Antonio Cansino (April 21, 1865 – July 20, 1954) was a flamenco dancer and guitarist credited with creating modern-day Spanish dance by combining classical Spanish dance and Romani flamenco. He was popularly known for dancing the

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

. He was the father of Eduardo Cansino and the grandfather of

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

, who were both famous dancers and actors. He is the patriarch of The Dancing Cansinos. He performed for the King of Spain and instructed Rita Hayworth's first dance lesson.

Early life

Antonio Cansino was born on April 21, 1865, in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Spain. He operated dance academies in Seville and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He married dancer Carmen Reina. The couple had seven children who were all dancers:

Eduardo Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Dudu (footballer, born 1992) (Eduardo Pereira Rodrigues), Brazilian footballer * Eduardo (footballer, born 1 ...

, Jose, Angel, Paco, Antonio Jr., Rafael and Elisa Cansino. Since all his children were dancers, the family was known as The Dancing Cansinos. He immigrated to the United States around 1936.

Death

Antonio died at General Hospital due to reoccurring heart failure (aged 88–89). A private Catholic ceremony was held. He was survived by 6 children and 7 grandchildren. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cansino, Antonio 1865 births 1954 deaths Dancers from Seville Spanish flamenco dancers Spanish flamenco guitarists Spanish male guitarists 19th-century Spanish musicians 19th-century Spanish male musicians 20th-century Spanish musicians 20th-century Spanish male musicians 19th-century Spanish dancers 20th-century Spanish dancers Spanish emigrants to the United States Spanish male dancers Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Spanish people of Romani descent Cansino family