Joaquín Cortés returns with 'Esencia': "I, in New York, am like Madonna"

After six years of absence in Spain, the dancer returns in style and will perform his show 'Esencia' on March 14 at the Teatro Real, on March 17 in Seville and on April 2 at the Kursaal in San Sebastián.

Before Rosalía and C. Tangana, this universal gypsy already dressed in a skirt and

.

You had not landed on Spanish stages for a long time.

What was this absence due to? I represented

in Madrid and Barcelona.

But when I had my first son Romeo in 2018, I promised myself that I was going to stop dancing so I could have a gap year and take care of him.

A year later I made the world premiere of the piece in Athens in front of 12,000 people.

He had a world tour scheduled and the pandemic hit.

And everything stopped.

The world is paralyzed and I can't do the world tour.

And I say: well, instead of a sabbatical year, I take two.

So, we have Leone, my second son.

Last year I could have worked, but I wanted to be with my child.

But I've been dancing all my life, that is, I've danced more than I've lived, so I had to go back. Your body asks you to.

I watch a video and suddenly my legs are shaking because they are telling me: "Hey, man, dance, you get on a stage."

We are going to do some concerts in Spain and, later,

we are going all over the Americas, then to Europe and, next year, Asia and the Middle East.

When I do a world tour, I do it for real, not like these artists who go to Miami one day, come back and the tour is over.

How many countries do you visit?80.

Before, the only one who traveled the world was Julio Iglesias.

I have arrived in Kazakhstan and they told me that he was the second Spaniard to arrive here because Julio Iglesias had been there the previous year.

Julio is always ahead of me, but he is also older than me.

Are you taking the kids? It depends.

I'll take them with me at some point because I want them to suck on the artist's life, the flamenco and gypsy life.

But there will be times when you can't because so many flights in a row are a beating for children.

But look at what you said about taking a gap year to be with your son and reconcile, something rare in men.

There are very few artists who do, if not almost none.

I am a great father.

Yes, and I'm a gypsy, who often calls you macho for the mere fact of being a gypsy.

I adore my children, I change diapers, I feed them, I bathe them and I sleep with them.

What is the essence of Joaquín Cortés?

He is a man who has spent his whole life dancing, with freedom and believing in a world without borders.

He now makes me very funny when people talk about fusion.

30 years ago I was fusion and they criticized me and today it is what is fashionable.

So I have to laugh.

Joaquín is a boy who dreamed of flying and who was passionate about dance, music and art. Do you feel valued enough in this country?

No, but we're not even close.

In the most important list in the world of dance they say that I am the most important living artist.

And I say no because Baryshnikov is still alive.

There are already seven dead and three remain alive.

And the only Spaniard on that list is me.

Are you a rebel with a cause? Yes, I have changed the history of dance in this country at the age of 20.

I filled bullrings and football stadiums and they told me I was crazy. Why do we appreciate flamenco so little in this country? I don't understand it.

I hold a press conference at the Teatro Real, which I am going to do and, with luck, 20 media outlets come.

If I do it in New York, 300 media come and treat me like a star.

I, in New York, am like Madonna, who is a friend of mine.

But how sad that they don't value an artist who is the greatest exponent of flamenco in history, above the two dead already like Camarón and Paco.

I am the one who has taken flamenco the furthest around the world.

How do you combine technique with passion? Technique is studied with a lot of discipline.

The person who introduced me to the world of ballet was my uncle Cristóbal Reyes, who told me that to dance I had to be well prepared.

I have studied classical ballet and I was very disciplined. How many hours did you rehearse? 12 hours a day.

It started at 10:00 a.m. and ended at 10:00 p.m.

From the age of 12, already as a professional, to almost 20. It is very difficult to keep up with that pace.

Crazy because she had a passion for ballet.

If you have a passion for what you do, it becomes the center of your life.

Why Messi or Cristiano have reached where they have arrived?

Because they slept with a balloon.

I slept almost with my boots on, dancing.

I would get home at 10:00 p.m., I would tap my heels and my maternal grandmother would ask me to stop because of the neighbors.

I have read a definition: dance can be the best of mothers and the worst of stepmothers. I don't like it at all.

I don't know whose it is.

By Antonio Canales.

Well, it seems a bit tacky to me.

I'm sorry because I've shared a lot with Canales, but I don't know what I was thinking at that moment.

Dance?

No, the dance is wonderful.

What happens is that dance means a very sacrificed life because dancing is a very tough discipline. That's what he meant by the stepmother.

I don't agree with him, because if you really have a passion for dancing, you don't care how many hours you put in.

Antonio Carmona affirmed that this country is like clay pigeon shooting: the higher you go, the more they want to shoot to hit you.

Tell me that at the age of 22 I was on CNN, the BBC, on all the news in the world going out at full speed and I came to Spain and they criticized me.

What were the criticisms that hurt you the most? Criticism has to be constructive.

What I do not admit is when they do not mess with the work, but with the character.

Let's see, forget about me.

I live in the

and I'm a

world-renowned

Criticize about the work, not about the character.

In the end, I am not only a dancer but also a choreographer, a director and a producer.

And

It continues to be the most viewed Spanish work in the world and has not been surpassed by anyone in 30 years.

What have you been a pioneer in? I have broken everything.

What I have done has not been done by any dancer in the history of Spain.

At the age of 22 I put on a totally different lighting from what they were used to seeing in Spanish dance.

I put on a rock and roll light and they told me I was crazy.

I brought the best fashion designers in history like Giorgio Armani or John Paul Gaultier, who are friends of mine.

I would put on a bata de cola paying homage to deep Spain.

He came out with a skirt and a naked torso.

I was one of the most criticized in history. The skirt for men is now in fashion.

Now everyone wears a skirt, we all want to be trans... The flamenco world used to say: "But, a man with a skirt? Where are we going to end up?" In your case,

Perhaps the character could with the dancer. But not for me because I never entered a media circus.

What happens is that being so famous and relating to the great figures of the world, dancing with Michael Jackson, acting with Jennifer López and having mega-famous girlfriends worldwide, the press took me out.

But not because I wanted to go out there.

I have always been a person who is very focused on my work and on doing my best on stage. And what remains of your fame as a ladyboy? Life is stages.

With age we gain in many things and lose in others.

The most important thing is to bring that child that I carry inside.

I am a man who has lived a lot in every way.

And I also thank God because the best gift of my life are those two creatures that have made me even more tender than I already was.

Has a manager cheated you? A lot, but not me, but all the artists.

A manager has to earn money, but he cannot earn more than the artist or steal from him.

And that happens?

Do they earn more than the artist? Most of the time.

Have you suffered financial hardships? Never until the age of 52.

I have lived like a king, not to say more than a king.

And I come from a very well-off middle class because in my house we ate pata negra ham every day.

Until, suddenly, I become a mega star and make my family live on another level.

But in recent times I have noticed difficulties.

Why? We gypsies live very up to date.

I did not know how to control the issue of the pandemic.

I have endured, but I lost a lot of money by canceling the world tour due to Covid.

Well, I've been a bit rushed...

But you know what?

I have learned a very big lesson because I never lived that lesson.

I have helped many people, who in difficult times have asked me for money and I have known how to give it.

I am a generous person. Did you get your money back? No.

When you're in a hurry, then no one shows up.

You had problems with the Portuguese Justice.

That is already fixed.

I'm talking about those moments when you feel a little rushed and think: "They owe me half a million euros over there, 200,000 over there and 100,000 over there."

But nobody pays you and you have to pay and continue living.

So, you say: "Oysters, the bull caught me. It can't be."

And more when you are already the father of two children.

I am also very glad that it happened to me because it has opened the eyes of many people around me. Have you screened? Well,

the sieve that I have made is criminal.

In other words, I have cleaned 95% of the people. How much? I have given a lot of money to a lot of people, but because I have earned a lot.

So, if someone close to me came and told me that they had a problem.

I would lend him a loan and tell him: "You'll give it to me."

It is an experience that has made me grow as a person. Is there still a lot of discrimination against the gypsies? Yes, yes.

What happens is that this is like everything: if you are poor, there is discrimination and if you are rich, you are a lord.

In the end, when they talk about racism or discrimination, it is because of a social class issue.

If you are a gypsy walking down the street starving, they don't look at you.

But if you get out of a Porsche or a Ferrari, you are the king of the mambo.

That happens here, in America and everywhere. Have you experienced it? Not me because I became very famous very young,

but gypsy friends of mine who did suffer from that racism and were not allowed to enter a venue.

And then I said that they came with me and passed by.

The other day you criticized Paula Echevarría for using the expression: "Do not compare God with a gypsy" It seems derogatory to me, whether it is Paula Echevarría or the President of the Government.

Right now you see a macho guy saying such a thing and you tell him: "Man, this doesn't stick. We are in the 21st century."

It seems wrong to me because it is as if I were speaking contemptuously of whites or non-natives.

That little phrase is already superfluous. You are a perfectionist.

What are you like as a boss? Since I had children I am more sensitive and I don't like that, because before it was harder.

I'm getting soft on the kids.

Look, when I was 14 years old I was in the National Ballet and they called Antonio Gades to put on

.

People trembled when they saw him, they needed to cry. Did you work with him? Carlos Saura, who just died, called me one day to act in his film

.

And I answered him: «Look, you know the only illusion I have is that Antonio Gades dances with me».

And he answered me: «Well, look, I'm going to give you some news.

I have spoken with Antonio Gades and he has told me that, if you are in the film, he does not dance ». Why?

Jealousy, envy? I don't know.

He was a myth.

I was starting, but I was already a star and the relay was starting.

All my illusion was to have done something with him.

A one-on-one that would have been recorded in the cinema. What is it like to act in Madrid with the good moment that the city is currently going through? Madrid has taken away a lot of prominence from Barcelona.

Politicians have destroyed the commercial part of Barcelona.

Madrid has become one of the most important cities in Europe and the world.

We are not so far from London or Paris anymore.

Let's hope the politicians don't kill it.

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• Articles Ana del Barrio