La Argentina
Full name
Place of birth
Biography
Antonia Mercé Luque was born in Buenos Aires in 1890 and died in Bayona (France) in 1936 She was born on the Río de la Plata by chance, as her parents where on tour there Her mother, Josefa Luque, from Córdoba, was a dancer; her father, Manuel Mercé, first dancer and master choreographer of Madrid´s Royal Theatre Her family situated later in the Lavapies neighbourhood in Madrid where here father opened a dancing school On her father´s death, she started dancing in order to work in some variety clubs of the era She quite soon became famous and in 1914 starred in El embrujo de Sevilla in the Alhambra Theatre in London This was her great irruption until she became one of the great European dancers In 1925 she performed El amor brujo in Paris being a great star and was even compared to La Pawlova She stood out for her form of playing castanets and admired La Golondrina and La Macarrona She collaborated with Fernando el de Triana in the creation of the book Arte y artistas flamencos in 1935 In this year, due to a heart problem retired to Villa Miraflores, near Bayona, where curiously, she died on the historical 18th of July 1936
