MERCHE ESMERALDA •
BELÉN MAYA • ROCÍO MOLINA. ‘MUJERES’
2008 CAJAMADRID FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
The Three Graces
‘Mujeres’. Merche Esmeralda,
Belén Maya, Rocío Molina: baile. José
Luis Rodríguez, Manuel Cazás, Paco Cruz:
guitar. Antonio Campos, Jesús Corbacho, Tamara
Tañé: cante. Sergio Martínez: percussion.
Special collaboration: Diana Navarro (vocals), Chico Valdivia
(piano). 16th CajaMadrid Flamenco Festival. Teatro Albéniz.
Madrid, February 2nd, 2008. 8:30 p.m.
Aglaia, Thalia, Euphrosyne. Belén
Maya, Merche
Esmeralda, Rocío
Molina. The Three Graces have touched the art of flamenco
dancing with their gifts: beauty, joy, splendor, creativity,
good taste. And all of it is included in ‘Mujeres’,
a show for the pleasure of mortals … and of gods.
Rocío Molina and Belén
Maya on 'Mujeres' (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
The premiere of ‘Mujeres’
at the 2008 CajaMadrid Festival illustrated the tribute
to Merche Esmeralda, who this year joined - as Ángel
Álvarez Caballero said - “the Calle de Alcalá
Award Winners Club”. Although the winner’s
brilliance is indisputable, it isn’t a show for
her to triumph, but rather to enjoy what’s shared,
what’s common, what’s different and what’s
complementary between three bailaoras from three generations,
with three styles, three personalities.
The idea isn’t new, since the Sevillian
maestra had already tested this formula years ago by inviting
bailaoras such as Sara Baras and Eva Yerbabuena. But upon
changing the pieces, she necessarily changes the results.
Whether it is in the solos or in the combinations appearing
in the duos and the trios. Moreover, Mario
Maya’s trademark is there in the show’s
layout and continuity, aspects which he has captured with
his now usual wisdom, so the show runs extremely fluently.
Merche Esmeralda on 'Mujeres'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Following the oneiric introduction to
the beat of Lorca’s ‘Adam’, Belén
Maya is the first brave one to take the stage. And she
does so with a baile which, although it looks simple,
is one of the most difficult ones to perform solo: tangos.
Of course, she applies to it that way of hers of angling
and of making a valuable whole out of the inherited and
the made-up. The granaína in a threesome is a transition
number, but it tests baile from the waist up and the spatial
possibilities of the triangle. Then the guest, Diana Navarro,
came out on vocals. She shook with a saeta made of lace,
like her dress. A perfect preliminary for the immediate
future. Merche Esmeralda, dressed as a bride or a queen,
entirely in white, majestic. Her and the soleá.
Arms which stretch out and touch high up. A body which
bends towards where it’s impossible. A countenance
which lights up, wrapped in ruffles. A moment for the
eternal.
Fade out. Now the surprise comes. Two
cantaores and two guitarists form a quadrilateral. And
in the middle, Belén Maya and Rocío Molina
devote themselves to creation, to the strange sound of
a primitive romance. Music and dance embrace. The bailaoras
are edges, nets, whirlwinds. Risky, searching, futuristic
baile. Diana Navarro returns, to the crowd’s delight.
She sang her hit song ‘Deja de volverme loca’,
with the intimate ambience of a piano, testing the capacity
of the human ear. And Merche Esmeralda turned into a dancer.
Quite the contrary to Rocío Molina, entirely a
bailaora. Por seguiriyas, the Grace-girl demonstrated
her eloquence, her passion. The ending, choreographed
by Manuel
Liñán, is picture perfect. Merche Esmeralda
wanted to show her gratitude to Madrid with her flamenco
style: the caracoles. The Three Graces gathered once again,
but this time in a dance which situates the feminine in
its fullness. The three batas de cola, so many multiplied
curves, fan, shawl, castanets, the red. The theater tosses
and turns with pleasure. An ovation and encore, a gift
por bulerías as planned as everything else, but
not lacking flavor nevertheless. Mario danced, Manolillo
danced, they all sang in a circle… and the Three
Graces blessed such a pleasurable celebration.
Diana Navarro on 'Mujeres'
(Foto Daniel Muñoz)
