|
Interview with Francisco López
Gutiérrez,
director of the Festival de Jerez:
"Dance is the most accessible facet of
Flamenco
for new audiences"
Silvia Calado Olivo
With five years of experience under its belt, the Festival de Jerez faces
its sixth edition. Francisco López Gutiérrez, director of the event,
explains how this annual festival of Flamenco dance and Spanish traditional dance
has matured. Among the outstanding shows on offer are the opening gala with 'Fuenteovejuna'
by Antonio Gades; a school run by great names such as Matilde Coral or El Güito;
and a host of alternative activities including, this year, lunchtime talks. Jerez
has risen to the challenge presented by internationalisation, but there's work
to do in several areas: taking control of production, expanding the festival across
the city after which it's named in the province of Cadiz, and encouraging initiatives
to promote Flamenco dance. Funding holds the key to the future.
How has the Festival de Jerez evolved?
The festival, now in its sixth year, was born in 1997 with the reopening of
the newly restored Teatro Villamarta. The idea was to create a permanent programme
for the theatre, with the aim of filling an obvious gap in a city with a Flamenco
tradition as strong as that of Jerez. And that's how the idea arose to set up
an annual Flamenco and Spanish dance event which, with its star-studded line-up
of shows, would also spill over into more of the city's venues.
Francisco López, director
of Festival de Jerez
The event was conceived with three central objectives in mind. First, the shows
included in the official programme at Teatro Villamarta and other alternative
venues such as the Escuela de Arte Ecuestre, the Alcázar, wine bars, peñas
(informal private flamenco clubs)... Second, the school, offering a wide range
of courses. And third, a programme of alternative activities such as exhibitions,
social gatherings, talks, etc. Since 1997, we've worked to build up all three
of these areas in terms of both quality and quantity, to make this an annual showcase
that doesn't pretend to be either orthodox or radical, just a selection of the
most important offerings of the year.
The aim is that it should be an essential annual meeting point for anyone in
the world of Flamenco and Spanish dance. And that's proved to be the case: in
these five years all the great names, the great companies and the legends -Matilde
Coral, José Granero, El Güito, Merche Esmeralda, Belén Maya,
have passed through the festival's doors. For example, the teaching staff is now
made up of 18 Flamenco and traditional Spanish dance professionals, attending
the students occupying the 450 places available at this year's festival. We're
well aware that we're the only people offering this product.
Was the choice of Flamenco and Spanish dance as the backbone a way of setting
your festival apart from other Flamenco festivals?
There's a lot of Flamenco out there, but there isn't an annual event devoted
to Flamenco dance, even though of all the forms of Flamenco this is the one that
arouses the greatest interest around the world, the least mysterious part. We're
not trying to promote Jerez, we're looking to catapult Flamenco and Spanish dance
onto the international stage. In fact, only seven per cent of the students in
our workshops are Spanish, the rest come from 25 countries around the world. It's
clear we've filled a gap in the market. Dance is the most accessible facet of
Flamenco for new audiences. Jerez is open to anything.
What's special about the programme for the sixth festival?
Out of the thirteen shows listed in the official programme, if I had to choose
I'd highlight the opening show, 'Fuenteovejuna' by Antonio Gades for the Spanish
Ballet Nacional; and 'Salomé', by the Aida Gómez ballet group. I'd
also draw attention to two galas each with its own specific theme, each studying
that theme in depth. On the one hand, 'El baile es mujer' (Dance is a woman),
which offers different flavours of female dance from Seville, but where the traditional
Flamenco dancer's 'bata de cola' dress steals the limelight. And on the other
hand, the gala presented by the dance legend Granero, 'A mi manera' (My way).
Featuring traditional Flamenco bailaoras and other dancers like María Pagés
or Lola Greco, the gala aims to offer a global overview of Spanish and Flamenco
dance. Another recommendation would be the closing night's show, with La Paquera
and Manuela Carrasco, as a contrast to the inaugural gala.
Eva la Yerbabuena's dance company.
Festival de Jerez 2001
What's new about the programme with respect to the previous festivals?
Although we've kept the formula the same since the beginning, we try and take
a fresh perspective each year. This year we wanted to also include daytime activities
in the programme. Festival activities start at ten in the morning with the classes,
and finish in the small hours in the peñas, but we needed a motive for
a social gathering at the relaxed midday hours. At 1pm at Bodega de San Ginés
Wine Bar we're holding 'Los coloquios de la bodega', featuring talks, presentations
of new projects, videos and debates… glass of wine in hand.
| "There are some projects that we have to shelve due to
a lack of funding, even if the idea has been developed" |
|
| |
|
Looking to the future, what challenges does Festival de Jerez set for itself?
We all know that the festival has come a long way. It's managed to make a name
for itself in five years, with a quite limited budget - this year it's only 480,800
Euros - to cover all the festival costs including infrastructure, communication,
personnel… There are some projects that we have to shelve, even if the idea
has been developed. In terms of initiatives, we have three desires above all others.
The first is to incorporate more of the smaller venues, for the festival to really
overrun the city of Jerez. The second, to take control of production ourselves.
It's an important step that we're not in a position to take because of budgetary
constraints. The basic idea would be to put on thirteen shows under a label, and
later make them available to everyone. And the third is to obtain funding for
complementary activities that benefit the public awareness of Flamenco dance,
one-day seminars, research scholarships, etc. The Regional Government of Andalusia
and Spanish Ministry of Culture are turning their backs on us once again. We hope
the Administration decide once and for all to support the promotion of Flamenco
and Spanish dance which, in Jerez, is backed every year with the support of the
City Council, The Provincial Government of Cadiz and private sponsors.
|
