A nationally and internationally renowned flamenco dancer, or bailaora, singer and actress. She was born in the shanties of Somorrostro, into a gypsy family. She became a professional artist in Barcelona, alongside her father, who was a guitarist, before the Spanish Civil War. At a very young age, she performed during the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
She achieved success gradually, first with the films La hija de Juan Simón (1935) and María de la O (1936), and then later internationally, with various films made in Hollywood. At the end of her career, she starred in Los Tarantos, a film by F. Rovira-Beleta, shot in Barcelona, which received an Oscar nomination in 1963. She performed in the best venues of North and Latin America, Europe and Africa (Teatro Maravillas in Buenos Aires, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Champs Élysées in Paris), dancing in front of President F.D. Roosevelt and the artist Jean Cocteau, among others.
A flamenco dancer, or bailaora, singer and actress, from a gypsy family, born in the shanties of Somorrostro. She performed internationally on the stages of South America, the United States and Europe. She triumphed in cinema, with films like María de la O and Los Tarantos.