‘De flamencas’. Marcos Flores:
production, direction, dance, choreography. Antonia Jiménez:
original music, guitar. Bettina Flater: guitar. Mercedes
Cortés, Inma Rivero: cante. Guadalupe Torres, Vanesa
Vento, Lidón Patiño: dance. Ana Romero:
hand clapping. 19th Córdoba Flamenco Contest. Gran
Teatro. Córdoba (Spain), November 26th, 2010. 9.00
pm
Marcos Flores, 'De flamencas'.
2010 Córdoba National Contest
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Marcos Flores, 'De flamencas'.
2010 Córdoba National Contest
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Until the past edition, the Córdoba Flamenco Contest
awarded its contestants partial prizes for styles which
carried the name of figures who made them their marks
of identity. The jury reserved a global prize for artists
who stood out in a special way. And it only awarded it
on two occasions; both in baile. The first one, to Javier
Latorre in 1989. And the second, to Marcos
Flores in 2007. Because of it, the young bailaor from
Arcos de la Frontera was given a star role in this nineteenth
edition of the contest, offering him the stage of the
Gran Teatro, and a night on the bill of performances accompanying
the selective phases, for the premiere of his first large-scale
solo show.
Marcos Flores, 'De flamencas'. Vanesa Vento.
2010 Córdoba National Contest (Photo
Daniel Muñoz) |
|
In ‘De flamencas’, the Cádiz-born
artist surrounds himself exclusively with women. All eight
artists on stage are women, from the guitarists to the
clapper, with the cantaoras and dancers in between. And
with them, he creates a universe in which the feminine
and the masculine seek contrasts and complementary natures.
All of it triggers an austere atmosphere, with the color
black as the star, both in the backgrounds and wardrobes.
The lights, expressions, choreographies, interpretations,
music and (well-used) rests are the factors which unleash
the different states of mind and plastic art on that neutral
canvas.
And they have a lot to do with the performers. Although
a group movement is developed which marks the show’s
identity and the continuity of the scenes, the individual
baile spaces are what characterize the show. The ones
by the star are late in coming, but when they do, they
are bursts of energy, technique and personality on stage,
although perhaps somewhat overwhelming in gestures. He
danced por cantiñas and por soleá, with
an elegant, slender figure, with flowing motion around
the stage, aware of both the plastic art of his arms and
the virtuosity of his footwork.
The three dancers also had the chance to display their
very different tessituras. Guadalupe Torres, por tangos,
sought the popular the academic way. Lidón Patiño
was a bundle of nerves por seguiriyas and por bulerías.
And Vanesa Vento - the current ‘Carmen’ of
the Antonio Gades Company - knew how to have one foot
in the flamenco and the other in the Spanish at the same
time, with a bright performance por fandangos, choreographed
by Olga
Pericet, and therefore multi-dimensional. Cantaoras,
guitarists and clapper knew how to create the ideal climates
for them, aware of the weight of each and every one of
their interventions. And the audience awarded all of the
work with its enthusiastic applause; that of Marcos Flores
in particular and that of his flamencas in general. It
might have been an even better award than the one three
years ago.
Marcos Flores, 'De flamencas'.
Guadalupe Torres. 2010 Córdoba National Contest
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Marcos Flores, 'De flamencas'.
Bettina Flater. 2010 Córdoba National Contest
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
