In 2002, the professor of Philosophy at the UB Víctor Gómez Pin published The most sober school of life, an essay in which the ethical and aesthetic demands of bullfighting were measured. Two years earlier he had launched, contrary to the times and without any subsidy, the Bullfighting School of Catalonia. And he continues standing, now with the bullfighter Enrique Guillén at the helm and four students, between the ages of 16 and 17: Alba Caro, from Santa Coloma de Cervelló; Marcos Adame, from Calafell; Mario Vilau, from l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, and Hugo Casado, from Barcelona, son of the matador Alfonso Casado, who collaborates with Guillén.
Four aspirants to glory who, due to their age and the prohibition, never saw bulls in the Monumental de Barcelona.
On the horizon, Vinaròs April 16, the first bullfight without picadores in which they are advertised. Behind –and ahead– there are afternoons of training when leaving class, stealing hours of rest and fun and trips –at each other's expense– to the south of France and towns in Castellón, Aragón, Castilla where, in front of the calves and erales, give free rein to their passion, prohibited in Catalonia.
Easter days, school vacations, which allow training to go from afternoon to morning, and there they are – except for Hugo, with a fever that day – displaying cloaks and crutches on the municipal site ceded by the City Council of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat.
Under the watchful eye of Enrique Guillén, who corrects or, if necessary, jells, "one makes the bull" so that the partner draws the natural as slowly as possible and Alba throws the cloak to the wind. Thus, alternating between them, the morning passes and the conversation comes to a halt. “In my case, no one in my family or my environment is bullfighting. But I do remember having seen a bullfight on TV with my grandmother, maybe it all comes from there”, says Alba. Mario takes him to his family in Castellón: "Since I was little on vacation I watched the bullfights in the street, then with the televised bullfights I was just hooked." Marcos concludes: "Watching bullfights on TV was what caught my attention in this world."
The four agree that their bullfighting dream does not affect the relationship with colleagues and friends, from foreign environments. Although Alba, who says she prefers being called a bullfighter to a bullfighter, points out: "In my case, at first it can be a bit shocking, but it stays there."
Wanting to be a bullfighter is a dream that feeds on joys and disappointments, hopes and resignations, and they are aware of this: "Training is an incentive for illusion, it is what makes you grow," argues Marcos. They also search the networks for afternoons and historical tasks and are interested in bullfighting literature, an essential complement.
They have fought practical classes outside of Catalonia, but the one in Vinaròs will already be a bullfight without picadores, that first step that everyone longs for is the beginning of many things. Alba, who has Morante as a reference, will wear a pink and silver suit, which belonged to Guillén; Mario's, apple green and gold, by the matador Sánchez Vara, and Marcos will wear royal blue and jet.
Everyone counts the days until that long-awaited little walk arrives in which the Catalan fans will surely embrace them, some accustomed to a forced bullfighting exile. It will be in Vinaròs and its bullring next to the Mediterranean, a sea of culture.
