CRISTINA HOYOS BALLET. 'TIERRA ADENTRO'

A living film of life and death

Candela Olivo. Córdoba, July 8th, 2002

Cristina Hoyos: dance and choreography. Carmen Lozano, Pepa Mercé, Mar Montero, Mónica Hidalgo, Cristina Gallego, Encarna Fernández. Dancers: El Junco, Francisco Martín, José Vidal, Jesús Marín, Jesús Ortega, Javier Romero and Juan Antonio Jiménez. Singers: David Palomar, David Sánchez, Mercedes Cortés. Guitarists: José Luis Rodríguez, Antonio Sousa, Roque Acevedo. And the child: Carmen Bellod. Staging and direction: José Luis Castro. Gran Teatro. Córdoba, July 8th, 2002. 10:00 p.m..

Cristina Hoyos ballet (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

"Tell me how life goes on and on". When the off-stage voice that reads the letter pronounces this request, the to and fro in time with which Cristina Hoyos chose to bring to life Juan Cobos Wilkins' novel about a mining town in Huelva's Río Tinto area begins. For this purpose 'Tierra adentro' makes use of an unusual range of scenic resources which give way to a living film. The fade-outs, flash-backs, set changes, the lighting, the dramatization, the inclusion of back-up musicians in the cast...all this turns the show into a full-length feature film in which dialogues are traded for body language. And in this way the dramatic relationship between the life and death of those who live off the earth's entrails is recounted.

The contrast between both faces is what maintains the thread of the scenes. Bemoaned is the desperation, the memories, the acceptance of natural laws, the very end of life...in Cristina Hoyos' solo dancing, in first person, as much as in the collective masculine dancing when the "camera" shifts to the interior of the mine. The dancer and choreographer from Seville makes us of movements that have little to do with expressive effects: hands, arms, backbends to caress the earth, gestures. The men, with El Junco's stylized dance leading the way, resort to footwork to mark the rhythmic compás to which they extract the minerals, thereby manifesting the control the earth holds over them. Mining songs of the Levante region, seguiriyas, soleares and a recorded chorus based on the English horn and violin emphasize this dark side. Life is cheered as the antithesis, in the collective fiestas por tangos or bulerías, giving them the context of a patio or town square. And everything sprinkled with details such as the female singer who kneels while she arranges a chain of flowers in a basket, or the guitarists seated at the celebration table.

In this show, Cristina Hoyos gives a few lessons in how to pull things off successfully. One is the capacity to move groups around on stage making use of such resources as the broad range of the compositions, or the different levels of dancing. Another is the use of the music, the work of José Luis Rodríguez, to back up the story line...which perhaps deliberately isn't as tight as traditional narrative demands, since feelings and suggestiveness take precedence. Another is the flawless control of the theatrical form, wholly at the service of the work which will be seen again next September at Seville's Teatro de la Maestranza within the framework of the Twelfth Bienal de Flamenco.

Cristina Hoyos (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

revista@flamenco-world.com