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Conchi Ríos: "Being born a woman does not have to condition me to work in something in which I have conditions"
Por; PATRICIA PRUDENCIO MUÑOZ
Conchi Ríos, a bullfighter, has sweetened the profession. The Murcian woman shows her soul between laughs and stories of how she started, how difficult it has been to develop her work ... On Women's Day, away from distorted feminisms, a woman is given visibility, whose profession is bull and This is the only one who should measure it and bring out their conditions, not their colleagues or businessmen. The bull is the one who examines the professional. Conchi reveals about her, something that has already been heard on more than one occasion, some of her companions refuse to fight with her and some businessmen do not want to put her on. This is one of the reasons why the bullfighter had to follow her career in America, because in Spain it was very difficult. Now she returns with the same enthusiasm and love for the profession, premiering her attorney, Santiago Gonzalo, with whom she claims to be on the same frequency.
What led you to choose this profession?
Actually, I was going to be a dancer, because she had been dancing at the conservatory for seven years. I liked it and I like it, I danced contemporary, ballet, flamenco ... but the one I liked the most was flamenco, because within the world of dance is where more freedom and improvisation are allowed.
I always went with my maternal grandparents to the bulls, I am from Murcia and I was always looking forward to the fair in September to be able to go. One day, enjoying a bullfight in which Pepín Liria, Enrique Ponce and El Cid fought, I saw how the square was filled with white handkerchiefs. There were excited people, the music was playing ... The bullfight lasted longer than necessary due to the emotion, it got dark and the lights turned on and the bullfighters' costumes shone. I cried with emotion and even called my mother to tell her how wonderful it was all. I told my grandparents that I wanted to do what they were doing, in this case, those men and to be able to move people, as they did with me.
As an artist I like to transmit, to move. That was like an improvised theater play with live music, where there was a plus, they were risking their lives. I did not know what could happen, but those movements, that plasticity that exists in bullfighting, for me to see a bullring with a full line is like a painting full of colors. I fell in love with this profession, so I started eating my mother and grandfather's heads to get them to let me get into this world.
What did you have to sacrifice in your life to be able to dedicate yourself to it?
Bullfighters start very young and I started when I was fourteen or fifteen years old. More than sacrificing, I would say that it teaches you a lifestyle, values, discipline, as well as dance that is very strict. It takes many hours, in fact I was training 5 hours a day after studying, so for me the bull did not mean anything out of the ordinary. Social life, going out with friends, for me no longer existed.
It did lead to changes in that I had to go near the wild herds, near the animal, in the field. In short, this world requires it. When I was fifteen I moved to Cádiz, which is about seven hours from Murcia, leaving my family behind, but knowing that I was very clear about my goal. It was like a child playing an adult life. Three banderilleros, a sword boy and a help depend on you. When you pass with picadors, there are seven who depend on you.
It is true that you value life in a different way, because you are aware that you are risking it, but that is the greatness of bullfighting. That is why it is so important to dedicate so many hours to it, that in the end you only focus on it.
If we advance a little more to what is today, your workouts, how would you say your day to day is?
In this season a few days ago, I signed a contract with Santiago Gonzalo. I am very excited after two seasons on the bench and with the situation that we are going through due to the pandemic. I still have the same expectation for the bull, but you have to eat, you have to continue living and this time ago I had to combine it with another job, waiting for my opportunity to come. It has come to me now and I think it is going to be a very beautiful season.
My day to day is getting up, training ... I take advantage of the fact that I live near the mountain, I love training outdoors. I go up and down the mountain accompanied by my dog, I take the bottom that to fight is very important, because you know that at least you are going to face one or two animals, but an accident may arise for your partner and you have to kill the six bulls . You can even do a cartwheel, that is why the preparation must be so intense, you have to be aware of all this, that is why the mental preparation, which I try to carry daily, is very important. It is an exercise that I advise bullfighters and people who are starting in this profession, because many focus on the physical, but very little on the mind.
Another thing that I am taking now is Twitch, I opened a channel to bring a little closer to what bullfighting is, what my life is to the fans and even to those who are not. Every Saturday and Sunday for four hours I speak for all those who want to know or want to see a bullfighter talk about her profession or life in general. We also exchanged impressions of subjects other than bull. It is true that they are struck by the fact that a bullfighting professional is outside the prototype that people have of what a bullfighter is, because they have a slightly stale image.
I think it is very important to dedicate time to this platform because it gives visibility to the bullfighter figure among people who do not know what a bullfighter is like.
You have talked about the pandemic, tell us about this stop. What is it that prompts you to return to the complex situation that we are experiencing?
Before the pandemic arrived, I had not been fighting here for two years, everything I was fighting was in America. In Spain it was very difficult for me to fight. When the pandemic arrived, I was coming from that two-year break, many professionals have seen the season slip away from them, I already knew what that was, I had been through it, I had been on the bench. However, you have to know how to face the situation, without fear, you just have to have faith, perseverance and enthusiasm because everything in life passes, everything arrives.
During this break, there came a time when I told myself to stop, I had to stop and renew. An example of this is that I opened Twitch and reactivated myself on social networks, because the truth is that I was a bit far from them.
In addition, it is somewhat ironic, but through this platform I met the one who is now my attorney, Santiago Gonzalo. He is a younger businessman than me, which I love and passionate about, because he has very fresh ideas. We understand each other perfectly, it is as if we are on the same frequency.
Bullfighting has always been a man's world. Do you see yourself on an equal footing? Do you think it is more difficult for women to get to where you are?
I cannot generalize, I have not been able to speak with all the women who are in bullfighting, I do not know their situation, I cannot speak for them. Then I am going to speak personally, not in the name of all women, but if I am a woman and I speak to you from my position. I can tell you that it has been more complicated and that it is still complicated for me, because unfortunately, as you have said well, this is a world of men, with which we are fighting so that it is not like that, but so that it is a world of people and each person can fight in his profession.
I do not consider myself a feminist, at least I do not identify with today's feminism, it has become distorted. I believe in equality, because the fact of being born a woman does not have to condition me when it comes to being able to work in something in which I have conditions, that does not enter my head. It has happened to me, they have not hired me and some colleagues have not wanted to fight with me because I am a woman. It's sad, because they know what it is to enjoy fighting and denying that to someone just because they are a woman is very ugly. Later, there are also businessmen who do not want to give you a chance either, they will know, because I think that right now is the woman's time, let's say it like this. I believe that it is the moment of the woman.
It is time to take the step and play under the same conditions. Many doors have been closed to me, but with perseverance everything comes, I think you have to be patient because the moment is yet to come, even if they make it difficult for you, even if it costs, regardless of who it weighs, even if they want to get you out of the way. You have to give time to time, that in the end everything comes if you have patience and faith, but you also have to have a very large jacket and a wrought iron armor so that things do not affect you and believe in yourself.
you will live it.
You have said that perhaps now is the time for women. What future do you predict for women in the upper echelons?
It can take years to achieve your goals, it happens to any student in her career. This is a long distance race, even some of the very leading bullfighters stopped and did not arrive. You never know what will happen, you live in the moment, which I love.
Society is experiencing a tremendous problem, depression, which is a reflection that we live a lot in the past and this generates constant sadness, the same happens with living in the future, it creates anxiety. The solution is to live in the present and very few make it. You have to have objectives to have illusions, that is not living in the future, but the impulse to live the present with hope.
This profession has taught me, one day you have a bullfight, you triumph, but the next day no one hires you, you are down there again and you wonder how it is possible if you were up yesterday. This is how it can happen with women in Spain, we are two active bullfighters, Mari Paz Vega and me. I am alone in Spain, but there are many heifers, there is a quarry and I will support them in everything they need, it is even possible that I will be a proxy so they can fight. I'm going to do it, it's hard to believe, but I'm going to try to give them more visibility.
We have to hit hard, we are here to ask for a place and if you are worth it you will stay and if not they will take you away, but do not let the others decide whether to put you on or take you off, but your conditions do. If I am worth it or not, let the public decide and all the triumphs say it. Bullfighting needs a renovation and that the woman is there is something very positive, something that will give normality to the profession, even sweeten it. They have to let us fight, in the end it is the bull that is going to put us in our place or not, why complicate things. You don't want to get me out of the way, let me fight, I show things in the ring.
This is a very transparent profession, it is very difficult to fool the fan, it is very difficult to fool the bull. Appear something that is not. If you are willing, wanting to give everything, you can be better or worse. You have to wait, keeping faith until the last moment, because you never know what might happen.
Let's move on, perhaps the most personal shot. What do you feel about the bullfighting suit?
As if I feel more like myself than ever, like when you wear a style of clothing that you say this is my style. I feel comfortable, if I could I would wear it every day, because with it I feel identified, I feel complete. When I go to do the walk, I think that in a few minutes I will be doing what I like the most, which is fighting. It even seems that you grow a foot, you put your kidneys, you walk with your feet inward almost as if I were a model, so it is very beautiful.
Everyone respects you, they want to have a photo with you. I believe that I am the one who takes the most photos with any fan, I have no problem, I stay as long as it takes. They buy their tickets and come to see us fight, so I dedicate all the time to them. I also have something different, which I think distinguishes me and that is that when I put on the costume of lights, the smile is very difficult to be removed. I think I am one of the few bullfighters who does the walk smiling, I go out to the horse yard smiling, I am in the alley smiling, I even smile in front of the bull. I have come to cry with happiness for the emotion and that happens while you fight an animal is one of the most beautiful things that I have been able to experience in my life.
But is that every time I put on a suit of lights I know that something is going to happen, be it good or bad, but I know that something is going to happen and for me it is tremendous.
Let's talk about the afternoon of your alternative, that alternative that you received from the hands of El Cordobés. How was it? What do you remember from that afternoon?
I remember everything, in the morning I was walking through the countryside and the town. Later I met my crew, who have a very good relationship with them, we laughed and joked until the last moment. That day was fulfilling a dream, getting a doctorate as a bullfighter and giving my grandfather the bull of my alternative, that was the most special moment of the whole afternoon.
We are people and as such love comes to us, something that I think is the meaning of life. That love of
things, I am in love with this profession, I love my family and seeing my grandfather there on the line, who is always in the alley ... When I went to offer him the bull, a lump made my throat That is why you are going to start crying with emotion and I was not able to say practically nothing. I had rehearsed it, but the words did not come out, but sometimes the words are superfluous.
Next to my grandfather was my mother, who was recording me with one hand and holding the rosary with the other. She records me so that later I can see and correct my defects. I think that for my mother, seeing it through that small screen makes her less real. Although she always goes with me, for the good and for the bad. She has experienced the strongest goring, she enjoys my triumphs and if something happens she is there.
In the strongest goring of my life, in France, she was there. Before I was transferred to the hospital, I asked to go into the operating room because if something happened to me I wanted my mother's face to be the last thing I saw. I know I gave her that bad drink, but she came in and grabbed my hand. She is a warrior.
That day was one of the most epic and beautiful moments of my life. It is true that some crutches, your ears, the Big Door remain in your retina ... but that afternoon I am left with that moment in which I looked my grandfather in the eye, we were both excited. He knows everything I have lived and fought for.
If I had disappeared from this world on that day in France, where my grandfather, my grandmother, my mother were ... I would not have suffered, they would have suffered. It was nice looking into his eyes and dedicating that toast to him, I felt full.
Would you say that goring is the bitter face of the profession?
Not at all, that goring in France was not the worst moment. We are not made of another paste, we are simply psyched up and prepared for that situation, for a blow, for a fall, for a goring. the fact that we recover so soon is the illusion we have of fighting again.
Ultimately, the world is moved by love and illusion. If you are excited about something, I assure you that you recover twice as fast as normal. Everything is mental. There are tremendous goring and the professionals have to cure us, but it helps a lot if your attitude is positive, I know it in good faith.
Goring is not the bad thing about the profession, the bad thing is being on the bench. In my case, that my colleagues do not want to fight with me because I am a woman and you cannot fight or that your attorney tells you, Conchi, I'm sorry, the businessmen don't want to put you on. That is the bad side, the rest are things that must be paid because it is a toll to live this beautiful profession.
What message would you launch? A message with that energy and avoidance that you overflow.What would you say to the woman and the fans?
I am going to make a small paragraph, in 2016 they put me among the 100 most influential women in the world, it freaked me out, because a foreign media put a bullfighter in knowing how bullfighters are seen abroad ...
They understood my profession perfectly, they came to record me and fell in love with bullfighting. Maybe also because of what you tell me, because of the way I express it, with that passion that I feel.
They put me on that list with tremendously important women, with scientists, with philosophers ... and I was the only Spanish. I think the key was that I told them that in my head I don't know how to distinguish between men and women, I believe in equality between people and that a person has to fight for her dreams.
My message for women, for those who want to be bullfighters, for those who want to dedicate themselves to a profession that is believed to be for men ... there is nothing here that is for men or women. My message is that you do not set limits, that you dream very, very high, that you dream big and that you know that you can achieve everything that they can imagine, for many obstacles, for many trips, no matter how much you may cry later in your house of frustration. We continue to live in a society in which machismo is latent. So, do not stop, continue with enthusiasm and that it is that profession that makes you get up every day wanting to continue dedicating your time to it.
They must not give up, they must continue, because sooner or later everything in life comes, I am sure, that they rely on themselves. You were born for that, so keep going, don't close in on yourself. I am working on something that I know is not what I want to work on, but I am aware that the rent has to be paid. For this reason, I have continued to fight for my profession and now the time has come for me, an attorney-in-fact ... When you least expect it, things can change, who would have thought in the time we live that a pandemic would come to paralyze the world. This is a negative thing, but it can open our eyes to realize that in life anything negative can happen, but anything positive can also happen.
Miracles happen daily, so I would invite you to believe in yourself and let nothing and no one stop you.
Fuente; traducida de Guarismo Del Ocho
PATRICIA PRUDENCIO MUÑOZ
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