Pepa Montes
Who is Pepa Montes?
Josefa Bastos Otero, “Pepa Montes,” was born in 1954 in Las Cabezas de San Juan, Seville, though she spent her childhood in Dos Hermanas, where she trained at the academy of Juanito Díaz. She began dancing as a child and made her debut at just seven years old in a theater in Los Palacios, later refining her technique with Matilde Coral.
Career
She worked in theater companies alongside Juan Valderrama, Rerre de Los Palacios, Pepe Marchena, Pepe Pinto and Antonio el Sevillano, and was a bailaora for Curro Vélez before forming, in 1981, together with her husband, guitarist Ricardo Miño, the group “Flamenco en Concierto.” She performed at tablaos such as Los Gallos and El Embrujo in Seville, and Los Canasteros of Manolo Caracol in Madrid, and even spent six months in 1981 at the tablao “El Flamenco” in Tokyo, an unusual experience for a Spanish bailaora of her generation.
Style
Her dance is considered one of the great exponents of the classical Sevillian school, marked by highly refined arm and hand work, a direct legacy of the technique she learned from Matilde Coral.
Legacy
In 1975 she won the Premio Juana la Macarrona at the Concurso Nacional de Córdoba, in 1984 the Premio La Malena and in 1985 that of the Cátedra de Flamencología de Jerez, to which were added the Insignia de Oro from the Tertulia Flamenca “El Pozo de las Penas” of Los Palacios, that of the Peña “El Taranto” of Almería, and, in 2003, her appointment as Trianera de Honor. Her son, pianist Pedro Ricardo Miño, has carried on the family’s musical tradition, and she herself has established herself as one of the leading bailaoras of her generation and a distinguished teacher.