José Miguel Guerra Revuelta

José Miguel Guerra Revuelta was born on March 19, 1938, in the Quimaranes neighborhood of Tanos. He grew up with his siblings, Lorenzo, Elvira, and José Antonio, in a home where his parents, Lorenzo and Engracia, instilled a love of work and local traditions. His education took place in the national schools of Tanos until the age of 13, although he did not complete his school leaving certificate. From a young age, and despite his responsibilities, he found time for leisure, participating in local traditions, folk games, songs and groups of young men, as well as dances. He inherited a passion for folklore; his grandmother played the Picayos de Tanos band since 1890, and his mother won the first provincial prize in Picayos with the group in 1925. Inspired by his older brother, José Miguel began dancing and rehearsing in 1945 at La Tabernuca, a tavern near his home. In 1950, the Virgen de las Nieves Children's Group was formed, which José Miguel and all his siblings joined in 1955. He made his dancing debut at the age of 10 at the Tanos festivals and in 1951 performed for the first time outside his town, in Zurita. His first teachers in the picayos dances, flowery arches, Conde de Lara, and the Ibio dance were Pedro Cayón, Antonio Guerra, and Maruchi Bedia. But, as he explains, his "folkloric life truly began" in the 1950s, when the Tanos dance group moved its rehearsals to the Sindical premises in Torrelavega. It was there that he learned to dance the jota montañesa, the pericote, and the cuevanuco dance, under the tutelage of instructors such as Ignacio Acho and Pili Bartolomé. His first dance partner was Mari Arozamena, followed by Paquita Castillo. He excelled in numerous competitions alongside Carmela Rivera, with whom he won multiple awards. In his later years, he was accompanied by Maribel Aldaco and Rosi Aldaco. His working career began at the Collado wineries in Torrelavega, working alongside his father, Lorenzo, and his uncle, Antonio Guerra. At 13, he took on a variety of responsibilities, from caring for the owner's children and running errands, to becoming a delivery boy throughout the province at the age of 18. At 22, José Miguel completed his military service in Pamplona, ​​where after three months of training in Carrascal, he became a corporal in the Band and Drums of the Music Brigade, also participating in the Artillery and Cavalry units. Upon returning to Cantabria, he resumed his relationship with Mariluz, a native of Tiedra (Valladolid), for two years. In November 1964, they married at the Ermita de Santa Ana (Tanos), beginning their life together and forming a family with their daughter Luz Mari (1964) and sons José Miguel (1966) and David (1976), who share their deep interest in folklore. In the 1975 generation, their two oldest children and their nephews (Maricarmen, Ima, Ana, and José Luis) also joined the dance group, with David continuing this tradition with the next generation. In the 1960s, José Miguel, along with Vicente Velarde, Águeda de Diego, and Carmela Rivera, revived the Dance Group at the request of Maximiliano Obeso. From the age of 31 until his early retirement at 54, he worked at the La General factory. In 1978, after the death of Maximiliano Obeso, president of the Tanos Dance Group, José Miguel took over as its director. The Group's decisive growth came in the 1980s. In 1988, José Miguel was elected president of the Dance Group, with the aim of "promoting one of the oldest folklore groups in Spain." That same year, they created the "Comarca del Besaya" National Folklore Festival, which later became the "Por las Tierras de Cantabria" International Folklore Showcase. In 2012, the Group received the Gold Medal from the City of Torrelavega. Furthermore, since 1890, the Group has been dedicated to teaching and disseminating the ethnography and folklore of Cantabria. In the late 1990s, José Miguel (Dance Group), José Luis Rivera (Nuestra Señora de Covadonga), and Josefina Blanco (San Pablo) founded the Torrelavega Municipal Folklore School, where dance, singing, and folk instrument classes are taught. During this decade, and under his presidency, the Cantabrian Federation of Folklore Groups was founded. In recognition of José Miguel's more than 60 years of dedication to Tania folklore and the transmission of the cultural legacy of dance, in 2018 he was awarded the Gold Insignia of the Virgen de las Nieves Dance Group. In 2023, the Torrelavega City Council, by a majority, named the square next to the Auditorium "Los Picayos" in his honor, the place where he grew as a dancer. José Miguel sums up his passion for folklore: "I've only had two loves in my life: the first is my wife, my children, my grandchildren. And the second love I've had has been the Virgen de Tanos Dance Group." Legado Cantabria is a production of the PEM Foundation.