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ANTONIO EL PIPA.
‘PASIÓN Y LEY’.
SEVILLE'S 13th BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2004
To want and to have
Silvia Calado. Seville, October 4th, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
‘Pasión y Ley’ (‘Passion
and Law’). Sculptor: Antonio
el Pipa (dancing and choreography). Passion: Lola Greco
(guest artist, dancing and choreography). Law: María
José Franco (dancing). Tradition: Juana la del Pipa,
Enrique el Extremeño (cante). Workers: Manuel Tañé,
Pascual de Lorca, Juan Moneo. Musicians: Alexis Lefèvre
(violin), Nacho Gil (sax and Turkish clarinet), Luis de Periquín
(percussion), Felipa del Moreno (cante), Joaquín Flores
(clapping). Script: Luis Olmo. Stage director: Paco Tous.
Original score: Dorantes. Lope de Vega Theater. Seville, October
4th, 2004. 9 p.m. Seville's 13th Bienal de Flamenco 2004
Coinciding with the launch of ‘Pasión y ley’
on DVD, Antonio el Pipa presents his latest show at Seville's
2004 Bienal de Flamenco. With certain variations with respect
to the premiere in February in the inauguration of the 2004
Jerez Festival, the work was received enthusiastically by
a sell-out crowd at the Lope de Vega. Enthusing, above all,
was the dancing of the three stars in this show whose plot
is the artist's debate between desire and obligation, between
passion and law.
Antonio el Pipa dazzled with that style which is so his own
and, at the same time, so flamenco, whose strengths lie in
the look, feeling, use of hands and hips, and that fluent
understanding with the audience. María José
Franco makes headway in the reliability of her performance,
supported by the body curve, use of arms and the refinement
of the ensemble. Lola
Greco belongs to another dimension, an ethereal dancer
who moreover believes the role she plays. And it just might
be the show's best-defined role. In general, the dramatic
art is somewhat naïve, although it ends up being toned
down between the dancing, cante and music. Precisely the music
composed by Dorantes
is the element saving the unity of the script, which is sometimes
juxtaposed with flamenco numbers. By the way, the audience
reacted more than positively before the slightest ones hardly
consisting of cante, dancing and rhythm.
Coming to mind as a picture to remember is the soleá
which Enrique
el Extremeño sings standing to Antonio el Pipa,
leading to the bulería that is now the clear trademark
of the Jerez-born bailaor. Also worthy of mention is the dance
for two through farruca by the ‘sculptor’ and
‘the law’, as well as the three-way dance with
José Greco's daughter. The dancer was brimming with
wisdom and beauty when dancing the seguiriya sung to her by
the standing Tía Juana la del Pipa with her deep voice,
avoiding the peculiarities of flamenco dancing, providing
the music with motion, without a stylistic straitjacket. With
all of these elements, some more than positive and others
yet to be polished, Antonio el Pipa works out in ‘Pasión
y ley’ the risky attempt to transcend the traditional
format and try out the theatrical, a challenge which flamencos
do not usually come out of with flying colors.
revista@flamenco-world.com
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