LATORRE DENOUNCES THE PRESENT STATE OF "FLAMENCO DANCE"
Fernando González-Caballos Martínez

On Friday morning, April 27, 2001, the dancer and choreographer Javier Latorre called together media representatives at Seville's Sala Endanza in order to read a communiqué in which he denounced the present situation of flamenco.

As he explained, "this manifesto is a matter of conscience and the coherence with which I try to teach and communicate". The reason? According to him, because "ethics and integrity are being lost".

Beginning with a brief explanation of what motivated him to write the manifesto, the dancer put forth his opinion about what he considers should be the dignification of flamenco based on the different roles he has fulfilled during his professional career. For this purpose he wanted to state his position from a multiple perspective in which his views as performing artist, choreographer and teacher go hand in hand, since according to him these different fields are in theory well-defined and separate, but in practice this is not so, meaning that authors' rights are in a kind of no-man´s-land.

Along this line he looked for and found people to blame for the situation that "flamenco dance" has arrived at, and which he sets forth in items five and seven of his manifesto, wherein he states his opinion about representative events, critics, and the responsible politicians.

The dancer, who is also a choreographer, confronted the final part of this personal declaration with a reflexion on the "purity" in flamenco with which so many in the audience identified themselves, owing to the biting, ironic tone of his speech. Meanwhile, with an ethics summary, he declared "To those who feel they are being addressed, I have no objection to a public debate. To those who may no longer hire me, I thank them here and now for the enlightenment, and to those who will continue to hire me, let it be known that this is my code of ethics and they'll have to respect it, at least in my specialty".

Photo: Anahí Cármody

MANIFESTO
Javier Latorre

I) DECLARATION OF MOTIVES

This manifesto is the product of a question of conscience and the coherence with which I try to teach and communicate. In no way is it a product of feelings of envy, nor do I feel sidelined nor am I lacking in work or publicity of the type afforded by my profession. What I would like is to open a dialogue among the professionals who hire me, for as far as I can tell they respect my opinion, and to encourage reflexion on what we're doing with FLAMENCO, a culture which is unique precisely because of its richness. Out of respect, not cowardliness, I will only mention names in a positive context or to criticize events which, due to their role which is representative of the reality of FLAMENCO throughout the world, spread and condone everything which I am here denouncing. I would also like to make clear that I respect the careers not only of true professionals, but of those who like to call themselves professionals, although I may not share their views. Do not be trying to find my personal taste in these declarations, and bear in mind, that with all things in life, and also for me, there are exceptions which confirm the rule about everything which I am referring to, as performing artist, choreographer, and teacher.

II) OPINION AS PERFORMING ARTIST

All professionals know that being a good interpreter does not necessarily mean being a good choreographer or a good teacher, because in my opinion a teacher is anyone who by way of sublimation of his or her art, is a school unto him or herself, a school which is open to all those who wish to learn from it. In my opinion an educator is someone who knows how to show the way and transmit his or her knowledge to the student without imposing esthetic or stylistic rules. In FLAMENCO dance, it seems that these three facets have to be thrown together. As performer I can say that I have been enjoying small-town fiestas, costal hotels, and the best theaters in the world for thirty-two years, and my only desire has been, and will continue to be, personal enrichment and the growth and dignification of FLAMENCO by working with, and relating to all types of artists, as well as learning all types of technique from its maestros and teachers.

III) OPINION AS CHOREOGRAPHER

Those who are familiar with my professional career know that I have choreographed more than thirty works, from the most "orthodox" FLAMENCO to Verdi, Piazzola, Mozart, Morente. Lagartija Nick, Haydn, Falla, Wim Mertens, Vicente Amigo, Pat Metheny, etc., as well as for companies from the National Spanish Ballet to the Fura dels Baus, in addition to the companies of Eva la Yerbabuena, Antonio Canales, A. Márquez, C. A. D. and the end of term presentation of the Córdoba Conservatory.

At the same time I've been lucky enough to have had the privelege of working and learning with such great choreographers as Antonio, Antonio Gades, José Granero, Pilar López, Alberto Lorca, José Antonio and many others whom I will not mention due to lack of space but no lack of respect. I have also enjoyed and learned from other choreographers such as Pétipa, Bournonville, Frederick Ashton, Merce Cunningham, Marta Graham, Jiry Killian, Mats EK, Maurice Béjart, Cesc Gelabert, Pina Bausch, Roland Petit y Julio Bocca, among others. In other words, I am speaking about true choreographers and the lack of respect for that specialty with regards to FLAMENCO. Choreography is not a god-given science nor the result of a divine apparition or mystical experience, but rather the product of continuous learning, constant experimentation, richness of vocabulary, and a sense of geometry, of group movement and of simplicity, taking fullest advantage of the dancers with whom you are creating each work. Being a choreographer does not consist of demanding that the pupils all dance the same as the choreographer. In defense of, and respect for the professionalism and effort which is required to be a choreographer, I condemn that in FLAMENCO there is plagiarism and exploitation of the dancers who belong to many well-known groups, as I condemn those who are in charge of these groups and who take credit for works without having created them, and without sharing authors' rights with the "slave workers" who do the work, nor with the professionals who trained those "slave workers", taking advantage of those young people's enthusiasm under threat of dissolving the company and leaving them without work if they don't follow orders. This amounts to tens of millions of pesetas. When a television presenter takes credit for a work which is not hers and which also contains plagiarized material, or when a winner of the Nobel prize for literature is taken to court for the same reason, with the accusation accepted and without guilt having been demonstrated thus far, this makes the headlines and becomes a national scandal. This same thing happens with the choreographies of many FLAMENCO and SPANISH DANCE companies with the consent, complicity and silence of the professionals who know the true story. As far as I'm concerned it is no less a crime of appropriation of intellectual property and as much a fraud as those mentioned above. Please, let us not confuse the term "choreographer" with that of "stage manager", "artistic director", or any other such thing.

IV) OPINION AS EDUCATOR

I have always tried to apply and communicate to my students all that which maestros such as Aurora Pons, María Magdalena, Ciro, Victoria Eugenia, Juana Taft, Paco Fernández, Jose Antonio or María de Avila among others, since we are talking about FLAMENCO, Classic Spanish Dance, Classic Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Jazz, Dramatic Arts, Body Expression, Mime, Tap, etc.

I would like to make clear that I am talking about Andalucía, which is the area I am familiar with and where, theoretically, FLAMENCO should be most cared for. Bad learning begins in the Conservatories where children are not taught to respect and love dance, but rather they are led to believe that their career depends on a diploma which, if not earned can cause a trauma for certain students. If on top of this we add that the people in charge of evaluating the students, with very few exceptions, have not worked as professional dancers, and in certain extreme cases have less knowledge that their own students, the senselessness is total. Then there are also the "professional teachers" who, in some cases, instead of encouraging diversity, enrichment of the language and development of the personality of the student, as is their obligation, are limited to producing clones of themselves even though they know that what makes an artist special is individuality, not imitation.

Those of us who give classes are the first to have the responsibility for initiating and directing our students, for the most part "guiris", a word from the FLAMENCO argot which is used in a derogatory sense, and which in my personal dictionary means: "a person who comes from afar and loves FLAMENCO", which is why I feel like just another "guiri". Also, I want to remind everyone that the majority of the students are guiris, since a large part of Spanish "professionals", apparently, have only to go out on stage one or two times in order to turn themselves into self-taught artists, and even choreographers.

V) OPINION ABOUT REPRESENTATIVE EVENTS

First of all, I would like to see the disappearance of the Max and Amigo prizes, for reasons of professional ethics, for the lack of objectivity, and the lack of respect which derives from having one group of creators judge another, and in order to spread the image that we give to the world that in this country there are only two or three artistic authors. In some cases they don't even come close to the meaning of the word "authors".

On top of all this is the aggravating factor of the SGAE (society of Spanish artistic authors) which organizes and sponsors these prizes instead of using these funds to support artists, for promotion, or to give economic help to authors.

In second place I request that the most important and representative FLAMENCO events in the world stop acting as accomplices and financiers of commercial FLAMENCO and instead be a mirror and privileged tribunal for the diversity and quality and actual range of the existing panorama, although this may be less popular.

VI) OPINION OF CRITICS

As far as the critics, since it seems it is inevitable that they exist, I would request that no one should feel they are the supreme expert, that they respect the artists' work, and above all, that no one discredit that which is beyond their precepts or understanding.

I would like to emphasize that the person responsible for the outcome of a show is the person who takes credit for it, and not the dancers or technicians.

Also in dance critiques the choreographers should be specified as well the choreographed fragments.

To sum up, critics should contribute to construct and put each thing in its place, and try to grow and evolve in the same way that we the artists try to evolve after reading their critiques. Because who criticizes the critics?

VII) OPINION OF THE RESPONSIBLE POLITICIANS

Of the politicians in charge I want to request that they eliminate public sponsorship and promote laws which provide an incentive for private donations and financing. That they not permit the taxpayers' money to be used to convert public companies into the private domain of the director who happens to be in charge at the time. That they not put the fleeting success of their management before true caring for, and development of the culture. And lastly, that they not treat dance as a second-rate artistic specialty.

VIII) ON PURITY:

I claim individuality for each artist instead of stereotyping and imitation. I say that technique is not an end in itself, but rather a means in the hands of those who possess it. For this reason, with my tongue in my cheek, I ask those who believe that technique can cancel out feeling, that they ask Paco de Lucía how he was able to sell his soul for technique.

And as far as purity, I will say that FLAMENCO is the product of a mixture of cultures which no one has as yet been able to explain precisely.

For me purity is something intangible and implicit in each person's spirit. But if we consider purity as something tangible, then in my opinion there are two ramifications:

a) The endogamic, which brings with it mental handicaps and even the extinction of a species or a culture.

b) The exclusive or elitist, which denies the mixing of religious, ethnic or cultural groups and which is what has brought on most wars throughout history. Nowadays we have seen, as I mentioned earlier, that it is money which motivates wars as well as cultural attacks.

IX) ETHICS SUMMARY

To those who feel they are being addressed, I have no objection to a public debate. To those who may no longer hire me, I thank them here and now for the enlightenment, and to those who will continue to hire me, let it be known that this is my code of ethics and they'll have to respect it, at least in my specialty.

To those who would remind me of past mistakes, I can only tell them I feel sorry for them.

Javier Latorre
Translation: Estela Zatania