SPECIAL FEATURE. PREMIERE OF ‘FLAMENCO HOY DE CARLOS
SAURA’
“Olé, maestro
from Aragón”
Silvia Calado. Madrid, 19 de agosto de 2009
‘Flamenco Hoy de Carlos
Saura’. Director: Carlos Saura. Musical Director:
Chano Domínguez. Choreography: Rafael Estévez
and Nani Paños. Baile: Rocío Molina, Pastora
Galván, Rafael Estévez, Nani Paños,
Concha Jareño, Laura Rozalén, David Coria,
Jonatan Miró, Álvaro Paños, Rosana
Romero, Carmen Manzanera, Guadalupe Torres, María
Fernández, Ana Agraz, Adrián Santana, Mónica
Iglesias, Andoitz Ruibal, Lara Pla/ Chano Domínguez:
piano, keyboards. Antonio Rey, Daniel Jurado: guitars. Piraña,
Sergey Saprychev: percussion. Marina Albero: psaltery. Ernesto
Aurignac: sax, flute. Martín Meléndez: bass,
cello/ Cante: David Palomar, Jesús Méndez,
Blas Córdoba, Israel, La Tremendita, La Genara, Alba
Carmona. Veranos de la Villa 2009. Puerta del Ángel.
Madrid, August 19th to 23rd, 2009. 9:30 p.m.
Rosana Romero y Carmen
Manzanera (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
|
José Luis Ortiz Nuevo had already
said so a few days ago: “The flamenco world must thank
Carlos
Saura evidently, for a man of his stature to devote
so many hours to this artform needs for him to be awarded
with an “olé, maestro from Aragón”.
And that gratitude is an implicit and explicit part of ‘Flamenco
Hoy’, the show the famous filmmaker is directing in
order to show the world once again how lively this artform
is which his camera adores. What is seen is right at the
end, when the cantiñas turn into the similar jota,
when the ties of Iberia grow tighter and the dance and the
music, the rhythms and the postures, are an enveloping whole
which is recognized as something all its own. The tacit
lies in the devotion with which the artistic crew has carried
out the assignment by the author of the film ‘Flamenco’.
And above all, the dancing... both in its creation and its
performance.
Baile is the base, the axis revolved upon
by this show which connects up to some twenty pieces with
very Saura-style esthetics; that is to say, simplicity,
elegance and light. Two large mobile panels reflect the
chromatic climates and sometimes project online images with
on-stage cameras, are opened and closed to change scenes,
and are used to split up planes. And of course, they are
complemented with another of the director’s typical
elements: mirrors. And that is the setting in which the
dancing shines splendidly, dressed just right by designer
Antonio Alvarado with functional character, glamour, roots
and a streetwise edge. Nani Paños and Rafael Estévez
have applied the maxim of their company Dospormedio to the
project with rigorousness, exquisiteness and service: “Looking
back to seek modernity”.
Rocío Molina
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
|
Group pieces stem from that concept which
will remain in the memory of this genre. One is the heads
and tails por sevillanas: one, a deconstructed biblical
one made of stillness, and the other hyperbolically vibrant
corralera. The other one, the fandango de Boccherini in
the rehearsal room, a complex, exciting choreography with
more nuances than you can tackle all at once. It is surprising
in how creative it is, but also in the performance by each
and every one of the dancers with regards to technique,
expression and plastic art. Of course, after having witnessed
a rehearsal
session some weeks ago, the conclusion is that the brilliance
which was seen on stage is a faithful reflection of the
work of several months, of hundreds of hours.
It is also a show with names of its own,
a select catalogue of today’s bailaores. Pastora
Galván sums things up por tangos de Triana, with
her hips, her cuts, her sophistication of the homemade.
Rocío Molina soars to the sound of a cute guajira…
but with butterfly wings. Concha Jareño captivates
with sententious, austere dancing in the iconoclastic saeta.
Laura Rozalén transposes to the 19th century with
arm movement and weightless grace. Nani Paños is
refined in the farruca, aerial in the fandango, a permanent
connector to the classicism inherent in the jondo. Rafael
Estévez breaks the mold in the zambra and tackles
the tireless role of agitator wherever extra energy is needed.
In short, the lineup is a varied, valuable excerpt of the
current generation... and of what it will contribute to
the future.
Nani Paños (Photo
Daniel Muñoz) |
|
The music is split in two. Chano Domínguez,
the show’s musical director, has the lead role with
scores immersed in his work and in his personal trademark,
which contribute a general tone of flamenco jazz connected
to the Spanish… although not so much today’s.
Much of the soundtrack is done from the back with accompanying
instruments like the sax, bass, percussion, psaltery and
keyboards, but his piano occupies the foreground on several
occasions. And he thus offers such brilliant moments in
connection with baile as ‘Danza de los Ojos Verdes’
which, starring Rosana Romero, Carmen Manzanera and Ana
Agraz, a shawl, castanets and vigor, pays tribute to a Antonia
Mercé ‘La Argentina’.
The other part is the one that requires
more traditional flamenco, the nearly solo guitar of Antonio
Rey, , giving free reign to his explosive nerve and
sticking to the rules and needs of baile and cante at the
same time. The vocals have three youths in the front line
who are very mature and experienced both solo and singing
for dancing: David Palomar, acting not just as a splendid
cantaor - the saeta is brilliant - but nearly also as vocal
director; Jesús Méndez, who keeps on further
polishing his old throat por seguiriyas; and Rosario la
Tremendita, capable of making the most intricate sketch
beautiful.
Concha Jareño
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
|
The other three cantaores - Israel, La
Genara and Alba Carmona - are the wager on new blood and
they will surely manage to take advantage of this chance
to gain confidence, weight and reliability on stage.
There are now five nights left at this
stage located amidst the pine trees of Madrid’s Casa
de Campo to give thanks to Carlos Saura for putting his
art and his mark at the service of flamenco, once more with
quality, once more looking out at the world, at the great
stages and the future. And it will be given to him by the
artists from the stage and by thousands of people standing
up and applauding from their seats, like on this premiere
night
