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Carmen Tórtola Valencia (June 18, 1882 – February 13, 1955) was a Spanish early modern dancer, choreographer, costume designer, and painter, who generally performed barefoot. Tórtola Valencia is said to have been the inspiration for
Victoria and Albert Museum, Retrieved 14 October 2015 In 1911, she made her Spanish debut at the Romea Theatre of Madrid. She was at the
Musical Scores Collection of Tórtola Valencia in the Biblioteca de Catalunya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tortola Valencia, Carmen 1882 births 1955 deaths People from Seville Spanish female dancers LGBT dancers Spanish choreographers Spanish feminists Spanish vedettes Modern dancers Spanish LGBT entertainers Spanish LGBT artists Spanish people of Catalan descent Burials at Poblenou Cemetery
Carmen Tórtola Valencia (June 18, 1882 – February 13, 1955) was a Spanish early modern dancer, choreographer, costume designer, and painter, who generally performed barefoot. Tórtola Valencia is said to have been the inspiration for Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as ''modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
's poem, ''La bailarina de los pies desnudos'' ("The Barefoot Dancer").
Biography
Born inSeville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
to a Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
father (Florenç Tórtola Ferrer, d. 1891) and Andalusian mother (Georgina Valencia Valenzuela, d. 1894), she was three years old when her family emigrated to London. In his book ''Tortola Valencia and Her Times'' (1982), Odelot Sobrac, one of her early biographers, said Tórtola Valencia developed a style that expressed emotion through movement and that she was inspired by Isadora Duncan
Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...
. A member of Generación del 13, her costumes are part of the collection of Centre de Documentació i Museu de les Arts Escèniques. Her Spanish ''modernismo'' style enabled a career as a solo concert dance artist who performed classic, Oriental, and Spanish pieces. She made her debut at the Gaiety Theatre in London (1908), appearing at the Berlin Wintergarten theatre
The Berlin Wintergarten theatre was a large variety theatre in Berlin-Mitte.
It opened in 1887 and was destroyed by bombs during the Second World War.
The Skladanowsky brothers showcased the first short film presentation at the theatre in 189 ...
and the Folies Bergère
The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...
of Paris in the same year. She performed in Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
and London in 1909. One of the people she taught was the Anglo-Indian dancer Olive Craddock aka ''Roshanara''.RoshanaraVictoria and Albert Museum, Retrieved 14 October 2015 In 1911, she made her Spanish debut at the Romea Theatre of Madrid. She was at the
Ateneo de Madrid
The Ateneo de Madrid ("Athenæum of Madrid") is a private cultural institution located in the capital of Spain that was founded in 1835. Its full name is ''Ateneo Científico, Literario y Artístico de Madrid'' ("Scientific, Literary and Artistic ...
in 1913.Pérez (2002), p. 609
The feminist
Tórtola Valencia was also a "pioneer Spanish feminist of the 20th century". Being gay and having leftist ideas, Tórtola Valencia was jailed at the end of theSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. In 1928, she met Magret Angeles-Vila and they were inseparable thereafter. She danced for the last time in 1930 in Quito. She began painting in Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
where she died in 1955 and is buried at Poblenou Cemetery
Poblenou Cemetery (Cementerio de Pueblo Nuevo in Spanish, Cementiri de Poblenou in Catalan) is located in the neighbourhood of the same name in Barcelona. It is also called East Cemetery (Cementiri de l'Est) or General Cemetery (Cementiri Gener ...
.
Papers and possessions
Tórtola's collection of musical scores is preserved in theBiblioteca de Catalunya
The Library of Catalonia ( ca, Biblioteca de Catalunya, ) is the Catalan national library, located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The primary mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalan bibliographic producti ...
.
Her personal papers and dress collection are preserved in the Centre de Documentació i Museu de les Arts Escèniques in Barcelona.
References
*Carlota Caulfield, "Carmen Tortola Valencia (1882 - 1955)", ''Corner'', Vol. 2 (Spring 1999). *María Pilar Queralt del Hierro, ''Tortola Valencia, a woman in the shadows'', Barcelona, Editorial Lumen, 2005.Further reading
*External links
Musical Scores Collection of Tórtola Valencia in the Biblioteca de Catalunya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tortola Valencia, Carmen 1882 births 1955 deaths People from Seville Spanish female dancers LGBT dancers Spanish choreographers Spanish feminists Spanish vedettes Modern dancers Spanish LGBT entertainers Spanish LGBT artists Spanish people of Catalan descent Burials at Poblenou Cemetery