EL GÜITO. ‘DE MADRID A SEVILLA’.
SEVILLE'S 13th BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2004

Premiere?

Silvia Calado. Seville, September 27th, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘De Madrid a Sevilla’ (‘From Madrid to Seville’). El Güito: solo dancing. Maripaz Lucena: lead bailaora. Milagros Menjíbar: guest artist. La Truco, La Popi, Maribel Espino, Maribel Agámez, Miguel Téllez, Rafael Peral, Nino de los Reyes, Jesús Carmona: dance corps. José Jiménez, El Porras, Leo Triviño: cante. Felipe Maya, Juan Serrano, Pepe Maya: guitars. Lope de Vega Theater. Seville, September 27th, 2004. 9 p.m. Seville's 13th Bienal de Flamenco 2004.

Stupefaction. If anyone read in the text of the printed program that what El Güito was presenting was a show “created as an exclusive world premiere for the 25th anniversary of Seville's Bienal de Flamenco”, they felt stupefied, to say the least. If there was any premiere at all, it was the premiere of the title ‘De Madrid a Sevilla’ ('From Madrid to Seville'), a few changes in the troupe and the invitation of bailaora Milagros Menjíbar, since all the rest was the show ‘Mis recuerdos’ ('My Memories'), which the audience had already had the chance to see for at least a couple of years on stages such as Madrid's Albéniz Theater, Jerez's Villamarta Theater and even at the Fundación El Monte Theater here in Seville. Do not deceive the audience.

El Güito Dance Company

Indeed, there is agreement in valuing as a gift the chance to still see on stage today a maestro, a type of dancing and a style which have already gone down in flamenco dancing history. And it is so both for the nostalgic and for new enthusiasts. El Güito is the soleá and, stretching it a bit, also the farruca (like other colleagues of his generation who absorbed the legacy of Los Pelaos). And he performs those bailes with so much temperance, sobriety, concentration and authority that the clock stops; you are left breathless. Not a single step too many. A perfect replica of himself. In her field, the same can be said of Milagros Menjíbar, keeper of the canons of the Sevillian baile school so strongly defended by maestra Matilde Coral and whom she is an obedient pupil of. She danced through alegrías in the old style, in a dress with a white and red train that she strutted with distinction and femininity around the stage amidst the crowd's olés.

And the rest of the show? Simply filling, as on prior occasions. With a dance corps consisting of four bailaoras and four bailaores little-rehearsed or not at all, three guitarists with limited resources and three cantaores with a meager level, saving the show was complicated. Nor is the work El Güito does as the group's choreographer of any special interest; so persistent in symmetry, the straight frontal line... with some diagonals as the only embellishment. Flat. Guys and gals danced through seguiriyas. Afterwards, the ladies danced a taranto, with room for the solo by Maripaz Lucena, who did do her job with care, with dignity, just like in the two-step - through seguiriyas again - which she shared with the head of the bill. The four men offered alegrías, each one his own; such was the lack of mutual understanding. The female quartet returned with a soleá through bulerías that seemed like a final exam at an academy, in which even the wardrobe was unfortunate. They all gathered on stage for the grand finale through bulerías. The crowd applauded, as always, a lot... and El Güito thanked them. But a show - supposedly, a premiere - is not justified with a type of baile or with a name alone.

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