Michael Miguel Bernal

Michael Miguel Bernal: In his first book The Golden Age of the Spanish Dance reviewed the chronological history of dance bringing together many different dancers and styles, a unification of Andalucian Art. We spoke about the history of Spanish and American dance and how it was reflected onto our architectural lifestyle, Broadway, the early movies and concert stages. Two stand out artist of the era were the Iberian influencers Antonia Merce, aka La Argentina, and Vicente Escudero.

This second book Legends of Spanish & Flamenco Dance is a continuation of the Spanish dancers, La Argentinita, Pilar Lopez, and Rosario & Antonio. These four artists spent many years in New York seeking asylum from the Spanish Civil War, living within our American communities they shared their beautiful artform in Hollywood movies and American concert stages.

Bernal's recent third edition Influenced by Spanish & Flamenco Dance is an outline of the careers of Spanish Ballet dancer Carmelita Maracci, Dolores & Jose Fernandez and the icon of flamenco dance Carmen Amaya and her Company of both Spanish, Mexican, and American dancers.

Our rewards from the Iberian invasion of dancers have become years of dance history bestowed upon our American dance. They not only influenced 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 and their Spanish Dance Companies that fused many American dancers within their international touring company.

Michael Miguel Bernal started his professional career alongside his sisters as Los Hermanos Bernal, studying ballet, Spanish and flamenco dance. he has performed for many years in Southern California with travels to Colorado, Oregan, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Mexico City. Bernal 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 these books 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. Miguel 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."