Pilar López Júlvez (4 June 1912,

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

– 25 March 2008, Madrid) was a Spanish

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

and

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

(bailaora). Encarnación López Júlvez (1898-1945), known as ''

La Argentinita Encarnación López Júlvez, known as La Argentinita (Buenos Aires, March 3, 1898 – New York, September 24, 1945), was a Spanish-Argentine flamenco dancer (bailaora), choreographer and singer. La Argentinita was considered the highest expr ...

'', was her older sister. Pilar López was admired for her Ballet Español. She had become famous as a

flamenco dance Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

r, among her extensive performance credits: the 1933 flamenco-inspired staging of Falla's ballet

El Amor Brujo ''El amor brujo'' (, "The sorcerer love") is a ballet by Manuel de Falla to a libretto by María de la O Lejárraga García, although for years it was attributed to her husband Gregorio Martínez Sierra. It exists in three versions as well as a p ...

, and the 1952 film ''

Duende A duende is a humanoid figure of folklore, with variations from Iberian, Ibero American, and Filipino cultures, comparable to dwarves, gnomes, or leprechauns. In Spanish ''duende'' originated as a contraction of the phrase or , effectively " ...

y misterio del flamenco''. The 1933 choreography for Falla's ballet, according to Antonio de Triana, was "achieved through a mingling of ideas and improvisations" in which Pilar joined her sister and others its creation. The innovative film had no plot, but featured fourteen segments each focused on a flamenco cante or

palo Palo may refer to: Places * Palo, Argentina, a village in Argentina * Palo, Estonia, village in Meremäe Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Palo, Huesca, municipality in the province of Huesca, Spain * Palo, Iowa, United States, a town located wit ...

. Here Pilar López danced with Alejandro Vega, doing ''la caña''. After her sister's early death, Pilar formed her own flamenco dance company and mounted theatrical shows. She realized a continuing success. Many came to enjoy the well-crafted performances. Yet during this era of ''ópera flamenco'' such shows seemed to direct their attention to audiences unfamiliar with flamenco. Accordingly, this era was also critiqued by some aficionados whose claim was their savoring of the fine points of the art. "Pilar's dancing is feminine and quietly moving". She also possessed a "talent for forming fine male dancers in her company". In the 1940s her dancers on tour included

José Greco José Greco ( Costanzo Greco; December 23, 1918 – December 31, 2000) was an Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer known for popularizing Spanish dance on the stage and screen in America mostly in the 1950s and 1960s. Backgro ...

, before he formed his own company. Later she "strongly influenced the formation of...

Antonio Gades Antonio Esteve Ródenas or Antonio Gades (14 November 1936 – 20 July 2004) was a Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer. He helped to popularise the art form on the international stage. He was born in Elda, Alicante, and was the father o ...

" who, starting at age fifteen, toured with her troupe for eight years. In 1962 he was "appointed the first ''maestro'' and choreographer in the Scala of Milan". Acclaimed through "years of artistic success" Pilar and her husband Tomás Ríos, a musician and composer, resided in Madrid where they later retired.Ríos Vargas, ''Antología del Baile Flamenco'' (c. 2001), p. 197 (her star dancers; her Madrid home, Tomás Ríos).

Notes

External links

"Muere a los 95 años la bailarina Pilar López"
(obituary) by Antonio Gades, ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'', 25 March 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Julvez, Pilar Spanish choreographers Spanish female dancers Flamenco dancers 1912 births 2008 deaths People from San Sebastián Basque artists