BALLET NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA. PREMIERE
OF ‘SEVILLA MADRID SEVILLA’
Choreographic triptych
S.C. Madrid, March 15th, 2007
‘Sevilla Madrid Sevilla’.
‘Caprichos’. Choreography:
Fernando Romero. Music: Cañizares and Juan José
Amador. ‘Dualia’. Choreography:
Ángel Rojas and Carlos Rodríguez (guest
dancers). Music: José Nieto. ‘Cambalache’.
Choreography: Antonio Canales. Music: Livio Gianola, Antonio
Canales (guest bailaor) and Diego Losada. Ballet Nacional
de España. Director: José Antonio. Main
dancers: Ana Moya, Elena Algado, Miguel Corbacho. Lead
dancer: Esther Jurado. Soloists: Aloña Alonso,
Jessica de Diego, Cristina Gómez, Tamara López,
Sergio García, Eduardo Martínez. Cantaores:
Isabel Soto, Momi de Cádiz, Sebastián Cruz.
Guitarists: Diego Losada, Enrique Bermúdez, Jonathan
Bermúdez. Percussion: Samuel Flores. Teatro de
la Zarzuela. Madrid, March 15th, 2007. 8 p.m.
After recovering a couple of shows created
by José Antonio when he was director of the Compañía
Andaluza de Danza (Andalusian Dance Company), ‘Café
de Chinitas’ and ‘La leyenda’, the Ballet
Nacional de España or BNE (Spanish National Ballet)
returns to its own productions by assignment, once again
becoming a choreographic showcase. And on this occasion
it chooses three authors well-contrasted in style, concept
and aims. Sevillian bailaor Fernando Romero, assistant
director of the BNE, contributes ‘Caprichos’.
Ángel Rojas and Carlos Rodríguez, founders
of the company Nuevo Ballet Español (New Spanish
Ballet), offer ‘Dualia’. And Antonio Canales
collaborates with the public ballet for the sixth time
with ‘Cambalache’. All three triumphed on
the night of the premiere with seats taken up by ‘la
crème de la crème’ of Spanish dance.
Esther Jurado on 'Dualia'
by Ballet Nacional de España
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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‘Caprichos’ opened, a show
without any other excuse than flamenco dancing. It was
presided over by formal elegance, purification of lines
and the overwhelming music of Cañizares,
who in passing, from his personal world, pays tribute
to toque maestros such as Sabicas, Niño Ricardo
and Ramón Montoya. Fernando Romero forces a part
of the whole to be selected, composing colorful general
scenes beginning with small pictures. Asymmetries. Abstractions.
And life. Tradition and avant-garde in the movement and
in the sound. ‘Capricho de carne y hueso’,
the farruca by Sabicas, is danced solo by Miguel A. Corbacho,
impeccable in technique, but flexible, fluent. The first
applause went to him. Then returning is the baile group,
the cross of pictures, to the Moorish air of the zambra
by Niño Ricardo. The women, all curves and brave,
with their torsos painted with flowers. Stakes on the
individual. And as Sabicas would say, that guitarist –who,
curiously, is seated with his back to the audience - has
“clever fingers”. The sharp voice of Juan
José Amador takes it around and back again.
Hands, curves, wooing. And the lights framing the pictures,
preparing ambiences somewhere between neutral and evocative.
The rondeña by Montoya is a pas de deux. Cañizares
faces up to it, working wonders on the neck of the guitar,
providing his wisdom. He and she have met. And everyone
else lines up on the left to dance to the cante, to the
sound of words. Arm movement, contortion. Amador wounding.
Cañizares inventing a new way to accompany cante.
An instant for the fiesta, for rivalry between three bailaores
por bulerías. You. Me. Two women join in... The
whole group joins in... And back to life. The ovation
includes shouts.
From flamenco to Spanish classical...
but avant-garde. Ángel Rojas and Carlos Rodríguez
have designed the show ‘Dualia’ for the BNE,
with music composed by a veteran from Spanish theater,
José Nieto, and performed, though packaged, by
the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra. Rojas and
Rodríguez burst with freshness and knowledge in
their update of the classical. Cloaks, castanets, short
jackets, sashes, young girls, bullfighters, bandits. Spins,
leaps, men, women, couples. Red, white and black. Frozen
pictures, painstaking sensationalism, dynamism. Special
mention goes to the duo of couples, starring the creators
together with Esther Jurado and Elena Algado in impressive
red batas de cola. A message to remember: that Spanish
dance is purging itself and is reborn with a view to the
future. The ovation was unanimous... and resounding.
And the third part was closed by the veteran. The performance
by Antonio
Canales was ‘Cambalache’, a show with
loud colors whose formula went back to the recent past
of ballet flamenco dancing. The group of bailaores with
their arms lifted up under the spotlight to open and close,
the picture of chairs framing the center of the stage,
the asymmetry of movement, a shawl effect in the background,
fusion music. And a wardrobe not at all becoming to either
the bailaores or the baile, despite Oscar-winning designer
Yvonne Blake. Seguiriyas, bulerías, tangos... for
the series of group scenes. And the soleá for Antonio
Canales, who wanted to exploit the resort of gestures
more than that of baile. And if the applause doesn’t
come... he seeks it.
Of course, the bailaores of the BNE are
the fourth element of ‘Sevilla Madrid Sevilla’.
Versatile, disciplined performers, many of whom are very
personal, able to change gears three times as if it were
nothing. As has just been done by Úrsula
López, lead dancer until a few months ago,
it is predicted that other artists from this fruitful
breeding ground will fly solo.
