SEVILLE'S BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2002. 'DEL ALMA'

Nudity

Silvia Calado Olivo. Seville, September 13th, 2002
Photos: Javier Hurtado

'El Alma' Dancing and choreography: Isabel Bayón. Guest choreographer and artist: Fernando Romero. Composition and flamenco guitar: Jesús Torres, Paco Arriaga. Flamenco guitar: Manuel Pérez. Cante: Manuel Gago, Miguel Ortega. Percussion: Nacho López. Cello: Gretchen Talbot. Chief of production: Lourdes García. Wardrobe design: Lydia García. Lighting design: Florencio Bernal. Teatro Central.
Seville, September 13th, 2002. 9:00 p.m.

When nudity comes from within the soul is bared before the body. Isabel searches inside herself to present her first solo show, true to the theory that innovation resides in oneself. According to this premise, Isabel Bayón openly shows the feelings that invade her when she is faced with the stage…before, during and after. And it gives shape to a simple and straightforward production in which the dancing - with the help of Fernando Romero - reaches extreme heights of sensitivity, quality and aesthetics.

With the backstage on full view, Fernando Romero behind, rehearsing, the musicians taking their places, the audience still getting settled and the voice advising, in three languages, that cell phones should be turned off, the dancer from Seville checks herself out in the mirror. She warms up, stretches, works her arms and answers the cello allowing her small body to flow and become Vivaldi's notes and music. Serene. The music is distributed in two levels, the darkness, the emerging cante. The backstage makes way: cheering. And it becomes men, hips, head, the Seville school of dance given a new look and the Bayón touch. The woman who revels in her feminity, who takes her time in the cuts, the intensity… Silence, she's absorbed, serious countenance. And it turns into soleá apolá.

The whitish light, like a nebula, announces Fernando Romero. Keeping to the front of the stage, he goes through a series of movements to a cappella singing. A rondeña-sounding piece of music. The dancer from Écija led his feminine alter-ego around the stage, the rest in the back in semi-circle. The avant-garde, the curves, the elegance, making contact with the floor without frightening it. The man, a precision machine. The woman, inward-looking and reptilian. Serenity. It all ends in gasping. Careful quiet movements, technique, silence, the butterfly, the coquette, the music… Virginal. Crossing herself in the shadows, new dress, it becomes part of a lovely image of shadow and light with cello, feet, Fernando, sensitivity, inner strength… And the two singers pouring it on with martinetes that grab the man when the tension becomes great and the hairs stand on end. And she who dreams on along, the rectangle of light following her intentions…and sighs. The collective shudder lasted but a few seconds. And then came the rhythmic applause. And the naked soul.

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