SPECIAL FEATURE. EVA YERBABUENA
COMPANY'S TENTHS ANNIVERSARY
Eva's genius
Martín Molina. Granada, June
27th 2008
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Eva Yerbabuena and Patrick
de Bana
(Photo Patricia Díez) |
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Eva’s genius doesn’t lie
solely in her baile. There are many aspects defining her
as what she is; possibly the best bailaora ‘of all
time’, standing out among which is the wonderful
use she makes of the musicians on stage, besides the painstaking
care and elaboration of her choreographies, whose work
turns out to be especially original in the dance elements
and lighting.
Her shows ooze with love for cante: she
dances to it, respects it, feels it, absorbs it …
Love for cante, that detail so forgotten by those devoted
to flamenco dancing nowadays. Eva loves cante and understands
it, and she thus knows what each cantaor can contribute
to her, and so she made the most of Miguel
Poveda’s golden voice in the beautiful lullabies.
She reinvented Pepe de Pura por serranas, made a precise
Arcángel
jealous por granaínas, in fellowship with Chacón,
Ronda, Albayzín and Huelva. She needed Segundo
Falcón’s devotion in a beautiful caña,
she managed to touch Marina
Heredia por tangos, to the point where the Granada-born
artist stood up to hurl mountain sounds at the bailaora
and as a climax, Enrique
‘El Extremeño’, one of her faithful
pillars in cante, shattered into smithereens por soleá,
hurting, touching us, being touched, dedicating lyrics
and more lyrics to her which always spoke about Yerbabuena,
about feeling, about love, about baile.
Although the venue is wonderful to feast
your eyes on and for the other senses, it might be excessive
for something as intimate as flamenco, and for something
as immensely magical as Eva, who for her company’s
tenth anniversary has brought all the best of herself
to Granada, dissolving into bailes and choreographies
of her own creation, gliding around the stage like a weightless
entity together with Patrick de Bana, always with that
musically bewitching halo of the music composed by Paco
Jarana which is the backbone of the shows, until Eva
is left in her heart and in her soul, now stripped of
her body and garments, and with it all, accompanied by
all of her people, she leaves to the sound of romances,
of beaten-out bulerías and the applause of a crowd
rising to a standing ovation.
Eva Yerbabuena Company
(Photo Patricia Díez)
