Pastora Imperio
Who is Pastora Imperio?
Pastora Rojas Monje, known artistically as Pastora Imperio, was born in Seville in 1889, daughter of the bullfighting tailor Víctor Rojas and Rosario Monje “La Mejorana,” a highly reputed bailaora from Cádiz. Her mother did not want to teach her the craft personally, so Pastora trained at the academy of Isabel Santos, where, still very young, she already stood out with a dance of strong dramatic and expressive weight, very characteristic of the Andalusian style of the time.
Career
Her debut at the Salón Imperial in Seville in 1912 was a resounding success that launched her to fame throughout Spain. Shortly afterward she became the muse of Manuel de Falla, who drew on her for the composition of “El amor brujo,” premiered in 1915 at the Teatro Lara in Madrid, and she also won the admiration of writers such as Benavente, Azorín and Pío Baroja, associated with the Generación del 98. Her presence transcended popular stages to reach aristocratic audiences and royalty itself.
In 1911 she married the bullfighter Rafael “El Gallo,” a marriage that lasted barely a year and from which she later divorced, already in the years of the Republic, a gesture of independence unusual for a woman of her time. She had a daughter, Rosario, whose father was the infante Fernando de Borbón, although the paternity was never publicly acknowledged; in time, her descendants would include the actress Pastora Vega, her granddaughter.
Style
Her dance was characterized by dramatic power and an expressive capacity that many contemporaries described almost as a form of bodily theater, always accompanied by guitar and by quality cante that reinforced the intensity of each performance.
Legacy
She died in Madrid in 1979, leaving a profound mark as a pioneer of flamenco dance understood as total art, and as a reference point in the assertion of women’s role on the stages of her time.