Mario Maya
Who is Mario Maya?
Mario Maya Fajardo was born in 1937 in Córdoba, though he grew up from childhood in Granada, where he began dancing for tourists in the caves of the Sacromonte. His talent caught the attention of the English painter Josette Jones, who painted his portrait and funded, with two hundred thousand pesetas, his first studies in Madrid, where in 1955 he spent a brief spell at the El Estampío academy and frequented the flamenco scene of the Colmao Villa Rosa.
Career
Between 1956 and 1958 he was part of the Ballet de Pilar López, with which he toured internationally, and he also performed at the Zambra tablao alongside artists such as Rosa Durán and Pericón de Cádiz. In 1959 he joined the Corral de la Morería in Madrid and also worked at Torres Bermejas; from 1965 he lived in New York, under contract with the Columbia Artist Management agency, which opened the door to an intense American tour through Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Brazil. He formed artistic partnerships with La Chunga, María Baena and Carmen Mora, and together with the latter and El Güito he formed the Trío Madrid.
He was the great renovator of contemporary theatrical flamenco with productions such as “Ceremonial” (1974, with text by Juan de Loxa), “Camelamos naquerar” (1976, based on texts by José Heredia Maya), which toured with enormous impact across Spain and abroad, and “¡Ay! Jondo” (1977), presented at Sadler’s Wells in London. That period was followed by other choreographic works such as “Amargo” (1980), inspired by Federico García Lorca, and “El amor brujo” (1987).
Style
He developed a deliberately cold, unsensual gitano style in his choreographic approach, far from easy ornamentation: technically impeccable, unhurried footwork, placed in service of an interpretation of deep dramatic weight that prioritized stage dignity and rigor over showing off.
Legacy
Among many other honors, he received the Premio Pastora Imperio for bulerías and the Premio Juana la Macarrona for alegrías at the 1977 Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba, the Premio Nacional de Baile from the Cátedra de Flamencología de Jerez that same year, the Giraldillo del Baile at the II Bienal de Arte Flamenco de Sevilla in 1980, and the Medalla de Oro de Andalucía in 1986. In 1983 he founded the Centro de Actividades Mario Maya in Seville, and he directed the Centro Flamenco de Estudios Escénicos in Carmona until the end of his life. He died in Seville on September 27, 2008, after a long illness, leaving a decisive mark on the modernization of theatrical flamenco.