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JAVIER LATORRE: DANCER AND
CHOREOGRAPHER
"The language of art is a kind of Esperanto
among artists. We understand each other through ideas"
Silvia Calado Olivo. Córdoba, July 2002
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
A turning point. The premier of the flamenco comedy 'Rinconete y Cortadillo'
and the simultaneous creation of a new dance company mark the beginning of a new
period in the career of Javier Latorre. Although this is the beginning of the
gradual retirement from the stage of the Valencian bailaor and bailarín,
he will remain present in the world of flamenco dance. His objectives are clearly
laid out: "To create a repertoire and dance institution that outlives me,
whose name is synonymous with quality". His most recent choreography, based
on the novel by Miguel Cervantes, is the first reference of the repertoire of
this organism, and assumed the challenge of making people laugh with flamenco
and not at it. It offers "high-quality sound and image, like when you buy
a television. And good dancing". Sarcasm, humor and irreverence abound in
this production, and Javier Latorre analyzes the development and results of his
work and projects, and even the context in which flamenco dance is performed.
What were your criteria for the creation of the label that identifies 'Rinconete
y Cortadillo'?
It's not so much a label as it is a way of identifying it and distinguishing
it from what's been done in the past. Until now, flamenco has only dealt with
tragedies: impossible romances, betrayal, stabbings, blood, and other nasty things.
But, if you take a look at the different professionals in theatre, it's pretty
obvious that flamenco composers have got a great comic vein and sense of humor.
We're some of the funniest people in the theater world. It was surprising that
the idea was practically unexplored. There have been bits and pieces of other
works, but nothing has been as ambitious as this, as far as duration and script.
There have been things, like Cristina Hoyos in "Arsa y toma," where
she offered an idea of what a parody of flamenco could be. Or "El sombrero
de tres picos," that has a couple of moments that are very naïf.
And I've done things in other works of mine, going further than ordinary humor,
sarcasm or irony. It was something I'd been wanting to do because I was tired
of seeing that flamencos were only funny offstage.
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Javier Latorre. 'Ambivalencias'
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In this production, the dancers aren't the only ones to interpret roles:
the musicians and singers participate, as well.
The casting was very important. We wanted to choose actors that resembled Cervantes'
description in the novel, in order to keep interpretation at a minimum, because
its hard for a guitarist or singer to remain in character. Pepe Quero, the director
of the theatrical group Los Ulen, did a great job adapting the novel to the stage
and in the staging itself, coordinating the musicians and the dancers.
There are eight musicians, five of which are onstage and three are in the pit
handling percussion, choruses and sound effects. There are sound effects like
the sort of thing you hear in Benny Hill or silent films. We use everything that
contributes to the general sense of hilarity. We've taken elements from all kinds
of stories: from the chirigotas de Cádiz to Les Luthiers, Los Morancos
or Chaplin; everything that can make you laugh.
What did the singers and guitarists say when they saw they'd be acting?
Well, at first, they were a bit intimidated! But we put some thought into how
we'd go about explaining it to them. We eventually convinced them that if they
wanted to maintain a low profile forming part of the group, instead of just playing.
It was easy helping them to discover their potential, and from that point on,
they've been having a great time.
Enrique el Extremeño has a role that's exactly what he represents in
real life: his physical appearance, his way... He's the capo di capi; you
put him in a chair at center stage, in control of everything around him, and he's
happy. And we all know who he is and what a great singer he is. When they asked
him if he wanted to do it, he accepted straight away. Things are a lot more natural
than they seem.
We're so afraid of committing sacrilege, and that makes no sense at all. Antonio
Gades has been doing this for 25 years. In all of his works, the guitarists and
singers move around the stage and have a role to play, and no one has ever thought
it was strange. What might seem strange about this work is its comic nature. But
flamencos are the funniest people in the world! This is a natural setting for
them. When they start to get into a character, it isn't hard at all; they add
their own ideas to the script. That's the proof that the role has been fully assumed;
it's been digested and everybody's comfortable with what they're doing. They have
a ball onstage.
What inspired this first, the novel or the idea?
The idea was first. My friend and manager Raúl Comba wrote the script
10 years ago. When we first met seven years ago, the first thing he did was to
give me the script to see about if we could do something with it. For me, the
mere challenge of laughing with flamenco rather than at it-which is what we've
been seeing lately-was exciting. One important factor is that, until now, we've
had financing, or co-production. I say co-production rather than financing because
I've got a clear idea of this: I don't want subsidies or free money from anyone.
I want people to invest in my projects and to get a return on their investment.
'Rinconete y Cortadillo'
Does the script closely follow the original novel?
Completely. We've only taken a small liberty with the location. In the novel,
Rinconete y Cortadillo is at some undetermined location in Andalusia, on a road
to Seville, and we've located it in the tavern Posada del Potro. It's a pretext
for the alegrías de Córdoba, which aren't normally used,
and it's also a tribute to my adopted hometown, where I'm living and I hope that
I never die.
In musical terms, what's special about this production?
Everything about the music and the verse is totally original. Nothing has been
recycled, because there isn't a single moment in which we've resorted to using
a classic melody. The flamenco and the classical music -by Juan Carlos Romero
and Mauricio Sotelo- doesn't have a single recycled note, and the verse is completely
new. It was expressly written for this by José Luis Ortiz Nuevo. None of
the verse has been recorded or used in any production, so this work can be considered
totally original.
How do you approach flamenco dance and choreography?
If you want to stage a comedy, you have to look for other elements and resources.
The music contributes a lot. You might think that they'd be at odds, but Juan
Carlos Romero is an avant-garde artist -but flamenco-, and Mauricio Sotelo is
one of the world's greatest virtuosos in contemporary composition. So, on first
impression, you might think that they would clash. But, when people talk about
fusion, I think it'd be more appropriate to say "communion among artists".
I think that the language of art is a kind of Esperanto that real artists can
use for communication. We don't have to speak the same language; we understand
each other through ideas.
I found it challenging to fit the choreography to the music of both Mauricio
and Juan Carlos. It's the same story with Abraham Lacalle, who is one of the most
important representational painters at this time, and is one of the most talented
artists alive today. Obviously, his style of painting has nothing to do with the
16th century. But we've managed to develop a cohesive language, and we enriched
the choreography with some new ideas. You can't just arrange steps. Arranging
steps is for a chorus or group scene; and, even so, when they're dancing, they're
maintaining their character, each one within his or her role. They don't just
forget about their role when they start dancing, like you see so often today.
We use contemporary technique, and classical technique. I've always used it and
I always will. It took me a lot of work to learn it. We also use pantomime. Pepe
Quero did a great job as an actor and as a playwright, because he's not much accustomed
to acting. I think that Daniel Navarro and Nacho Blanco, as Rinconete and Cortadillo,
do an excellent job.
What kind of reactions are you getting?
The premiere in the Generalife in Granada was hard because the public there
is used to the tradition of ballet with a classical and serious script. Offering
them something like this when they're used to seeing tragedies... It was hard
to get around the preconceived ideas. I knew that if the public in the Generalife
liked this, then it would be a sure success in any other theater, because this
is one of the most difficult places in the world to satisfy the public. They laughed
where they were supposed to, they enjoyed the production, and they applauded for
seven minutes.
It's harder to make someone laugh than to transmit drama.
And that's a well-known fact in the entertainment world. Making someone laugh
is far more difficult than making them cry, and especially when ideas have already
been used and it's hard to create new gags. You have to do a lot of adjustment
to the character so that it works into the scene in a totally credible way. It's
really tough. There's a fine line that separates them laughing with you and laughing
at you, and I think that this production manages to avoid being ridiculous at
all times. You can call it coarse or unrefined, but I'm proud of that, because
unrefined humor makes everyone laugh. And we're not talking about theaters full
of highbrows, which is a good thing, because highbrows really bother me; the ones
that want more refined humor. Just look at the comics in the Spanish market at
this time. An overwhelming majority of people think that Chiquito de la Calzada
is really funny, and a minority reject him; there's no middle ground. I don't
want to be on a middle ground in this production or in anything else that I do.
I'm sure that there are people that won't like it because my kind of humor or
way of looking at life is coarse, or corrosive, or sarcastic, or irreverent. But
there is very high-quality sound and image, like when you buy a television. And
good dance…
But not from Javier Latorre…
I don't dance in this production; it's another one of the objectives of the
company. I'm still fighting for my ideas, and I don't completely agree with everything
that's happening in flamenco. This company is definitely not going to disappear
when I retire, and I'm very close to retirement, in the sense of dancing as hard
as I always have. My physique and my age won't allow for it, and I've got different
objectives at this stage in my life. I can say that, as a dancer, I've achieved
everything I've set out to do. I've been dancing for 35 years, I've had several
operations in my legs, I've got asthma, etcetera, etcetera. My goal is to stage
productions and to create an institution that outlives me and everyone else. I
want a Netherlands Dance Theatre, I want an American Ballet... I want a dance
institution whose name is a synonym of quality, and doesn't need a personal figure.
It not only gets in the way of those coming up from behind, it also means that
the company disappears when the figure disappears. There are already examples
that we're all aware of, where there was a tremendous controversy because the
figure didn't want to step aside.
So is that what you've got in mind for this institution?
As the official companie of the Gran Teatro de Córdoba, the idea is
to have a location, to start to offer grants, and to enlist new talent from a
permanent school like the Ballet Nacional de España; a breeding ground
for new artists. I'm also very interested in creating a center for choreographic
studies. It's something that we've needed for a long time.
Do you think that that breeding ground might one day include talent from
outside of Spain?
In dance courses, you see far more foreigners than Spaniards. It's a question
of love. People don't want to dance; they don't like the effort that's required.
It's the same story in 'Rinconete y Cortadillo': obtaining the greatest results
with the least amount of effort, but transferred to flamenco. In flamenco, everyone's
great. They think that they're professionals because they've been onstage. They
can't see that you can't stop learning if you want to demonstrate that you're
a professional. They think that if they grow a goatee beard or wear a pony tail
they can get to the level of Antonio Canales or Joaquín Cortés.
And that's a big mistake. At this rate, someone who comes from 6,000 kilometers
away is going to put in more effort. Here, anyone who's reasonably good-looking
and has feet and ears thinks that he's done it all, and he ends up dancing for
4,000 pesetas. That's very sad. Fortunately for me, that was my beginning and
not my end. In all humility, I have to say that I consider myself the one-eyed
king in the land of the blind.
revista@flamenco-world.com
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