Mariquilla
Who is Mariquilla?
María Guardia Gómez, “Mariquilla”, was born in 1943 in the Sacromonte of Granada, the gitano neighborhood of caves where the Granada zambra is part of everyday life. She began dancing at six and soon stood out for an overwhelming stage presence that contrasted with her short stature. Her talent did not go unnoticed: the cantaor Manolo Caracol took notice of her and brought her to Madrid to perform at the Canasteros tablao, a leap that marked the beginning of her reach beyond Granada.
Career
For twenty years she ran the “El Jaleo” tablao in Torremolinos, through which passed some of the most important flamenco figures of the era, and with her own company she toured half the world over another two decades. At the same time she developed an intense calling for teaching: she ran a dance school in Madrid, opened her own academy in Granada, taught classes in the flamenco dance department of the University of Granada, and in 1982 founded the Escuela Flamenca Mariquilla, considered one of the first in Spain to systematize the teaching of dance. In time she also came to head the Cátedra de Flamencología.
Style and legacy
Critic Romualdo Molina once said of her that she was “more famous outside Spain than within it,” referring to an international reach that was not always matched by recognition at home. Her students include top-tier names such as Eva Yerbabuena, Fuensanta “La Moneta” and her own daughter, Tatiana Garrido, making her school one of the most influential training grounds in contemporary Granada dance. In 1998 she was named an honorary member of the Peña La Platería in Granada, and in 2007 she was honored at the Festival Nacional de Cante Flamenco Ciudad de Jumilla, recognitions of a career built in equal parts on stage and in the classroom.