In our first book The Golden Age of the Spanish Dance we reviewed the chronological history of dance bringing together many different dancers and styles, a unification of Andalucian Art. We spoke about Antonia Merce, aka La Argentina and Vicente Escudero. This second book Legends of Spanish & Flamenco Dance is a continuation of the Spanish dance arts focusing on the careers of four individuals who changed the history of the Spanish dance, La Argentinita, Pilar Lopez and Rosario & Antonio. These four artists spent many years living within our American community, they learned to live within our society. Our reward for their visits was the leave behind history of the beautiful Iberian Art forms they bestowed upon our American dance history. They not only influenced the American Spanish dance, but they also brought these new dances, choreographies and performance styles to Europe and introduced their work internationally. They were not alone, and a multitude of theatrical artists helped the growth of this phenomenon artform called Spanish Dance. Later additions in this series will include Jose Greco, Nana Lorca, Carmelita Maracci, Antonio Triana, Lola Montes, and Jose Fernandez.Miguel Bernal started his professional career alongside his sisters as Los Hermanos Bernal, studying ballet, Spanish and flamenco dance. He has performed for many celebrated actors and studied with renowned teachers in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Madrid. Always searching to fulfill his desire to research the dance he studied with teachers who made a career of the dance, knowing from the outset this book would be the product of this cycle. Traveling through Europe his interest continued into collecting dance programs, books, art etching-prints, culminating in a large archive of historical dance photographs. His interest in European history and architecture became his new arena, with a focus on Interior Design and Art History. He finally organized the countless interviews and research material to coordinate the history of Spanish dance. "I was told countless times by my teachers to study the history, you cannot become a well-rounded artist without the knowledge of the past."
