Grandmaster Arnold Taraborrelli dies

Arnold Taraborrelli (Philadelphia 1931), who died this afternoon in Madrid, was not particularly well-known or popular among the general public. Something that he already made sure was by fleeing from everything that would bring him fame; He even liked to hide his students' fame. Now, if there is someone over thirty or forty years old in the profession of acting, dance and even song who does not know who they are, let them see it. Because there are hundreds of actors and singers who have passed through his hands, through his classes, through his workshop… But not only to give a course: many are those who never abandoned his teachings and returned to him again and again, until the end. point that there are students who have received his classes for more than one or two decades.

What he did was complete the training of actors and singers in a way that almost no one approaches. The well-worn term “body expression” that was incorporated into the world of teaching in the sixties and seventies of the last century was an adjective that Taraborrelli did not hate, because he left this world without knowing what it means to hate, but the truth is The thing is that he didn't like using that adjective at all, and even less to refer to or be referred to his work. Arnold's thing was something else, it was to teach professionals who could not do without their body to tell something, to know how to use it and, above all, that feelings, whatever they were, could not only be expressed verbally or through the eyes. or the face. He showed the way so that the steps, the arms, the body… could also let the pain, the joy, the rage be seen…

Born in the United States, he spent his childhood in Italy without leaving Philadelphia. At home, in his family, they made wine, ate pasta every day, without forgetting the ravioli on Thursdays, and his parents refused to let him study dance, something he asked for at the age of 11, because that “wasn't for boys.” ”. Until they saw him dance and triumph with a friend in an almost neighborhood performance. He obtained a scholarship to study Fine Arts, entered the University and moved to New York where he studied dance with José Limón and Lensky, among others. Between 1954-1964 he was with the San Juan Ballet of Puerto Rico as a dancer and choreographer, a country where he would meet Lola Flores, who ended up attracting him to Spain after spending a season working in London.

In Madrid he began working in the famous Karen Taft studio on Libertad Street and little by little he began to stand out as a choreographer, actor trainer, set designer and poster designer. But perhaps the most decisive thing in his career was his fruitful encounter with actors, although they stood out more as directors, William Layton and Miguel Narros. Together with them he became the most prominent professor of Movement and he did so through several projects launched by them such as the Madrid Studio Theater, the TEM and the TEC, which acquired so much prestige in the late Franco era and later in the still renowned William Layton Laboratory.

Those years highlighted his regular work with José Carlos Plaza, which emerged over many years, although he also flew alone with those classes that he said gave him life. There are also several collaborations with directors such as the unforgettable José Luis Alonso, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Francisco Nieva and many others. His work in productions that made history was of great importance, such as Uncle Vania, Portrait of lady with little dog, So five years go by, Woyzeck, Carmen, Carmen and The dream of a nigth of summer, among many. Among his students the names of Nacho Duato, Carmen Maura, Miguel Ríos, Miguel Bosé, Luz Casal, José Pedro Carrión, Elio Pedregal, Carmen Machi, Eloy Azorín, Alberto Amarilla, or family sagas of actors such as Ana Belén and her daughter Marina San José, or María Pastor, as well as her mother and grandmother who were also her disciples. Many of them have spent these days at the Jiménez Díaz Foundation in Madrid, where he died.

He gave his entire life to them, including the last decade in which his dialysis was continuous, but the most amazing thing about Taraborrelli, whom his disciple José Pedro Carrión defined “as a walking work of art,” is that the entire profession and anyone who knew him spoke wonders of his character, his brilliant teaching and his bonhomie

As Taraborrelli wanted, there will be no wake or burial (his body has been donated to science) and he asked that no tribute be paid to him. In 2012, a kind of tribute was paid to him at the National Dramatic Center and in his presence, where Ernesto Caballero, Antonio Onetti, Eloy Azorín, Fermín Cabal, Carlos Hipólito, Carmen Machi and Begoña Valle participated, all of them deep admirers of this man to whom the accurate documentary Two palms, title given in allusion to the sound gesture that he always used in his classes. His well-known nephew, Jay Randy Taraborrelli (biographer of celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra) should address the biography of this exceptional man.