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And your solo, Pepín? You have a really loose, relaxed look...

J.S. I have a really good time, especially at the end. In London, where my maestro was, he gave me the detail that was missing. When I finish the alegría, I pick up the hat, put it on and latch onto the idea of the old Antonio Molina, Manolo Caracol films. When they used to come out drunk on cante and everything, at daybreak, they used to put on their hat crooked, went on their way home and could be seen meandering down the street from one side to the other. And I add that little extra of having gotten drunk on baile and I totter around from sidewalk to sidewalk. I have a really good time, and people understand it, moreover. When I tug on the hat to pull it down, I hear the people laughing, which is what I aim for. I have a really good time because I remember someone who’s left me very recently: my father. When I was putting together the number, it was clear that my father was leaving us. Since I set it up during that process, I remember him a lot, in a very nice, very lively way. Every time I see the hat, I see him. And on top of it, my father was always really happy, really festive and he lived a lot of nights from sidewalk to sidewalk. He was a guy who lived life really well. And within the grief of a loved one having left you, I’m really glad to face a number every night in which I have a re-encounter with him and he gives me that joy. I’d never felt so much like dancing as when I came back from Paris after my father had died. Every day I’m mad about putting on the hat.

Sara Baras with José Serrano and Luis Ortega on 'Sabores'
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

L.O. In Pepín’s number people also get that just as there are moments of intimate withdrawal, there are moments of letting loose, of enjoying yourself. He takes them and brings them back from that withdrawal to that freedom and in such a pleasant way. It gives you the sensation that anyone could come out and share it with him. You can see that divertissement which is natural, not forced.

J.S. The alegría is completely squared off, of course. The lyrics are set up from beginning to end, but I didn’t set up anything else after that. I just specified some flourishes and some kicks to coincide with the musicians, but it remains open. That keeps up the state you find yourself in, and since I have a really good time, that well-being arises.

The show, in general, highlights a really joyful feeling, as opposed to the darkness usually found in flamenco, doesn’t it?

Luis Ortega (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

L.O. The other day we were commenting on that with Sara over dinner. We’re at a time when we’re aware of how lucky we are. Many times things happen to you and you haven’t been aware of how lucky you are. In a way, the years are helpful in that; to be aware that you have to have a good time. And that comes out on the surface... if it can.

J.S. Not everything comes out as well as you’d like every day, but with the good ambience the company has, that really good feeling always comes through.

L.O. It’s all focused on working as well as possible. Well now, the mixture never turns out the same way twice, but the intention is there. And that’s something that rubs off on people. Everyone goes headfirst to make it nice and for us to have a good time, which is the only way for the others to have a good time.

That’s the sense of the three-way choreography ‘A fuego lennto’, isn’t it?

J.S. Yeah; you see it in ‘A fuego lennto’. That number was an assignment for the International Dance Day Gala, I think in Madrid in 1998.

L.O. We’d each come from doing our own stuff, both of us and Lola Greco. And we decided to do something ‘without sweating’, something still...

J.S. The name isn’t spelled correctly in the program, it’s with two n’s: ‘lennto’. The truth is that was an incredible day. A lot of things happened to Lola Greco at the BNE, I didn’t leave there either in the best of ways... Not Luis; there’s nobody in the business who doesn’t adore him; everyone loves him. The thing is that many things came together. The music by José Carlos Gómez is unbelievable. And it was one of those stews which are cooked up over a low fire; the days go by and you start to notice the smell. We try to enjoy dancing. It was incredible because coming to the dressing room was everyone from the oldest such as Pilar López, to the youngest. I think ‘ABC’ was the daily newspaper that published the gala’s headline as: “A Choreography to Remember”.

L.O. And when Sara saw it, she fell in love with that choreography. She told us: “I want to dance that myself, even if it’s in my living room at home”. But she found a place for it in her show.

And does it turn out differently with Sara Baras replacing Lola Greco?

	José Serrano (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

J.S. Sara and Lola have nothing to do with each other. They’re two great artists, but each one has her own style. They don’t compete. However, the choreography has the same message and the same feeling. In Paris, the violinist hurt his shoulder and one day he didn’t play. And on watching it from the outside, he told us it seemed like a marriage, but with two husbands.

L.O. He saw like a lot of love...

Having that halo of a star from the outside, what is Sara Baras like as a bailaora partner?

L.O. Sara is really normal as a partner. Inevitably, she has decisions to make and has to be the boss at certain times, but she’s really normal as a partner. She likes to contribute and be contributed to fluently, without being in command. Though obviously, sometimes she has to take over. But nearly more so in administrative matters than in artistic matters. Everybody knows what the assignment is, what the style is, what her way is. And that she’s hard-working.

J.S. She wears us all out; it’s incredible.

L.O. The other day she was already talking about the following show...

J.S. That’s one of her weapons. If Sara didn’t have that perseverance, she wouldn’t be where she is. Though in my point of view, through my life, for me and my way of working, I understand that you have to know how to get away from it all a little to clear up your head. That’s impossible for her. She never stops thinking things out. You can see it in her baile; that’s why she’s so generous. Since she has it on her mind all day long, when she gives it on stage, she gives it all. Her baile is very generous. She herself causes people to be like that with their work, she provides the good feeling because it’s so normal for everyone to have no choice but to feel good when they see her face. And when she has to play her role, because it’s the icing on the cake and because it’s her name, nobody takes it personally. Normally, it’s easier to think it was necessary. We can even overdo it sometimes because we try too hard.

And if they’re asked about solo projects, right away you can tell their reluctance to leave the Sara Baras Company. Since 1998, Luis Ortega just dedicates part of the season to renewing the repertoire of the group at Madrid’s Florida Park, where he is artistic director. And José Serrano openly explains that, except for the occasional gala, he has no intention of going solo. And judging by their comments, they have their reasons. As the Córdoba-born artist explains, “I feel fulfilled and appreciated in this company”. And they don’t skimp on praise. Luis Ortega comments that “the company is really well-rounded, everything’s really pampered, each unit is really well covered: technically, administratively, musically...”. And filling the largest theaters in the world. As the bailaores recall, three hundred galas of ‘Mariana Pineda’ were done in thirteen months. It’s no surprise that Luis jokingly affirms that “when I’m older, I want to have a company like that”.

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