Wikipedia

Carmen Tórtola Valencia

Carmen Tórtola Valencia (18 June 1882 – 13 February 1955) was a Spanish early modern dancer, choreographer, costume designer, and painter. She began her dancing career in the early 1910s. She gave up dancing in 1928, dedicated her later life to feminism and art. She lived with her partner Ángeles Magret Vilá until her death in 1955. She generally performed barefoot, and is said to have been the inspiration for Rubén Darío's poem, La bailarina de los pies desnudos ("The Barefoot Dancer").

Carmen Tórtola Valencia
Tórtola Valencia, performing an Indian dance in New York city in 1915
Born18 June 1882
Seville, Spain
DiedFebruary 13, 1955(1955-02-13) (aged 72)
Barcelona, Spain
Burial place
Poblenou cemetery
OccupationsDancer
Painter
PartnerÁngeles Magret Vilá (1928-1955)

Early life

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Carmen Tórtola Valencia was born on 18 June 1882 in Seville to a Catalan father Florenç Tórtola Ferrer (d. 1891) and Andalusian mother Georgina Valencia Valenzuela (d. 1894). Her family emigrated to London when she was three years old.[1]

Dance career

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Tórtola Valencia made her debut as a dancer at the Gaiety Theatre, London in 1908. She dance at Berlin Wintergarten theatre and Folies Bergère in Paris later in the same year, and performed in Nuremberg and London in 1909. She made her debut in Spain at the Teatro Romea in Madrid in 1911. She later performed at Ateneo de Madrid in 1913.[2] One of the people she trained was the Anglo-Indian dancer Olive Craddock ("Roshanara").[3]

Later life

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Tórtola Valencia (left) and her partner Ángeles Magret Vilá in Barcelona in 1946

Tórtola Valencia met Ángeles Magret Vilá for the first time in 1928 outside the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico city,[4] while Tórtola Valencia was on a tour and Magret Vilá was traveling with her parents. In 1930, Tórtola Valencia became seriously ill and promised Magret Vilá that if she recovered, she would give up dancing. As per her promise, she gave her last dance performance in Quito later that same year.[5] After Tórtola Valencia gave up her dancing career, both of them stayed away from public life and devoted themselves to art.[6] Tórtola Valencia gave Magret Vilá an autograph album that she completed over the years.[7]

Tórtola Valencia was a pioneering feminist in the early 20th century.[2] Being a homosexual and having leftist ideas, Tórtola Valencia was jailed during the Spanish Civil War.[5] During the War, Tórtola Valencia and Magret Vilá took refuge in Magret Vilá's family home in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. After the war ended in 1939, they returned to their home in Major de Sarrià where they had lived earlier since 1932.[7]

Tórtola Valencia was also a member of Generación del 13, a painter collective.[1] Magret Vilá managed the household while also serving as the secretary of Tórtola Valencia. Magret Vilá helped reconstruct Tórtola's public image after the Spanish Civil War and, as a practising Catholic, influenced Tórtola's conversion, which was necessary during the Francoist regime. In 1932, both had already drawn up wills in which each named the other as heir to their possessions in the event of death.[7]

Magret Vilá was fourteen years younger than Tórtola Valencia,[6] and was adopted by Tórtola Valencia to silence rumors about their relationship in 1942, at a time when their way of life was subject to scrutiny under the Francoist regime.[8][9][10] Following the adoption, Magret Vilá added "Tórtola" to her surname.[7]

Magret Vilá and Tórtola Valecia's remained together until Tórtola Valecia's death on 13 March 1955. She was later buried at Poblenou Cemetery in Barcelona.[7][5]

Style and legacy

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In his book Tórtola Valencia and Her Times (1982), Odelot Sobrac, one of her early biographers, said Tórtola Valencia was inspired by Isadora Duncan and developed a style that expressed emotion through movement. Her Spanish modernismo style enabled a career as a solo concert dance artist who performed classic, Oriental, and Spanish dances.[1] She generally performed barefoot, and is said to have been the inspiration for Rubén Darío's poem, La bailarina de los pies desnudos ("The Barefoot Dancer").[11]

In 1962, Magret Vilá donated Tórtola Valencia's belongings—including her wardrobe, press-clipping albums, paintings, and personal documents—to the Centre de Documentació i Museu de les Arts Escèniques (Documentation Centre and Museum of the Performing Arts of the Theatre Institute) in Barcelona.[12] The lace collection was sold to the Colegio del Arte Mayor de la Seda in Barcelona, which organised a major exhibition in 1960. In 1992, the collection was deposited in the Marès de la Punta Museum,[13] which forms part of the Arenys de Mar Museum.[14]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Tórtola Valencia and Otherness". International Repertory of Music Literature. 24 April 2013. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 Pérez, Janet; Ihrie, Maureen (2002). The Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature: N-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 608–609. ISBN 978-0-313-32445-1.
  3. ↑ "Roshanara". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Mostrando artículos por etiqueta: Carmen Tórtola Valencia" [Showing articles tagged: Carmen Tórtola Valencia]. Aliet Vallès (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 "La leyenda de la bailarina Tórtola Valencia renace en una biografía" [The legend of dancer Tórtola Valencia is reborn in a biography]. ABC (in Spanish). 4 December 2005. Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  6. 1 2 "Adoptar com a filla a la parella, enfront de la barbaritat legal i social de no reconèixer la veritable relació" [Adopting one's partner as a daughter in the face of the legal and social barbarity of not recognizing the true relationship] (in Catalan). Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Queralt, María Pilar (2005). Tórtola Valencia (in Spanish). Lumen. ISBN 978-8-426-41500-4. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Tórtola Valencia, la mujer que acabó con el corsé" [Tórtola Valencia, the woman who did away with the corset]. El Español (in Spanish). 13 August 2016. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "La musa del "jabón" que enamoró a los poetas" [The "soap" muse who captivated poets]. El Mundo. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  10. ↑ Jardí, El (18 February 2021). "Carmen Tórtola Valencia, la ballarina i republicana catalana retirada a Major de Sarrià" [Carmen Tórtola Valencia, the Catalan dancer and republican retired to Major de Sarrià]. Diari el Jardí de Sant Gervasi i Sarrià (in Catalan). Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  11. ↑ Clayton, Michelle (Summer 2012). "Touring History: Tórtola Valencia Between Europe and the Americas". Dance Research Journal. 44 (1): 28–49. doi:10.1017/S0149767711000362. S2CID 190750061.
  12. ↑ Ajuntament d'Arenys de Mar. "Representants del Col·legi d'Art Major de la Seda visiten el Museu d'Arenys" [Representatives of the College of the Major Art of Silk visit the Arenys Museum]. Ajuntament d'Arenys de Mar (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 22 July 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "Renovado el convenio de depósito de la colección Carmen Tórtola Valencia con el Colegio del Arte Mayor de la Seda de Barcelona" [Deposit agreement for the Carmen Tórtola Valencia collection renewed with the College of the Major Art of Silk of Barcelona]. Museu d'Arenys de Mar. Archived from the original on 22 January 2026. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "Carmen Tórtola Valencia, la ballarina d'estil lliure" [Carmen Tórtola Valencia, the free-style dancer]. Museu d'Arenys de Mar. Archived from the original on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 13 May 2026.

Further reading

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