SEVILLE’S 2006 BIENAL DE FLAMENCO. TRIBUTE TO MAESTRO GRANERO

To the maestro

Silvia Calado. Seville, October 10th, 2006

‘Homenaje al Maestro Granero’. Baile: Merche Esmeralda, Antonio Canales, Javier Latorre, Lola Greco, Maribel Gallardo, Celia Pareja, José Porcel, Francisco Velasco, Ángel Rojas, Carlos Rodríguez, África Moreno. Dance corps: Students of the Andalusian Dance Center (Coordinator: Ana María Bueno. Flamenco instructor: Juan Martín. Guitar: Juan Manuel Flores. Cante: Emilio Cabello. Percussionist: Raúl Domínguez. Clapping: Juan Martín). With the testimonies of Pilar López, Matilde Coral, Emilio de Diego. Artistic coordination: José Antonio. Artistic consultant: Julio Príncipe. Seville’s 14th Bienal de Flamenco 2006. Teatro Lope de Vega. Seville, October 10th, 2006. 9 p.m.

It just so happens that tributes usually come late, wrong or never. However, there are sometimes exceptions. The response of Spanish dance has been unanimous. And it paid tribute early, well and in an appropriate setting to Maestro Granero, who died last spring while working as director of the Andalusian Dance Center. And it was precisely his students who were in charge of opening a night which everyone who had a microphone in front of them branded as magic. The pupils recalled ‘Sinfonía española’ with music by Eduard Lalo and ‘Rondeña’ with live flamenco music. And that’s how the maestro was remembered; through outstanding examples of his work.

Merche Esmeralda and Antonio Canales (Photo: Luis Castilla)

Most of the pieces were pas-a-deux, which revealed a straightforward, esthetic, musical way of expressing the act of loving, the feeling of pain, the internal struggle of men. The first duet was that of José Porcel and Celia Pareja, with an excerpt from ‘Espartaco’, the maestro’s last creation. Dance for words, dance for music. ‘Bolero’ by Maurice Ravel was performed by Javier Latorre and Maribel Gallardo, a sweet ode to sobriety, to the cadence of motion. From ‘Cuentos del Guadalquivir’, based on the work of Joaquín Turina, an excerpt was taken of the pas-a-deux performed by Lola Greco and Francisco Velasco. Under the noon sun, a patio, a light nymph and wooing.

The climax was taken up by the maestro’s great work: ‘Medea’. Two pieces were shown from this 1984 ballet, a milestone in dramatic flamenco dancing whose soundtrack created by Manolo Sanlúcar has just been re-released. The first one, starring a heartrending Maribel Gallardo, was the spell. It had dancers Ángel Rojas and Carlos Rodríguez, founders of the New Spanish Ballet Company, playing the roles of Spirits. The applause went ‘in crescendo’ and reached its peak at the end of the passage of fighting and seduction by Merche Esmeralda and Antonio Canales, who blended their powerful stage presences at the service of drama. The epilogue was ‘Alborada del gracioso’, returning to Maurice Ravel, with a male trio based on asymmetries and delicate elegance, by Carlos Rodríguez, Ángel Rojas and Francisco Velasco.

The live baile was sprinkled with baile on video with as many other excerpts of the maestro’s artistic legacy, with collective choreographies and solos tailor-made for dance giants like Maya Plisestkaya, with laudable documentary value although not always with the picture and production quality to be desired. Note here the need for the Ministry of Culture to now create a program aimed at safeguarding Spain’s dance heritage in audiovisual format, similar to the Cinématèque de la Danse in Paris. It is intolerable that in the digital era there are works which are forever lost and others which are preserved with such poor quality and just thanks to the effort, often at home, of the creators themselves.

	Matilde Coral (Photo: Luis Castilla)

And besides the footage, there were several priceless testimonies about the maestro. Pilar López, in an appearance also shown on video, recalled her conversations with Granero about dance and remarked that “being a good choreographer is really hard, but being a good choreographer of dramatic ballet is much harder. And that’s just been done by two people; Antonio Gades and José Granero”. With all the wisdom possessed by the maestra, she sentenced that “if we have to come home and read the program to know what happened after seeing a ballet, something’s wrong”. Let’s take note. José Antonio publicly showed him his affection and gratitude. Musician Emilio de Diego told some anecdotes about his first encounter in New York working with another great, José Greco. “a soul mate, a colleague”. And Matilde Coral offered the most emotional dedication of the evening, asking him with all her old art to wait for him in that “heaven which you are. And in the name of all Andalusians and in my own, I’m going to hoist my shawl like a flag, with these clumsy motions of old age and with the most magical music there is; that of silence for you”. And her shawl soared to that heaven where the maestros of Spanish dance go.

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