Merche Esmeralda (née, Mercedes Rodríguez Gamero; Seville, 1947/50) is a Spanish flamenco dancer (bailaora) and choreographer.
When her family could no longer raise money for her education, she learned by observing and imitating famous artists such as El Farruco.
[7] Eventually, she was ready to move to Madrid and earn some money there so she could finance her further education and even support her family.
Two years later, she competed at the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco in Córdoba and won the La Argentinita prize.
Her most important performances in those years were in El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla and in numerous flamencos.
In 1984, she was hired by the television company Televisión Española as a dancer and choreographer for the series Proceso a Mariana Pineda.
In the further program, the ensemble interpreted Triana by Isaac Albéniz and Sinfonía Española by Édouard Lalo to choreographies by José Granero.
[11] She founded a dance school in Madrid and ended the year with a performance in the Teatro de la Zarzuela in front of the Spanish royal couple.
Alongside her, Sara Baras and Eva Yerbabuena performed as the evening's stars, in solos, duos, and together in threes.
[12] Together with Mario Maya, Antonio Canales, and Manuela Carrasco, Merche Esmeralda performed in the Gala de Danza Flamenca in Seville.
But her most important performance that year was without a doubt in the Gran Teatro de Córdoba [es] in the play Todas las primaveras.
[7] A year later, she sang the role of the moon in Francisco Suárez's version of Blood Wedding at the Getafe Autumn Festival.
Among other things, the critic Juan de la Plata praised her masterful interpretation of the siguiriyas, her stylish soleá and her tangos, danced in the best tradition.
In 2002, she appeared in the role of the sorceress in Juan Carlos Santamaría's version of El amor brujo in Madrid.
At the Festival Internacional del Castillo in Aínsa, she danced in the show Nacida en el sur.
However, she could not resist the poetry of the play Última parada with verses by Miguel Hernández, and so she returned to the stage in 2014 at the Bienal de Flamenco (Seville) and later in Madrid.
She taught in Barcelona, Madrid, Santander, Seville, Jerez de la Frontera, at the University of Alcalá, but also abroad, especially in Germany and Japan.