Flamenco Special Feature. Eva Yerbabuena premieres ‘El huso de la memoria’

Eva Yerbabuena in light of memories

S.C. Madrid, September 2006

See photo gallery, by Daniel Muñoz

‘El huso de la memoria’. Eva Yerbabuena Company. Eva Yerbabuena: choreography, artistic and stage direction. Paco Jarana: composition and musical direction. Óscar Mariné: graphic and stage design. Raúl Perotti: lighting. Esther Vaquero: costume design. Begoña Cervera: shoes/ Cast of artists. Baile: Eva Yerbabuena, Mercedes de Córdoba, Sonia Poveda, Choni, María Moreno, Luis Miguel González, Eduardo Guerrero, Juan Manuel Zurano, Alejandro Rodríguez. Guitar: Paco Jarana, Manuel de la Luz. Cante: Enrique Soto, Pepe de Pura, Rafael de Utrera, Jeromo Segura. Percussion: El Pájaro, Efraín Toro. Sax-flute: Ignacio Vidaechea. Guest artist: Patrick de Bana. Special collaboration: Aída Badía, Eduardo Lozano. Teatro de la Zarzuela. Madrid, September 13th to 24th, 2006.

Eva Yerbabuena (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

She spins memories. She uses recollection. And then there’s light. ‘5 mujeres 5’ was in black and white. ‘A cuatro voces’ was gray, “with a touch of red”. And ‘El huso de la memoria’ is in color. Although the Granada-born creator calls herself “dramatic” and a lover of black, she assures that this show “is going to reveal a part of me which is unknown”. And the thing is that her memories are full of contrasts. On the one hand, there’s the black and white, which she attributes to the picture of her grandmother in mourning amidst the snow of the Granada countryside. And, on the other hand, the memory of her Aunt Encarnita, “the one to blame for me being a bailaora, who always used to wear bright colors, who used to ride an orange scooter”. And the shawl Eva swirls around in the mirabrás is the color of that motorbike. The bata de cola is white with a flower pattern. An unusual picture for Yerbabuena, another challenge, a different wager which might evoke some spring. It is so heartfelt that even the color she’s wearing determines the way she dances. “It has a different kind of energy. I’d dance everything in black –like the saeta she shares with Patrick de Bana -, since I feel like more protected, more intimate”.

A glimpse can already be caught of the esthetic difference in the posters put up on newsstands and buses in Madrid. Eva admits that seeing the display had an impact on her when she arrived from Seville and took a taxi from the station to the theater. And the thing is that life doesn’t always offer a chance like this one, that of opening the 150th season of a theater, the so historic Teatro de la Zarzuela. Besides the air of Lorca which Óscar Mariné’s illustration gets across, the bailaora remarks upon the astonishing resemblance of the portrait “to a very important person in my life”. When talking about the work by the Madrilenian designer – author of creations such as the poster of ‘All About My Mother’ by Pedro Almodóvar and the cover of ‘Spain’ by Michel Camilo & Tomatito -, she points out, surprised, that “it impressed me because it seemed like he’d known me all my life”. Two backdrops in black and white, a man and a woman from another time, as if Lorca muses, embellish the stage of ‘El huso de la memoria’.

Those memories bring up a storm of feelings. And the thing is that tears, sweat... and even physical pain have been behind the scenes of this show. A triple tear of fibers had Yerbabuena immobilized for days while the show was developed at her studio in the Seville-area town of Dos Hermanas. A process in which, as usual, a fundamental role was played by Paco Jarana, the author of the music, the musical director... and her husband. Eva Yerbabuena remarks that “I have the virtue and the advantage of having Paco at my side. I work through images: the first one of this show was that of a dry woman who was pulling out dirt, as if she were digging her own grave. And I comment on all of this I see with Paco, I give him the information and he, besides writing the titles, shuts himself in and tries to accompany all of it with music. And he does so better than anyone. It’s a parallel work process”. And the Sevillian guitarist isn’t the only accomplice: “I like to ask the entire company to participate; the bailaores, technicians, manager, even the office people. I like to ask everybody surrounding me, everyone who believes in me. Eva isn’t solo. Eva’s the entire company”. A private company which, by the way, mobilizes nearly thirty people for this show. Nine bailaores. Nine musicians, among them, cantaores Rafael de Utrera, Pepe de Pura and Enrique Soto, percussionist Efraín Toro and of course, guitarist Paco Jarana. Guest dancers Patrick de Bana – who she already worked with in ‘La voz del silencio’ - and Aída Badía. And all the technical crew.

Click the images to enlarge
Eva Yerbabuena, 'El huso de la memoria' (Photos: Daniel Muñoz)

She’d rather the show were discovered live, but reveals a detail or two: “It happens to me with books; if I see the movie first, I don’t read them”. Besides the mirabrás, there’s a farruca, there are saetas, there’s a choral number only with repetitive percussion like a blue-colored mantra... But in the end, the soleá won. She blames Paco Jarana for the fact that against what she said in a recent interview with Flamenco-world.com, she’s going to end by dancing por soleá. And she says he’s right when recognizing that “if any baile has made me the way I am, it’s the soleá. It’s one of the few things he’s asked of me, and I’m going to do it for him”.

Like everything signed by Eva Yerbabuena, this show is also “a way to pay tribute to flamenco, since flamenco doesn’t have anything to be grateful to me for; I’m the one who has to be thankful to flamenco”. And above all else, ‘El huso de la memoria’ like this, premiering at one of the country’s top theaters, “is a dream come true”. It comes at a time of bearing fruit following years and years of work: “The responsibility gets greater and greater; you can’t let a single thing get by”. Though she elaborates that there are still many dreams to make come true, challenges to face. “I remember some years ago at the Granada Music Festival, I saw the Mario Maya Company and I didn’t think about when I’d reach that level, but about when I’d get the chance to set foot in a temple of art like that one”. Another dream come true.

magazine@flamenco-world.com