Early Life
She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A talented young dancer, her career was greatly influenced by her parents Manuel Mercé (an Andalusian), and Josefina Luque (a Castilian), themselves professional Spanish dancers. It was due to them that La Argentina's entire life was mainly focused on dance, where her parents greatly wanted her to excel. She studied ballet with her parents in her youth. She trained mainly with her father, who taught her to dance at the age of four. When she was nine years old, she debuted at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain. At the age of 11, she was a star dancer at the Madrid Opera.
Shortly after the death of her father, La Argentina retired from ballet. After this life-transforming event, at the age of 14, La Argentina started studying native Spanish dances with her mother.
Read more about this topic: La Argentina
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)