I had such a frenetic pace that I don't know how or when it came about, but I was already getting out of the car at the Beverly Hills Hotel for an interview with the production company that organized the Latin awards ceremony The Golden Eagle Awards. To dance at the award ceremony for Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.
Right away, my little angel, introduce myself to Marius, singer of a rock group, from Málaga like Antonio Banderas and with all due respect, look at Antonio is a Spanish beauty, an irresistible Latin lover, but Marius had the beauty of a prince and with a smile that It left me totally upset and that's when I realized that I was starting to regain my sexual appetite.
The group merged with flamenco and to take the percussion and Marius with me to the performance that we would do as a surprise for Antonio Banderas at the delivery of his award, they were perfect. Marius wasn't even going to sing, he'd just play guitar, but they didn't want to miss out on being around such influential people in the industry. Although advertising is a form of payment in Los Angeles and we would not charge the performance.
I was so excited that the same afternoon in the general flamenco class, I would tell my students how happy I was, that later in our Sushi Place after class, we drank all the Sake, I got on my stage, the table I was in love with, because it was made of wood, very short and 6m square. And I only thought of Spain when I said to my family crying like a child, - Mom, can you imagine meeting Antonio Banderas? That is difficult, she told me.
Well, that dream was already a reality. We had already rehearsed the two minutes for very flamenco and very rock Bulerías. And I am in love with the singer, well , imagine the fire that I had inside and that I would bring out in front of thousands of people sitting each one more important. And being in the book of these awards, as Ambassador of Flamenco, would be a good step on my CV.
BUT! the famous Envy comes into play.
I recognize it from a distance because I have always suffered from it. From a very young age in school and at levels of bullying in the field of dance. She is always the one who is closest to you, the one who admires you the most, the one who follows you like a shadow, and when she advises you is when her Venetian mask falls off.
Envy, tarnished my glass shoe and appeared in my life, once again.
When in the morning of the long-awaited day, my phone rings and it is the producer, who coldly, without hesitation and with a bug's voice but always friendly and as if she is going to give me a new schedule and it does not matter. SHe informs me that I no longer have to attend the awards ceremony that afternoon because there is another dancer who is going to do it in my place. Because she is already going to be there performing with her sister, who has a well-known group of Mexican dances and has offered to dance in your place. So that everything is more comfortable and faster for us. She also says that she does not need live musicians like you and she will do it with the recorded music of the Gypsy kings, which is what we offered you in the beginning. And that's when you told us that you were Spanish, a professional dancer and that we had saved the flight and the hotel being lucky to have you in LA and that Antonio Banderas deserved good flamenco on such a special night and that he would appreciate it. And you saw that we did not hesitate for a minute to say yes to everything.
But we have decided that it will be less mess with her. I asked her if she could tell me her name and automatically the tears of rage and impotence came to my eyes and crying with all my soul I told her : —and what about all the illusion, and all that we have already paid for like the rehearsals of weeks looking for schedules like crazy , the dress that I have made for the occasion, the makeup artist, etc, etc, etc. What about my family and the illusion of seeing their daughter succeeding, my proud friends supporting me. What about my illusion, with my dream about to come true.
Put your hand on your heart and think carefully that this girl happens to be my student, the one who is about to betray me.
She has been to rehearsals, she has heard stories every day of class about my dress, my illusion, the dinner that all the students have prepared for me to celebrate and the worst thing is that that student who studies with me 8 hours a week which I thought she admired me, she has hidden that she would be in these awards to be able to betray me.
Tonight I am going to dance for Antonio Banderas as my name is Esther Ponce and in the end you will have to thank me. Now I am hurt and that makes me stronger! And I hung up the phone.
When I arrived and saw my Mexican student in the dressing room, I was scared, she was able to come to greet me as if she had not done anything.
But it was my moment and I wanted her to suffer it with her own eyes. But I kept the letter.
There were only a few prizes to be handed out and Antonio Banderas personally entered the waiting room and, addressing the producer, reported aloud: - I am extremely sorry to have to give this news; They have already told me that you have been here since this morning working hard so that everything goes perfectly, but we are two hours late and as some of you know, Melany is arriving from India to the airport and I have to go pick her up.
For what I am here, I have tried but unfortunately I will not be able to collect the award.
At that moment, the surrealist story reappeared in my life as a real nightmare ... When I saw the faces of all the journalists looking at each other because they were left without the photo of the year, the producer who already gave everything for lost, also without his photon in his wonderful magazine for the following year, all with pale faces and not knowing what to say. My student living the happy ending of her evil plot.
That suddenly without realizing it and avoiding by all means the sad end, which was haunting me and It was already my second skin.
I said out loud: - Antonio !, everyone surprised , my voice was heard even in Spain and the producer was slowly approaching me along with the bodyguards getting ready just in case.
You arrive late to the airport but I have traveled from Madrid just to dance for you. We have rehearsed with effort two minutes for bulerías with the smell of your land, Málaga , and when you hear it and see me dance, two tears will fall and you will have something passionate to tell your wife tonight. I'm sure Melany Griffith will understand.
And to start as soon as possible, I suggest to the producer to postpone until the end the group of Mexican dances that comes now and last an eternity.
When Antonio Banderas himself looked into my eyes and told me that he was not only going to stay, but that he would go on stage with us to clap his hands. I told him, smiling and with my heart pounding, that clapping better than not, that the beat was going very fast and that even some professionals couldn't keep up with my rhythm.
Immediately the producer put herself at my orders, the journalists waiting for me for the photo of the year, they all wanted to be by my side, Antonio asked for the chair to sit between the guitarist and the percussion and I reminded him, that the clapping better not, because he got excited and started to clap his hands and at that rhythm if you don't do it well and with the accents, we would be fatal and on top of that recorded.
To which Antonio Banderas loved my answer, he felt even more proud of the decision to stay for the award ceremony, which added with his characteristic sense of humor, —Esther Ponce, your name is right? Don't forget that when we finish I'm flying away, I want to take a picture with the Spanish woman.
My student was the one who did not dance in the end. They finished so late that there was no time. It also influenced the fact that I became a bit important and they listened to my suggestions ...
With Antonio Banderas after awards.
Unleash Your Inner Flamenca is dedicated to all the women of the world and it does not mean that you have to be flamenco or dedicate yourself to the world of dance. It is an expression, it is a way of facing the setbacks that life gives us and because flamenco has that attitude of: Here I am!
Unleashing my inner Flamenca has helped me in many very extreme situations in my life and, not only technically speaking as a flamenco professional, but in those times that I didn't have to be dancing, or teaching, or competing, or performing on stage. I’m talking about everyday life.
That is why you too can bring out your inner Flamenca.
A flamenca woman is confident, a flamenca woman is sure of herself, has gravitas, has bearing, has wisdom and knows how to be in command.
In other words, unleash your inner Flamenca and join me in this adventure in which we are going to have a great time! We know how it starts and we don't know how it ends, but it is sure to be one of the most unforgettable experiences of your life.
I didn't need to be famous to sleep in Hemingway's Presidential suite at the Gritti Palace in Venice for all my birthdays.
Have a Bellini while I wait for the gondola that will take me to the private Film Festival party on the yacht of my colleague, who was a Versace collaborator, or dine on the famous terrace of the Hotel Danieli.
It is also true that if I had slept with all my stalkers, I would now be more famous than Sara Baras. BUT! no matter how much I took a shower, the smell of vomit would not go away from my body and the phrase of: “how did I get it” would be the soundtrack of my life, which would turn my insides with each applause.
Nor did I need to be famous to have a bodyguard escort me to the door of the plane, in the direction of the American Embassy in Beirut or go in a Limousine and drink the best champagne.
“Todo lo he conseguido con pasión, seguridad en mi misma , esfuerzo y dedicación”.
Proving first to myself and then to the whole world that I don't need to sell myself to a man to succeed in my career. And that I bring out the inner Flamenca every time they cross my path.
Do not allow any man to command you or demand what you have to do.
Lucha por lo que quieras, viste como quieras, maquíllate como quieras , estudia lo que quieras y júntate con quien quieras.
The first time a man lays his hand on you, it will be his fault, but the second time it will be your fault for putting up with the first time.
And if you feel trapped and you are afraid to stand up to your reality, look for a way as if it were the last day of your life to give a signal at the pharmacy, at the market, to a neighbor you come across, to anyone who can hear this number: 016! and it will be the first step to your salvation, to your new life, surely filled with all the good things you long for and where no one will let you back down. You will immediately be protected by the society that will protect and help you without conditions. And I, Esther Ponce, am already thinking of you.
A I’m going to tell you how I brought out the flamenco that I have in extreme situations and that I hope and serve to help some woman to do the same as me.
For now I'm only going to use nicknames.
“If I had slept with all my stalkers, I would now be more famous than Sara Baras. "
With my testimony and my own experience, living in different countries of the world and interacting with all kinds of social classes, race, culture and religion, I want to turn around the drama that women experience in the world.
Ayudarlas a salir de ese callejón oscuro, animarlas y convencerlas de que nunca tiren la toalla , de que existe un mundo maravilloso esperándoles para sacar lo mejor de ellas. Su fuerza, su belleza interior y sus ganas de salir adelante. Que no dejen de luchar por los derechos de la mujer y la igualdad de género. Que griten a los cuatro vientos y que no se callen nunca, que sonrían y que se llenen de paz con la belleza que nos brinda Lanzarote y su naturaleza.
That they are not alone... that they unleash their inner flamenca A strong and self-confident woman, the director of their own life. That she clings to the ground with temperance and ready to scratch at any moment if necessary and fight life with the best smile...
I have experiences and anecdotes to tell all women; the neighborhood ones, the rich ones , the conflictive ones, the addicted ones, etc. And always with my motto that to run away from any situation, the best thing is to practice athletics! … My uncle used to called me Dance Athlete, he said; As long as you have strong legs and a strong heart, you can fly! .
It is very gratifying to have an idea like the experimental Flamenco in Valencia, carry it out and have managed to attract more than 20 foreign clients to Valencia in a short time and without marketing, who have passed through the Flamenco Art Center, and who have not only They learned a lot if not they have returned to their country with a better concept of Valencia.
His experience and approach to flamenco led by Esther Ponce will make you return without hesitation to the city of Turia.
Esther Ponce not only surrounds them with her passion and charisma from the first moment, her professionalism and a very long journey through different countries of the world where she has lived for long periods, she makes them fall in love.
You just have to read the dedications of all the foreigners who write in their precious notebook created for them and that are already adding more and more.
The foreigner is used to teaching flamenco very quickly and without discipline, anything goes, any shoe, any skirt, hanging out even parodying and even ridiculing flamenco.
From England, without a doubt the most special Experimental Flamenco we have had at the Flamenco Art Center in these two and a half years.
The Esther Ponce Stylized Flamenco Art Center has been open for two and a half years. El Ángel Every August 28, for Esther’s birthday, a new foreign student gives her a gift and the flamenco toast intensifies.
This year Esther thought that her Angel would be very busy due to the current pandemic situation and also that it would be a coincidence that another year happened.
But to Esther’s surprise it was like that and without doubt the most special flamenco toast for England.
After the experience of teaching classes with a mask? A private flamenco class for two hours without stopping, does Esther remember that when she and the student went out into the street they breathed for two seconds as if there were no tomorrow?According to Esther’s recent experience, with the mask you cannot see the total expression of the student, but the eyes also speak and flamenco is also expressed with the body.
With all the safety measures, the student disinfected her shoes, put hydroalcoholic gel on her hands, a temperature control was performed with a non-contact forehead thermometer and the student did not remove her mask during the two hours, only in the changing room that she only used to drink water.