She is 7 years old and is from Yokohama but she has been dancing flamenco since she was 3. Her mother, also Japanese, has passed on her flamenco streak to her and every time they come to Spain Sui takes the stage at the Corral de la Morería.
They say that the art and the duende of flamenco are learned and usually inherited. Others claim that it is innate. In the case of the Japanese girl Sui, you could say that she is a mixture of both. She is 7 years old and has just started the second grade of primary school in Yokohama, where she lives with her mother, Haluna Suzaku. The little girl visited Spain for the first time in November 2023 and she wanted to dance flamenco so much that she went directly with her mother to what is considered one of the best tablaos in the world: Corral de la Morería. Her landing in the capital occurred through Miguel Olite, general director of artistic education of the Community of Madrid. “I used to share videos of my daughter on my Instagram account and some of them we sent to Ana de los Reyes, a singer from Jerez. They went viral and that’s how Miguel Olite contacted us. He took us to Corral de la Morería. Meeting Miguel and Blanca from Corral de la Morería was truly a gift for us,” Sui’s mother tells LOC.
After the visit to Madrid of this precocious dancer, from the Corral de la Morería they shared the videos of the girl dancing and caused a sensation on social networks. “She was very happy. She loved the dinner we prepared for her and of course, the cheese and ham. She started dancing and we were all hypnotized because the girl really has a pinch. She was very excited to meet my mother, Blanca del Rey, he made her a drawing because he admires her a lot,” confesses Juan Manuel del Rey, owner of Corral de la Morería.
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Corral de la Morería, the loose verse of the tablaos: “We fill up every day, we are very happy”
Corral de la Morería, the loose verse of the tablaos: “We fill up every day, we are very happy”
PRODIGY GIRL
Sui’s last visit to this legendary tablao took place last March, an event in which he also left those present speechless. He got back on stage and demonstrated that art and power know no age. But where does Sui’s flamenco vein come from? Much of it has to do with the influence of her mother. “I have been playing Latin percussion since I was little and at 23 years old I was impressed by flamenco through Vicente Amigo. I decided to learn the rhythms of this music and so I started taking dance classes. Later, I won two flamenco awards in Japan before Sui was born. Now I practice both dance and percussion. Sui has been listening to a lot of music and flamenco since the womb and has imitated clapping and dancing since he was one year old.
The pride that Sui’s mother feels for her daughter is infinite. Every gesture that she makes, every quiebro that the girl performs on stage increases the smile of her mother, who usually accompanies her playing the cajon. “At the age of 3, Sui began teaching on-line flamenco with the dancer Ayaka Matsui at the Estudio Candela, well known in Japan. She currently attends classes in person every week. At home I try to guide her about dancing but she also likes singing so for a few months now she has been giving singing classes with the well-known Japanese flamenco singer, Yuka Imaeda. At home, she sings and dances every day, she really is a girl who loves flamenco. She recently confessed to me that she wants to learn to play the guitar, she is an artist!”
Although mother and daughter live and enjoy flamenco culture in Japan, they fell in love with Spain and want to visit our country again. “In Spain they received my daughter’s passion for flamenco with great affection, opening the door to many wonderful experiences. They sent us many messages of love and we were invited to many tablaos and schools. Professional photographers took our photos, we appeared on television shows, something we would never have imagined in Japan.” And he adds: “In Corral de la Morería, Sui performed on stage being the youngest in the history of tablao. Our Instagram is full of comments in Spanish and we are very grateful to the people of Spain. Sui loves Spain and she wants to go back there.”
