Antonio Gades

Who was Antonio Gades?

Antonio Gades was a Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer. He helped to popularise the art form on the international stage. His most notable works included dance adaptations of Prosper Merimée's Carmen and Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding, as well as a feature-length adaptation of Manuel de Falla's 23-minute ballet El Amor Brujo. In the 1990s, he toured the world with his show Fuenteovejuna, based on Lope de Vega's play of the same name. He collaborated closely with the Spanish director Carlos Saura in the filming of these adaptations, and also with Cristina Hoyos, one of the most prolific contemporary female flamenco dancers.

Gades also co-founded and became the artistic director of the Spanish National Ballet in 1978. He died in Madrid after suffering from cancer for a long time. About six weeks before his death, he had been decorated with the "Order of José Marti", one of the highest honors of Cuba, by the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in Havana, Cuba. In 2004 his ashes were interred at the Mausoleum of the Frank País Second Eastern Front, a memorial cemetery in Santiago de Cuba.