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‘DIÁLOGO DEL AMARGO’ BY MARIO MAYA. REVIEW AND PHOTOS

Still bitter

G. Cappa. Granada, August 2005

‘Diálogo del Amargo’. Mario Maya: director and choreographer. Dance: Juan Andrés Maya, Diego Llori, Conchi Maya. Vocals: Rafaela Gómez, Juan Ángel Tirado, Alfredo Tajada, María José Pérez. Guitars: Miguel Ochando, Emilio Maya and Rafael Santiago ‘Habichuela’. Lorca and Granada Season 2005. at Palacio de Carlos V, adjacent to the Alhambra palace. Granada, 21st July 2005.

Mario Maya winks to the beat from behind his glasses. Yesterday at Palacio de Carlos V his latest vision, ‘Diálogo del Amargo’ became a reality. This project, Dialogue of Amargo, is a tussle with Lorca expressed through choreography, with Juan Andrés Maya playing the leading role of Amargo. A triangle of Granada artists, with the poet from Fuente Vaqueros forming the other vertex. Flamenco is put at the service of Lorca's 1921 ‘Poemas del cante jondo’ without gimmicks, a rigorous production, with the precision afforded by the choreographer's approach.

Diálogo del Amargo (Photo: Luis Castilla)

“Amor, amor, que vengo herido, herido de amor huido” (Love, love, I come wounded, wounded from love flown). The first part of the production, lasting around 35 minutes, was an exploration of some of Lorca's poems set to fandangos del Albaicín, with the entire flamenco formation giving their all to express the sense of time and love to set the scene for the tragedy. There was also time for bulerías, set to a lyric from ‘Baladilla de los tres ríos’ and alegrías too, with baile from Anabel Alonso, with lyrics drawn from the poem ‘Naranja y oliva’ by Miguel Hernández y Madariaga. This first part was rounded off with the alegrías ‘Cinco toreros’ with Juan Andrés Maya, music por bulerías by Diego Carrasco and a seguiriya danced by Amargo himself - whose name means literally 'the bitter one' - adapted from the Lorca text by Juan de Loxa. By this time, the musicians had already made clear that simply playing back pre-recorded music over the P.A. system – the order of the day the previous season – should be reserved exclusively for the Saturday night musical programs. On guitar were Miguel Ochando, Emilio Maya and Rafael Santiago Habichuela, with vocals from Juan Ángel Tirado, Alfredo Tejada and María José Pérez, Rafaela Gómez and Gema Caballero, and Benjamín Santiago on percussion. Music from Granada for a dance-theater production that, was already beginning to see the morning dew settle around the marble palace.

The twenty minute interval allowed those whose skin had turned to goose bumps to regain their composure. Back to the seats and back to the Lorcan world and the split-second timing of Mario Maya's precision-engineered choreography. The second part was based around the poem ‘Diálogo del Amargo’ and featured the exceptional sounds of Igor Stravinsky. Amargo had already found his lover in a pas-de-deux based on the Dorian mode that underlies flamenco. The unfolding tragedy was already being muttered by the bailaores' shoes. The star of the show was the Lorca text, with concise choreography and deep dramatics, one that needed no wailing nor exaggerated gesticulation. The choreography sealed the theatrical dialog between Lorca and Maya.

Meanwhile, between Juan Andrés Maya and Diego Llori there grew a “dialog of dance, with a ritual of people around them, in which Lorca's interpretation of the knife as phallus is revived, killing but caressing”, as Mario Maya himself explains. Paroxysm from Granada with guitars providing arpeggio accompaniment to the tragedy. All this under the lighting of Guillermo Galán, with effective manipulation of shadows, accompanying the text as if in a whispered voice.

Baile couldn't be missing. It was time. Mercedes Ruiz and her group trod the boards of the huge stage set up in the bullring. Through romance. The festival heads into the final stretch with a cajoling mixture. A combination of music, baile and horses. A cocktail of great plastic and esthetic beauty. ‘Rocayisa’ tangos by Moraíto Chico for Carmen Herrera's baile with a special guest, the horse. The bullring on its feet. A huge ovation. Good things can't last forever. It's time to put the icing on the cake. It's the new talents of the Jerez breeding ground. With a special sponsor, Diego Carrasco. New flamenco conceptions. With the native rhythm. José Caraoscura, Navajita Plateá and Tomasito put the final touch on a night that will be treasured in the flamenco history of Jerez de la Frontera. This one's for you, ‘Parrilla de Jerez’.

says Lorca's text. And so much is true. The fullest of moons authenticated the proceedings yesterday in the sky over the Palacio Carlos V. Alberto Bandrés, the director of the Andalusian Agency for the Development of Flamenco who was responsible for the production, said in his opening speech that “we've made a declaration of our intention to search for the most flamenco side of Federico García Lorca”. And from what we've seen, Mario Maya found it. He was, without a doubt, the man for the job. Lorca wrote ‘Diálogo del Amargo’ basing it on an incident from his childhood, when at his family home by the Huerta de San Vicente some gypsy children from Sacromonte approached him, on their way to collect wicker. One spat in his face and he heard a voice from afar cry “Amargo”. Almost a century on from that experience, that spittle splashed, too, onto the audience here. Still bitter.

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