Joaquín Cortés
Of gypsy
blood, he was born in Cordoba in 1969 and at the age of twelve he moved
to Madrid where he began his dance training. He joined the Spanish National
Ballet when he was fifteen and quickly rose to the ranks of solo artist.
Joaquín toured all over the world with this company, performing
in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and the Kremlin's
Congress Palace in Moscow.
After leaving the National Ballet, he took part in a number of gala
performances alongside such great figures as Maya Plisetskaya, Silvie
Guillen, Pere Schauffus, Marie-Claude Pietragalla and Julio Bocca and
collaborated in several different companies and shows as guest artist
or choreographer. These works include the choreography for Carmen at
the Arena in Verona, his participation in the Summer Flamenco Festival
of Tokyo, in various performances at the New York Lincoln Centre, his
participation in the classical Don Quijote with the Caracas Ballet.
After performing at the Champs-Elysée Theatre in Paris in 1992,
he created his own company, the Joaquín Cortés Flamenco
Ballet. His first show, Cibayí, toured throughout Spain and traveled
to Japan, France, Italy, Venezuela and The United States.
Pedro Almodóvar cast him in his first film role in La flor de
mi secreto ("The Flower of My Secret"). Later, Joaquín
repeated the experience in Carlos Saura's Flamenco, in which he shared
the screen with Spain's top flamenco artists.
His second creation, Pasión gitana ("Gypsy Passion"),
opened in 1995, with the participation of Giorgio Armani designing
the wardrobe, the show has run all over Spain, showing in bullrings.
Pasión gitana has also been a success in Europe. It was the first
dance show to have closed the prestigious Spoleto Festival (Italy) in
its forty eight years of existence and more than five thousand people
went to his performance in the Forum of Milan.
In 1996 he did his first tour of USA where he presented, among other
places in the Radio City Music Hall in New York (he was the first
Spanish dancer to perform there with his own show), and in the Universal
Amphitheatre of Los Angeles.
In 1997 Joaquín launched a CD with his own band, the Gipsy Passion
Band, on which he composes and directs the music and collaborates on
percussion. The CD contains music from the show as well as new arrangements.
After creating new choreographies for Pasión gitana in 1997,
the show continued touring Latin America and has most recently had success
in 1998 in the Sydney Festival, Tokyo, Canada and New York.
