Seville 24.02.1828 – Villalba del Arcor, Huelva 06.12.1895
The Campanera was the most important dancer and dance teacher in Seville at the time when flamenco dance was being created from the bailes boleros, bailes nacionales, bailes andaluces, bailes del país, bailes de palillos (bolero dances, national dances, Andalusian dances, folk dances, castanet dances). The Boleras and Boleros (Spanish stage dancers) appear in the same performances together with the Gitanas from Triana. They strongly influence each other: the Boleras learn to dance more cheekily and temperamentally, while the Gitanas adopt elegance and technique. Two styles coexist: bailes andaluces or bailes de palillos and bailes gitanos.
She was the daughter of the bell ringer of the Giralda, Juan Álvarez Espejo, hence her stage name ‘La Campanera’ – the bell ringer. Her parents gave her an academic education, but disapproved of her artistic ambitions. She learnt in the dance schools of Miguel and Manuel de la Barrera (incidentally, both dance teachers had the same surname, but there was no relation).
Throughout her life, La Campanera was always looking for new influences that she could combine with tradition. So she danced the bolero dances (stage dances of the time) as well as the first forms of dances that developed into flamenco styles. She was creative, reflective, had an entrepreneurial spirit, was avant-garde and was able to serve the interests of the public of her time very well.
Her sister Encarna had a tailor’s studio and together they developed the costumes for both professional and amateur dancers and thus also determined the stage dancers’ outfits.
At the ‘Academias de Baile’ there were weekly, usually at weekends, so-called ‘ensayos públicos’, public rehearsals in which the dance students showed what they had learnt. During the breaks in these rehearsals, the Campanera and other well-known professional Boleras and Boleros performed.
And since 1853, she has been constantly announced in the press. She performed in the Académias de Baile, the Salones de Baile and the city’s theatres.
And people write about her. The numerous so-called ‘Romantic Travellers’ also report on La Campanera as a ‘Bolera de postín’: elegant and refined.
She is described as a very beautiful woman, tactful, charming and elegant. She dresses according to the ‘moda gitana’ with many bright colours and flounces.
She is also an important teacher. Her most important students:
José Otero Aranda ‘Maestro Otero’ (1860-1934) – Important dancer, teacher, with his own companies on extensive tours worldwide. He danced bailes boleros aflamencados (flamenqué boleros), flamenco estilizado (stylised flamenco dances) and wrote a book: Tratado de bailes, published in Seville in 1912.
Ángel Pericet Carmona (1877-1944) – traditional keeper of the stilised forms of bolero dances with a sophisticated technique and founder of a dynasty of Bolero dancers. The emergence of the so-called Escuela Bolera of the XX century probably goes back to him.
