Published in Fashion and Arts Magazine. La Vanguardia, 2019

Gema Rodríguez Amaya, known as Gemita at the Tablao de Carmen, is 16 years old and has been dancing professionally for just one year. She describes herself as shy and reserved until she steps onto the stage.

“On stage I stop being Gema Rodríguez — there I am Gema Amaya.”

Her great-grandfather was a first cousin of the greatest flamenco dancer of all time, the legendary Carmen Amaya, and her grandmother Amparo, born in a shanty in Somorrostro, went to see her perform in the theatre once La Capitana had already triumphed throughout the Americas.

“Gema is very free when she dances,” says Mimo Agüero, owner of the Tablao de Carmen.
“She arrived at the tablao with very little experience, and that was precisely what interested me. She will never make a stereotypical gesture. She trained in academies, but she has a commitment to herself that makes her very pure, and her character is evident in her dancing. And that is very genuine — very good.”