Michael Miguel Bernal established his professional career alongside his sisters as Los Hermanos Bernal, studying ballet, and Spanish dance. His first long-term professional nightclub contract was at Las Golondrinas Restaurant at Olvera Street in Los Angeles. Miguel has performed throughout Southern California, in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Colorado, and Mexico City. He studied with renowned teachers in Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Madrid. Bernal studied and danced with Jose Greco and Nana Lorca as a member of their recital company, culminating with performances that included concerts and appearances with the Stockton and Boston Pops Symphony Orchestras.
He studied Theatre dance and performance with Gene Nelson, who later directed Miguel in the stage musical “Magdalene”. Miguel worked in the Columbia film musical “Lost Horizon” with Hermes Pan, Liv Ullmann, and Bobby Van, followed by musical comedy shows with his sisters such as “Annie Get Your Gun”, “The Music Man” and “Godspell”; the latter two productions with actor/director Squire Fridell. As a dramatic actor, Miguel participated with The Bilingual Foundation of Arts, touring in productions of Federico Garcia Lorca plays Dona Rosita La Soltera and Blood Wedding, aka Bodas de Sangre, with Carmen Zapata.
Although Miguel is still dancing, his dream and desire to write his dance books needed to start. The long research period took ten years, interviewing his teachers and other dancers he had met while studying in Madrid, Mexico City, and Los Angeles. Miguel always studied with teachers who established a dance career. “I took the history of dance as they lived it and applied the actual history of the American dance scene to their professional careers. I am not a writer; however, I had many stories attributed to the teachers I studied with and colleagues I met along the way. I could not let all this information and my historical collection fade.” The research led to a series of books The Golden Age of the Spanish Dance, Legends of Spanish & Flamenco Dance, and the more recent Influenced by Spanish & Flamenco Dance.
The first book includes Spaniards Antonia Merce, aka La Argentina, Vicente Escudero, and many American contributors. The second book includes his mentor and long-time friend Pilar Lopez, describing her career and that of her sister La Argentinita. The second chapter is dedicated to the careers of Rosario and Antonio. Miguel studied with Rosario in Madrid and interviewed Antonio at El Escorial, Spain. Currently in editing and design production is the third book, focused on the careers of Carmelita Maracci, Carmen Amaya, and Jose Fernandez. Bernal has organized more interviews and research material to publish a fourth book on remembrances and interviews of Jose Greco and Nana Lorca, intersecting with the history of their Spanish Dance Company. “I was told countless times by my teachers to study history. You cannot become a well-rounded artist without the knowledge of the past.”
Upon returning to the United States, his talents took him to perform as a guest artist with various dance companies in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Barnsdale Theatre, Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Gibson (Universal) Amphitheatre, The Madrid Theatre, etc. With his ensemble, he has performed for years at major venues in Los Angeles, the Coronado Hotel, Disneyland Hotel, Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel, Century City Hotel and Spa, Riviera Country Club, Wilshire Country Club, Queen Mary, Hollywood Palladium, Peterson Museum, and the Armand Hammer Museum. Some special highlight performances include lead dancer and choreographer with the Marina Symphony Orchestra in Manuel de Falla’s ‘El Amor Brujo’. Other concerts necessitated the Miguel Bernal Ensemble to travel to New York State University, where Miguel performed two times, and New Mexico University for a concert. More recently, Miguel produced a sold-out concert at the Coachella Repertory Theatre in Palm Springs, CA.
Recent travels through Spain cemented his interest in collecting dance programs, books, and recordings, adding to an already bursting-at-the-seams archive of historical dance photographs. His interest in European history and architecture became his early passion, with a focus on Interior Design and Art History. Bernal completed his academic studies at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, CA., and The Fashion Institute of Interior Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles, CA.
See photos below:
Miguel Bernal, Dixie Carter, Hal Holbrook