SIXTH FESTIVAL DE JEREZ
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH...MERCHE ESMERALDA

Queen in a jumpsuit

Silvia Calado Olivo. Jerez, March 1st, 2002

The trousers of a jumpsuit bearing the number '72 on the left leg, a promotional T-shirt of the Festival de Jerez, a long, dense, curly head of hair, and some dance shoes is all Merche Esmeralda is wearing for rehearsal. It was about three hours until show-time which on the night of the first day of March would bring together Seville's most illustrious female flamenco dancers. And it had to be just right.

Without rhyme or reason, as if to clear the air, she executes a pirouette here, a redoble there, a closing somewhere else...marking out her territory, as if to make the floor hers, ignoring the background of technicians and musicians adjusting the sound: "Turn up the cajón", "there's some feedback over there", "more bass". A little movement here, a turn there, a llamada... Until finally it pleases Her Majesty to descend, silence falls and she commands her subjects: "We're going to do the whole thing once through". She's talking about the tangos programmed in the first part called 'De Sevilla'. Guadiana and El Almendro sing: "Que tiene la María una belleza, ay la portuguesa, Tiritiritiritinmí tiritiritinmí, amma amma ammaa". Pause a bit and then... "immi immi immii". No, they didn't phrase it right. There's a slight lack of concentration from behind. Understandable, if only for hormonal reasons. Merche's mature beauty is disconcerting...the prophet might not have resisted the temptation.

Again that part. Amma amma... "No! Don't do this to me!" And suddenly one is reminded of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland with her war cry "off with his head!" Everyone nods and once again the same line. Still not right. Better than decapitation, it might be a better idea to trim it down a little, eliminate some of the movement...there'll be time later on that night. Merche, at a half meter away and fretting must intimidate. And intimidate she does.

And again that part. But this time, looking us straight in the eye, indicating when the guitar variation has to come in, when the cante has to cut, and the cajón: "Ratatú totototán". And dancing around and within herself, sketching sinuous movements, provoking obedience with her index finger. Now is the time Your Majesty. And later as well, when the theater is no longer a sightless shadow and pays homage with unanimous reverence, when her curly locks can no longer be held in a bun and her powerful legs peek out from the ruffles of her dress, when her Cheshire cat grin becomes the lover of flashing cameras, when she proves that the arch of her back is still prodigious. That's when it will happen Your Majesty...

Merche Esmeralda (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Merche Esmeralda with cantaor Guadiana (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)