“Those who lacked emotional and spiritual education have been greatly affected by the pandemic,” says the dancer.
He is the National Dance Prize (2020) and Prix Benois de la Danse 2021 (as well as being considered the best dancer in the world). But above all, Jesus Carmona (Badalona, 1985) He is a free and honest man, emotion and spirit. Fiercely committed to his passion and to his two children. At the age of 7 he started dancing flamenco in a rock and from there he reached heaven. Visit Barcelona on the 20th with Dance of Beasts, backed by two Max awards, for show and best performer. He explains to us how to free ourselves from monsters/fears to be better.
For years he wondered what kind of dancer he wanted to be, until he became unclassifiable?
I don’t know if it is unclassifiable, but it is free and conscious. Until a few years ago I danced to be liked, in search of approval that I now know was limiting me. I have found a place of comfort in which I will surely be for a short time, but I am very happy.
Classic, contemporary, Flemishrap, tap dancing, what else do you have left to merge?
I do not work from that intention, but I let my dance become intoxicated with different energies; It is an organic process, the work has needs that are above the creator himself. In this show, for example, I let myself be immersed in the Japanese ritual of Butoh.
And so he put all his fears and monsters to dance in a cathartic choreography. Has anyone resisted him or is everyone already out?
New ones have come. Everything I felt at that moment is present, in microparticles, there is a lot of personal belonging to the two of us (in reference to Manu Masaedo, the musician who accompanies him), because this is a pas de deux. This show has helped me understand that pain is part of our lives and that it can be beautiful if one learns to dance with it. It is a creative process of growth, a cure that turns fear into light and expression.
It happened during the pandemic: They are the monsters of that dystopia that turned out to be real. But there are many who could not face the fear, and went crazy. Do you agree that part of society has been burdened?
Yes, it has been a very difficult life process, and those who lacked emotional and spiritual education have been greatly affected. Part of society has been affected, it is true. I refused to understand this work as post-pandemic, but I finally had to accept it.
In his work The jump (2020) questioned what masculinity to instill in his newborn son. So, what is that ideal masculinity of the 21st century?
What I understood with that work is where I came from and how to create firewalls so as not to transfer the family patterns that I received to my son; that is, emotional castration. The male gender needs to work on their emotions. I am educating my son so that he is not afraid of his emotions and is a free man, we educate him in equity and equality; I tell him, “Honey, you can cry as long as you want,” and my son doesn’t blush when he hugs other children, like I do with men.
I am educating my son so that he is not afraid of his emotions and is a free man, we educate him in equity and equality
He argues that it is important for men to show their vulnerability, because what happens when they swallow it?
It turns out that it is not you, but a lower version of yourself. Vulnerability gives you power, because you take it by your hand.
And yours, Jesus, what is your greatest vulnerability?
I have many, but obviously the largest are my children.
He learned to curve like women, compared to the dancer’s rectitude, and this – he says – changed his way of dancing. Did her way of being and being also embrace femininity, the curved line?
Look at the position of my legs (he crosses them, right over left, bringing his calves together, and the truth is that the gesture itself breaks a learned pattern). The body has a very long and beautiful alphabet that is the one used by dancers, for us teachers they limited our movement to a decalogue: you have no hips, don’t move your hands, don’t curve… But I learned that all this is not linked to your sexuality, but to your energy, and that we are all duals, which has nothing to do with who you sleep with.
And did this discovery change your way of being? I repeat.
Yes, of course, the moment you free yourself from this limitation, which is nothing more than a social pressure, you become freer. No change scares me.
Do you think that today young people are even more sexist What their generation was like or is it simply that they express it without restrictions, such as racism, supremacism, etc.?
We didn’t even give it a name, because we didn’t know it; Now young people express themselves in a much more extreme way.
Have we gone from politically correct to the most absolute incorrectness, to the continuous lack of respect and consideration?
No, I believe that extremism is nothing more than a fad, and it is a minority. There are many young people who fight for everyone’s rights, and luckily I think they are a majority.
Jesus, what did your father tell you when you started dancing, when you were 7 years old?
They supported me, they found me a flamenco club which was the only thing they could afford. My father even got up on stage to give presentations, he is a horny guy, the atmosphere was very good and they had a good time. My parents have always been there, supporting us, the five brothers.
And why flamenco, in Badalona?
I have no idea, I just know that there is no flamenco background in my family. I was the one who insisted, flamenco chose me without giving me a choice.
Were your parents charnegos or what did the family know about flamenco?
They didn’t know anything! I was the one who started dancing, when I was very little, every time I heard a song on the radio. My family came from Córdoba, yes, they were people from the countryside, from picking olives and cotton; very poor people, my father was born under an olive tree that my grandmother harvested. At home we never heard flamenco or anything, my father was a cardboard collector and then a beer deliveryman, and my mother was a housewife and if she could she would clean a staircase or do some sewing repair; She is a very upright person who has made me work hard, very critical and not at all vain. They still don’t listen to flamenco and never brag about their son, and after 40 years working in Catalonia they have returned to the town.
At least his mother will have learned to dance sevillianNo?
Yes, I take some classes in town, to dance at my wedding, but never again.
Now you, your two children, want them to follow their drive and above all not to become “sad workers”, that is, not to be like the majority?
Apart from my obligations as a father, I think it is very important to help them find their passion, so that when they grow up they do not have to feel like workers. Look, I feel so lucky to not have doubted my passion, to have been clear about it since I was 6 years old. My children (4 years old Tano, 2 years old Roma) are very special children: my wife and I raised them very emotionally.
Jesús, when they gave him the National Award, had already performed in New York and The New York Times titled “The phenomenon of flamenco”, but then, in 2020, you were in Mercadona buying macaroni with his last 50 euros: he couldn’t afford more… Do your children also know how hard it is to be an artist and self-employed?
No, they don’t know it yet, but they already understand that we make an effort to meet their needs, which is not the same as working in the strict sense, because we love our profession.
Did the pandemic at least save you, the 30,000 euros from Nacional?
Yes, we were finally able to quit the macaroni diet and pay off the family debts I had incurred. we premiered The jump on March 18, and the world stopped four days before. I had invested everything I had in the show, on the 10th I was left with 300 euros in my account. I could have used that money on something productive, but spending it on living gave me the freedom to create during confinement, free of myself, my life, and my hunger.