ANTONIO CANALES, ‘CARMEN, CARMELA’. SPECIAL FEATURE

“The classics teach us to live”

The show comes to Madrid's Albéniz Theater from January 13th to February 13th

Silvia Calado. Madrid, January 12th, 2005

Taking no heed of the risk of being repetitive, Antonio Canales takes a stab at ‘Carmen’. Together with reputed stage director Miguel Narros, he has set himself the challenge of doing a different Carmen. And it is. “This is a gutsy, no-frills Carmen”, the Sevillian bailaor explains. He will only be accompanied on stage by Lola Greco and Diego Llori, who play the Sevillian cigarette girl and bullfighter Escamillo respectively. The Don José he plays, in the words of the director, is “impressive, due to the difficulty involved in a bailaor playing the drama and degradation which the character reaches”.

Certain that this work “is always alive and always poses problems”, they have tried to emphasize “women's freedom, their way of defending themselves as little creatures in a world hindering their happiness”. Narros' approach is complemented by that of Canales, as “since my sister's death I've had a debt to settle with women”. And it is paid in full in this show which Lola Greco, the star, considers to be “very well-conceived and polished, which provides Spanish dance with a very updated point of view”.

Lola Greco and Antonio Canales (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

The dancer and bailaora stresses that this show, which required three months of preparation, has been cooked up “little by little, stealthily, due to the desire not to be repetitive”. She points out that Miguel Narros has been “very easy to work with, since he's very instructive, very narrative”. And she emphasizes that Antonio Canales not only “knows how to measure out tradition and the avant-garde”, but also that “I'm proud to dance with him every night, since he makes my heart break, something which hasn't happened to me since the great shows by the Spanish National Ballet that I took part in”.

About the avant-garde, Antonio Canales calls off any alarm. He labels the show “very classical, very purist, very well-danced and framed within a stage design by Andrea D’Odorico which is like the inside of a heart, a violent jack-in-the-box with lighting by Sergio Spinelli”. Regarding its contents, he discloses the encounter “of all styles of dance and theater: contemporary, classical, flamenco...”. He also stresses the music. Taking care of adapting the score by Bizet is Juan Víctor Yagüe, who also took part in the soundtrack together with guitarists José Antonio Rodríguez, Niño de Pura and Serafín Arriaza; flute player Luis Orden; percussionist Pedro Vicedo; bass player Manuel Marbizón; and the Maestranza Theater Choir. Only figuring live, however, are guitarist Daniel Méndez, percussionist Lucky Losada and cantaores Herminia Borja and José Valencia.

Nonetheless, the aspiration to cause reactions in the crowd is more than present. As Antonio Canales says, “we go to the theater to be caressed, but also to be slapped; there's love, passion, freedom, shouting, vindication, pain...”. Lola Greco elaborates that in order to channel all those sensations, “the duration of the fourteen scenes is exact, so that the emotion is continuous”. Regarding the crowd's reaction, Narros claims that “the audience can't even breathe at the end”. And Antonio Canales adds that “so many things happen that the people have a great time... and end up knowing what you mustn't do when you find love”.

Show on tour

‘Carmen, Carmela’ comes to Madrid's Albéniz Theater for a month - from January 13th to February 13th, 2005 -, endorsed by a tour of sixty performances which have drawn over one hundred fifty thousand spectators since it premiered on May 8th, 2004 at Santander's Festival Palace. There are nearly eighty galas remaining between now and summer, especially in Spain, although performances have already been scheduled in other countries such as Japan, Portugal and Switzerland. The question is to go on enjoying the infinite interpretations of this everlasting work since, by the bailaor's judgment, “the classics teach us to live”.

Lola Greco, Antonio Canales and Diego Llori
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

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