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Mario Maya, director of the
Center for Flamenco Performance Studies
"Flamenco has a special musical beauty
and
taste that makes it much more than just a series of incoherent steps"
Silvia Calado Olivo. Madrid, April 2002
Mario Maya is leading a new project linked to flamenco dancing. The Granada-born
dancer has established, with the help and collaboration of the Granada local council,
the Center for Flamenco Performance Studies. This innovative center, which has
its base in Sacromonte caves, is aiming to "train future flamenco professionals,
who already know how to dance, in how to blend the choreography with the work
they want to perform". And Maya is aiming to go even further than that: "They
have to understand that flamenco is much more than just a series of incoherent
steps, it has a special musical beauty and taste". In this way the center
attempts "to deepen the study of the cantes and the traditional instruments,
because the genuine article has been somewhat adulterated".
Mario Maya teaches with La Alhambra behind him
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As a teacher, Mario
Maya is very demanding. "The training of a dancer has to be complete".
This means, he says, "that dancing must be at the core of their musical and
intellectual training in order to have the necessary ingredients to interpret
the characters outlines by the choreography". So the dancer cannot rely on
technique alone: "Technique is merely a means and not an end in itself. It
shouldn't become an obstacle that gets in the way of the expression of passion".
And there he waits a minute for what he has said to sink in.
In order to ensure a high quality intake of students at the center, Maya has
been helped by a selection panel composed not just of leading professionals linked
to music and dance, but also experts on lyrics. The course -'Flamenco en Escena'
(Flamenco on stage)- will be organized at advanced and professional levels and
will last six months. The selection tests, which took place on March 29, 2002,
featured on the panel two representatives from literature: the Granada-born poet
José G. Ladrón de Guevara and the flamenco critic for the Granada
daily 'Ideal' Miguel Ángel González.
Representing the musicians are the singer Enrique Morente and the guitarists
Paco Cortés and Juan Marote. And from the world of dance "three of
the most active artists in the field at the present time" will attend: Manolete
and Rafaela Carrasco and Javier Latorre. They will be joined by two non-voting
members, Mario Maya himself and Reynaldo Fernández Manzano, Councillor
for Youth at the Granada local council, the body which has provided the installations
and seven grants for the most advanced students.
Writing and directing
Despite his enthusiasm for the project Mario Maya admits that his "artistic
career has been so long and intense that he finds even this tiring". With
the medium term aim of putting together a company that will represent Granada
around the world, the maestro is now concentrating his professional energies on
"writing and directing, because I really enjoy doing it and honestly believe
that after such a long career it is something that I have learnt to do well".
Mario Maya talks to his pupils
revista@flamenco-world.com
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