of the caliber of Matilde Coral, Rafael “El Negro” and Mario Maya, without abandoning parallel training in theater, classical ballet and piano. To that artistic education she added university studies in Hispanic Philology, an unusual combination among the bailaoras of her generation that partly explains her reflective way of understanding and explaining dance.
Career
Her professional career began as principal dancer with the company of Manuel Morao y Gitanos de Jerez, where she was steeped in the most orthodox dance of the Jerez school. She was also a guest artist with the guitarist Paco Cepero and artistic partner of Antonio El Pipa, and took part in larger-scale productions such as the “Carmen” at the Teatro Villamarta in 2006. With her own company she has produced and premiered shows such as “Momentitos de locura” (2001), “Septiembre” (2003), “Dime que me quieres” (2003), “María, María” (2007) and “Jerez Puro Esencia”, the latter presented at the IX Festival de Jerez in 2005 and centered on palos such as tientos, alegrías and bulerías.
Style
Moreno presents herself as a bailaora faithful to the purest Jerez school, heir to bulerías dance and to a way of understanding compás tied to the gitano tradition of Jerez, though without giving up a contemporary stage language. Her training in classical dance and theater shows in the construction of her shows, but the core of her dance remains the orthodoxy of Jerez footwork and arm movement.
Legacy
She has been recognized with the award of the Cátedra de Flamencología de Jerez and with the audience award at the Festival de Jerez in 2005 for “Jerez Puro Esencia”. Besides her career on stage, she runs her own academy in Jerez and has developed the traveling program “Jerez Puro”, through which she trains bailaores abroad who are interested in learning the Jerez school from its source, establishing herself as one of the leading transmitters of that style outside Spain.