2008 FLAMENCO THURSDAYS. DOSPORMEDIO & CÍA. PREMIERE
OF ‘SONATA’
Transversal
Silvia Calado. Seville, November 13th, 2008
Dospormedio & Cía.,
‘Sonata’. Photo gallery, by Daniel Muñoz
‘Sonata’,
Dospormedio & Cía. Rafael Estévez
and Nani Paños: directing, choreography,
baile. Christian Lozano, David Coria, Álvaro Paños,
Concha Jareño, Rosana Romero, Carmen Manzanera: baile.
Antonio Ruz: baile, choreography. Edith Peña: piano.
Padre Soler: music. Seville’s Flamenco Thursdays 2008/2009.
Centro Cultural Cajasol, Sala Joaquín Turina. Seville,
November 13th, 2008. 9 p.m.
Rafael Estévez
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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A look back. A step forward.
Dospormedio & Compañía’s dance is
decisively transversal. One century, two centuries, three
centuries. And the century to come. With the premiere of
‘Sonata’, the project led by Rafael
Estévez and Nani
Paños consolidates its place on the dance scene
(which is more than flamenco, more than Spanish and - hopefully
- more than national). And it does so by applying to the
new show the forceful, necessary discourse it already applied
to ‘Flamenco XXI’. With these two shows underway,
it could nearly be said that the company has privately taken
on the duties characteristic of a state ballet. It isn’t
just because it values the very rich Spanish dance tradition,
but rather because it renews it with intelligence, personality
and a multiple perspective. It traces a dotted line which
joins the bolero school with contemporary dance, therefore
passing through flamenco, relating different times, different
focuses.
‘Sonata’, unlike
the previous one, is a mid-sized chamber show, going straight
to the point. Instead of that historical downpour of packaged
music, here, just Edith Peña’s live piano is
heard. The concert performer plays fourteen sonatas and
a fandango by eighteenth-century composer Father Soler,
serving as musical and emotional support for nearly all
the baile. The ‘nearly’ is due to the considerable
rests running through the show. Absences of sound which
are also choreographed and which, in a certain way, are
heard. In fact, that’s how the show opens; with a
chilling nine-way dance piece in silence. The third element
of sound is the percussion inherent in the baile, the one
performed through the footwork, with the clapping of hands,
with the beating of the fans’ ribs, with the friction
of the wardrobe in the air... and with castanets. The striking
of castanets is given a novel leading role here, since it
isn’t treated as a simple ornament, but rather as
an instrument to create contemporary musical pieces with
and with its own significance.
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Dospormedio &
Compañía on 'Sonata'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
And dance and dance and dance.
The show lasting a little over an hour is a vibrant chain
of choreographies scrupulously combined in relation to the
music. Especially in relation to the internal rhythm of
these scores which include tanguillos just as easily as
soleares. The group’s movement takes priority, designed
based on a tight cluster reeling off dancers by one, by
two, by three... by all. And that special way of crowding
together, sometimes piling up tiny movements of regards
or fingertips, sparks moments of incalculable beauty. Something
which gains in value when you appreciate the generosity
of the company’s stars. If Nani Paños and Rafael
Estévez stand out it’s due to their own merit,
just like all the rest stand out, and not because they choreograph
for their own greater glory. And dance and dance and dance.
Nani flying over the stage in ballet shoes, Rafael stringing
deep foreshortenings, the impossible heel tapping by the
male dancers, the extreme curve of the female ones, Antonio
Ruz invoking abstraction... the technical challenges, the
comic flashes, the no-truce, the past, the present, the
future. Everything is vibrant and, at the same time, so
subtle that the spectator of ‘Sonata’ surely
ends up needing a second and even a third time.
Translation: Joseph Kopec
