Helba Huara
{{family name hatnote|Muñoz|Huara|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Helba Huara
| image = Helba_Huara,_Vargas_Brothers_Art_Studio_1924.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Helba Huara, by Vargas Brothers Art Studio, 1924
| birth_name = Helba Muñoz Huara
| birth_date = 1900
| birth_place = Cusco, Peru
| death_date = 1986
| death_place = Paris, France
| other_names =
| occupation = dancer, model
| years_active = 1909–1936
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Helba Huara (1900–1986) was a modern dancer from Peru. Her exotic appearance and unique dance style, which incorporated European and Native American influences, created a sensation in the late 1920s. Moving from Peru to the United States, she became a star on Broadway in the 1927 production of A Night in Spain. Later, she moved to Paris and became involved in the artistic and intellectual café society. She was renowned for her original and innovative costumes and dance style and worked as a photographer's model.
Early life
Helba Muñoz Huara was born in 1900 in Cusco, Peru, to a Spanish medical doctor named Muñoz. While in Brazil, Muñoz traveled from Spain, met his future wife, and immigrated to Peru. While she was still a child, the family immigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The family was impoverished, and from around nine, Huara danced to earn money.{{sfn|de Zarraüa|1927|p=18}}{{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}} Beginning her career with a Russian dance troupe, Huara quickly took the stage name Helba Huara and dropped the use of Muñoz. Dancing with extreme passion, with a tragic air and intense energy, she soon developed a unique style.{{sfn|de Zarraüa|1927|p=18}} Huara married at age fourteen and had a daughter, Elsa Henríquez, who would later become an illustrator. Huara became well known, performing in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. {{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}} She was photographed by the noted Vargas Brothers, Carlos and Miguel, in 1924. Their images of her were not erotic photographs but rather allowed her to act out the persona she projected.{{sfn|Castro|2006}} She met Gonzalo More, a Peruvian journalist who came to interview for his brother's paper after seeing her dance in Lima.{{sfn|Nin|1995|p=420}} Soon, she and her daughter fled the unhappy family life with Huara's husband, going with More to Havana before going to the United States. {{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}}
Career abroad
Arriving in the U.S., Huara was hired for the prestigious Ziegfeld Follies and billed as a captivating Spanish or Peruvian dancer,.{{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}} However, according to Variety her early performances were under another name.{{sfn|Variety|1927|p=49}} She also appeared in shows at the Guild and Shubert Theaters. In 1927, she appeared on Broadway in A Night in Spain{{sfn|Nin|1995|p=421}} and though billed as part of the chorus, almost immediately was being singled out for her performances, with her "Dance of Fate" and "Dance of the Snakes".{{sfn|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|4 May 1927|p=36}}{{sfn|The Berkeley Daily Gazette|1928|p=3}} Quickly, the posters for the show were revised to show her as one of the stars.{{sfn|de Zárraga|1927|pp=740, 770}} When the show closed on Broadway, it made a nationwide tour throughout 1928, with Huara appearing successfully in such venues as Abilene, Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, and San Francisco, among others.{{sfn|The Abilene Reporter-News|13 May 1928|p=7}}{{sfn|The Daily Democrat|1928}}{{sfn|Soans|1928|p=45}} Wildly inventive biographies of Huara's origins appeared in the press, adding to her allure.{{sfn|The Abilene Reporter-News|27 May 1928|p=13}}{{sfn|Bald|1987|p=82}}
Huara's dances were described as a fusion of Peruvian folklore and Spanish techniques, using castagnets and sinuous, snake-like movements, proving a technical skill that was hypnotizing and bewitching.{{sfn|Conijn|1934|pp=429–430}} Performed to modern music composed by artists like Arthur Honegger and Vincent d'Indy, she balanced her wild "Incan" abandon with the bohemian music and style of the period.{{sfn|Conijn|1934|p=430}} Huara designed her costumes and even took films of her movements in slow motion to patent her dance moves.{{sfn|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|15 July 1927|p=24}} In 1930, she played in the musical Nina Rose, at the Majestic Theatre.{{sfn|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|1930|p=31}} The following year, she was the subject of photographs entered in the Rochester International Salon of Photography by Dr. Max Thorek.{{sfn|The Syracuse Herald|1931|p=110}} Suffering from a nervous disorder and increasing deafness, Huara and More left the United States for Paris.{{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}}
In 1931, Huara, More and Henríquez arrived in Paris, where Huara became known as "the dancing Inca".{{sfn|Bald|1987|pp=47, 81–82}}{{sfn|Malexis|2011|p=7}}{{sfn|Nin|1995|p=421}} She performed at several of the soirées hosted by Désirée Lieven, an expatriate from Lithuania who often was referred to as a princess and became the center of leftist intelligentsia activities in Paris.{{sfn|Bald|1987|pp=47, 81–82}}{{sfn|Ayala|2015}}{{sfn|Sáez More|2015}} Huara's elaborate costumes and dancing style combined savagery and soul. More served as Huara's accompanist, and the two caught Anaïs Nin’s attention when she saw Huara perform the "Dance of the Woman without Arms" in the early 1930s at the Théâtre de la Gaîeté. In 1933, Huara and More toured Germany to much acclaim, {{sfn|Nin|1995|p=421}} afterward, continuing to perform in Paris through 1935.{{sfn|The Oakland Tribune|1935|p=68}} In 1936, Huara and More attended a party where they met Nin for the first time. By that time, Huara's deafness and illness had impacted her ability to continue dancing. She and More lived in a small basement apartment shared with other revolutionary figures who opposed the conservatives in the Spanish Civil War.{{sfn|Duxler|2002|p=68}} In her diaries, Nin wrote that she was the benefactress of the couple, though in actuality, Nin was having an affair with More. {{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}} She rented a houseboat on the Seine to facilitate her rendezvous with More.{{sfn|Duxler|2002|p=69}} In her journals, Nin referred to More as "Rango" and Huara as "Zara"{{sfn|Malexis|2011|p=7}} disparaging Huara as a neurotic, dependent on her husband's care. In actuality, More was a person with alcohol use disorder who preferred socializing to work.{{sfn|Duxler|2002|pp=68–70}}
In March 1940, Huara and More fled France and arrived in New York City.{{sfn|Duxler|2002|p=75}} During World War II, Nin set More up with a printing press in the United States. Still, the business failed due to his mismanagement.{{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}} Huara ran a dance studio in New York, where she taught students like the musicologist Rosa Alarco.{{sfn|Respaldiza Rojas|2014}} At the end of the war, the couple returned to Paris,{{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}} where Huara remained a fixture among the avant-garde circles, before having to withdraw from activities due to illness and loss of her sight. {{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}}{{sfn|DeMille|1965|p=167}}
Death and legacy
Huara died in Paris in 1986.{{sfn|Niño de Guzmán|2013|p=3}} Huara was the central character in a trilogy of novels by Carlos Calderón Fajardo, La noche humana which focuses on the Peruvian expatriate community of Paris who were political leftists.{{sfn|Libros Peruanos|2008}}{{sfn|Ayala|2015}} In 2017, Revista Vuelapluma (volume 10), a journal from the Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades of Los Olivos published a chronicle of Huara's life by the journalist Pablo Paredes.{{sfn|Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades|2017}}
References
=Citations=
{{Reflist|30em}}
=Bibliography=
{{refbegin|30em}}
- {{cite news|last1=Ayala|first1=José Luis|title=Última entrevista a Carlos Calderón Fajardo|url=http://www.losandes.com.pe/Regional/20150503/88170.html|access-date=7 July 2017|publisher=Diario Los Andes|date=3 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725130553/http://www.losandes.com.pe/Regional/20150503/88170.html|archive-date=25 July 2015|location=Puno, Peru|language=Spanish|trans-title=Last interview with Carlos Calderón Fajardo}}
- {{cite book|last1=Bald|first1=Wambly|editor1-last=Franklin V.|editor1-first=Benjamin|title=On the Left Bank, 1929–1933|date=1987|publisher=Ohio University Press|location=Athens, Ohio|isbn=0-8214-0852-6|url=https://archive.org/stream/onleftbank19291900bald#page/n9/mode/1up/search/Helba+}}
- {{cite web|last1=Castro|first1=Fernando|title=The Vargas Brothers of Arequipa|url=http://www.hcponline.org/publications/spot-issues/summer-2007/vargas-brothers|website=Houston Center For Photography Online|publisher=Houston Center For Photography|access-date=6 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629153037/http://www.hcponline.org/publications/spot-issues/summer-2007/vargas-brothers|archive-date=29 June 2016|location=Houston, Texas|date=30 November 2006|url-status=dead}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Conijn|first1=Cornelius|title=De Inca-Danseres Helba Huara|journal=Elsevier Weekblad|date=July–December 1934|issue=2|pages=428–430|url=http://elsevier.x-cago.com/pagedetail.do?code=EGM&date=19340701&id=EGM-19340701-0531|access-date=6 July 2017|publisher=ONE Business|location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706145527/http://elsevier.x-cago.com/pagedetail.do?code=EGM&date=19340701&id=EGM-19340701-0531|archive-date=6 July 2017|language=Dutch|issn=0020-0190|trans-title=The Inca Dancer Helba Huara|url-status=dead}}
- {{cite book|last1=DeMille|first1=Agnes|title=The Book of the Dance|date=1965|publisher=Golden Press|location=New York, New York|oclc=427221448|url=https://archive.org/stream/bookofdance00demi#page/n6/mode/1up/search/huara}}
- {{cite book|last1=Duxler|first1=Margot Beth|title=Seduction: a portrait of Anaïs Nin|date=2002|publisher=EdgeWork Books|location=Boulder, Colorado|isbn=978-1-931-22302-7|url=https://archive.org/stream/seductionportrai00duxl#page/68/mode/2up}}
- {{cite web|last1=Malexis|first1=Sophie|title=Emile Savitry (1903-1967), un photographe de Montparna sse|url=http://www.lemasc.fr/media/dossier_de_presse_savitry__039246900_1559_02072012.pdf|website=Le MASC|publisher=Musée de l’Abbaye Sainte-Croix|access-date=6 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414233853/http://www.lemasc.fr/media/dossier_de_presse_savitry__039246900_1559_02072012.pdf|archive-date=14 April 2016|location=Poitiers, France|pages=5–9|language=French|date=26 November 2011|trans-title=Emile Savitry (1903–1967), a photographer from Montparnasse}}
- {{cite book|last1=Nin|first1=Anaïs|editor1-last=Stuhlmann|editor1-first=Gunther (biographical notes and annotations)|editor2-last=Pole|editor2-first=Rupert (preface)|title=Fire: the unexpurgated diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934–1937.|date=1995|publisher=Harcourt Brace|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-15-100088-3|edition=1st unabridged|url=https://archive.org/stream/firefromajournal00nina#page/n10/mode/1up/search/huara}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Niño de Guzmán|first1=Guillermo|title=Gonzalo More, un peruano en la vida de Anaïs Nin|url=https://issuu.com/alobso/docs/lundero_417/3|access-date=6 July 2017|journal=Lundero|issue=417|publisher=La Industria de Chiclayo|date=September 2013|location=Chiclayo, Peru|pages=2–3|language=Spanish|trans-title=Gonzalo More, a Peruvian in the life of Anaïs Nin}}
- {{cite news|last1=Respaldiza Rojas|first1=José|title=Rosa Alarco...Una Rosa Musical|url=https://lamula.pe/2014/10/08/rosa-alarco-una-rosa-musical/nuestrabandera/|access-date=6 July 2017|publisher=La Mula|date=10 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706233329/https://lamula.pe/2014/10/08/rosa-alarco-una-rosa-musical/nuestrabandera/|archive-date=6 July 2017|location=Lima, Peru|language=Spanish|trans-title=Rosa Alarco...A rose-colored musical}}
- {{cite news|last1=Sáez More|first1=Daniel|title=Mujer Universal: Désirée Lieven, luchadora antifascista|url=http://www.ecorepublicano.es/2015/03/mujer-universal-desiree-lieven.html|publisher=Eco Republicano|access-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720013538/http://www.ecorepublicano.es/2015/03/mujer-universal-desiree-lieven.html|archive-date=20 July 2015|location=Spain|language=Spanish|date=8 March 2015|trans-title=Désirée Lieven, Anti-fascist fighter}}
- {{cite news|last1=Soans|first1=Wood|title=Ad Libbing on First Nights|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12173928/oakland_tribune/|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=The Oakland Tribune|date=10 August 1928|location=Oakland, California|page=45|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite journal|last1=de Zárraga|first1=Miguel|title=La Danzarina Tragica|url=https://archive.org/stream/cinemundial12unse#page/740/mode/1up/search/Helba+Huara|access-date=7 July 2017|journal=Cine-Mundial|publisher=Chalmers Publishing Company|date=September 1927|location=New York, New York|pages=740, 770|language=Spanish|trans-title=The Tragic Dancer}}
- {{cite news|last1=de Zarraüa|first1=Miguel|title=Helba Muñoz Huara, la Celebrada Artista Hispanoperuana|url=http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1927/10/30/018.html|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=ABC España|date=30 October 1927|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706155853/http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1927/10/30/018.html|archive-date=6 July 2017|location=Madrid, Spain|page=18|language=Spanish|trans-title=Helba Muñoz Huara, the Celebrated Hispanic Peruvian Artist}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|15 July 1927}}|author=|title=All Her Own|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12173831/all_her_own_the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=15 July 1927|location=Brooklyn, New York|page=24|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Daily Democrat|1928}}|author=|title=Chicago Hit on at Curran|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/susun-wilkinson-celebrity-clipping-jun-30-1928-325702/|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=Daily Democrat|date=30 June 1928|location=Woodland, California|page=5|via = Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Syracuse Herald|1931}}|author=|title=Helba Huara|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/susun-wilkinson-celebrity-clipping-jan-04-1931-325791/|access-date=6 July 2017|publisher=The Syracuse Herald|date=4 January 1931 |location=Syracuse, New York|page=110|via = Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Oakland Tribune|1935}}|author=|title=Inca Indian Girl Executing Her War Dance|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12193264/oakland_tribune/|access-date=7 July 2017|newspaper=The Oakland Tribune|date=14 September 1930|location=Brooklyn, New York|page=31|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|1930}}|author=|title=In Local Playhouses|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12174029/in_local_playhouses_the_brooklyn_daily/|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=17 November 1935|location=Oakland, California|page=68|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite web|ref={{harvid|Libros Peruanos|2008}}|author=|title=En la penumbra del tiempo: Carlos Calderón Fajardo, escritor|url=http://www.librosperuanos.com/autores/articulo/00000001413/En-la-penumbra-del-tiempoCarlos-Calderon-Fajardo-escritor|website=librosperuanos.com|publisher=Centro Cultural Libros Peruanos|access-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316112905/http://www.librosperuanos.com/autores/articulo/00000001413/En-la-penumbra-del-tiempoCarlos-Calderon-Fajardo-escritor|archive-date=16 March 2016|location=Lima, Peru|language=Spanish|date=22 September 2008|trans-title=In the twilight of time: Carlos Calderón Fajardo, writer}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Abilene Reporter-News|13 May 1928}}|author=|title=Livest Stage Show of 1928 Coming Here|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12175250/livest_stage_show_of_1928_coming_here/|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=The Abilene Reporter-News|date=13 May 1928|location=Abilene, Texas|page=7|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite journal|ref={{harvid|Variety|1927}}|author=|title=A Night in Spain|journal=Variety|date=11 May 1927|volume=LXXXVII|issue=4|pages=49–50|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety87-1927-05#page/n112/mode/1up/search/Helba+Huara|access-date=7 July 2017|publisher=Variety, Inc.|location=New York City, New York|issn=0042-2738}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Berkeley Daily Gazette|1928}}|author=|title=Noted Stars Feature "A Night in Spain"|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/susun-wilkinson-celebrity-clipping-aug-04-1928-325703/|access-date=6 July 2017|publisher=The Berkeley Daily Gazette|date=4 August 1928|location=Berkeley, California|page=3|via = Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite web|ref={{harvid|Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades|2017}}|author=|title=Revista Vuelapluma: UCH presenta décima edición|url=http://www.uch.edu.pe/uch-noticias/p/revista-vuelapluma-uch-presenta-decima-edicion|website=UCH Peru|publisher=Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades|access-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707143423/http://www.uch.edu.pe/uch-noticias/p/revista-vuelapluma-uch-presenta-decima-edicion|archive-date=7 July 2017|location=Los Olivos, Peru|language=Spanish|date=4 May 2017|trans-title=Journal Vuelapluma: UCH presents 10th edition|url-status=dead}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|4 May 1927}}|author=|title=Revue Shows Speed|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12173799/revue_shows_speed_the_brooklyn_daily/|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=4 May 1927|location=Brooklyn, New York|page=36|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Abilene Reporter-News|27 May 1928}}|author=|title=Some of the Girls in "A Night in Spain"|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12173988/abilene_reporternews/|access-date=6 July 2017|newspaper=The Abilene Reporter-News|date=27 May 1928|location=Abilene, Texas|page=13|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
{{refend}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huara, Helba}}
Category:Peruvian female dancers
Category:Peruvian choreographers