RAFAEL CAMPALLO. ‘DON JUAN FLAMENCO’
SEVILLE'S 13th BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2004

It's not just the dancing

Carlos Sánchez. Seville, September 20th, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘Don Juan Flamenco’. Rafael Campallo: dancing and choreography. Úrsula López, Adela Campallo, Choni, Lebri, Choro, Maribel Ramos: dancing. Jeromo Segura, Sonia Miranda, Virginia Gómez, Manuel Lombo, Alicia Acuña, Manuel Rivera: cante. Special collaboration: El Polaco. Paco Serrano, Tino van der Smann, Juan Campallo: guitar. Juan Ruiz: percussion. Stage direction and script: Martin Platt. Central Theater. Seville, September 20th, 2004. 9 p.m. Seville's 13th Bienal de Flamenco 2004.

Rafael Campallo wanted to win over the Sevillian crowd the way he knows best: by dancing. ‘Don Juan Flamenco’ transfers the classic by Tirso de Molina - ’El Burlador de Sevilla’ - to the gates of the 21st century. The soleá and the seguiriya were the scenarios needed to make the Sevillian bailaor's quality felt. The thing is that a show's success does not only depend upon the artist's attributes. There are other indispensable elements which condition his work. What is more, a bad combination of those ingredients can work to the detriment of the artist's quality. And that is what happened in the Sevillian bailaor's show.

Rafael Campallo seduces with his dancing. The Sevillian dances. And as the minutes go by, his dancing develops. It begins to take shape. He starts breaking loose. His seduced second, Úrsula López, snaps the Sevillian bailaor out of his rapture with a soleá through bulería with strength, lineage, spirit. The tables are turned. She is the one seducing Don Juan. The cante of Jeromo Segura, that voice from the ‘Arcangel’ school, makes each and every scene flow. José Vidal ‘El Lebri’ left good sensations through alegrías. The petenera was sarcastic with which Don Juan kills Luis ‘El Polaco’ with a pistol. We'll take the Sevillian bailaor's soleá.

But the dancing had many elements against it, from the sound to the lighting. The stage design, a bit of a daring proposal to update this handsome 17th-century man, ended up causing the laughter of the audience, who could not bear either the bar or the discotheque. On the other hand, you did have to bear in mind the ironic tone aired by this ‘Don Juan Flamenco’, playing with different retrospective images of Seville which helped reflect the respective sets following one another throughout a show that lasted nearly two hours, intermission included.

In the second half there were some very interesting moments such as the two-step through tangos by Adela and Rafael Campallo. The seguiriya puts an end to the show. Don Juan is condemned to fail at love. It is here where the Sevillian artist displays his full range of tricks. So much paraphernalia is not necessary.

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