Special feature. Israel Galván,
by Pedro G. Romero
Sharing the cutting edge
Silvia Calado, August 2008
Israel Galván in 'Arena'
(Foto Daniel Muñoz)
Israel since Pedro G.
The work of cutting-edge bailaor Israel Galván
would be impossible to comprehend without Pedro G. Romero.
The creator from Aracena was behind ‘Los zapatos
rojos’, ‘Arena’, ‘La edad de oro’,
‘Tabula rasa’... and behind the fact that
Israel has taken stock of the modernism that underlies
his flamenco dance. And if anyone accuses him of influencing
the bailaor, he'll take it as a compliment.
The first time
“Pepa Gamboa, with whom I'd worked in theater, insisted
that we had to do something with flamenco. And she told
me I had to see Israel. And I saw him in Seville doing
a bulería por soleá with a yellow shirt,
and I remember I said ‘this guy is...’ It's
not that it struck me how good a bailaor he was - though
the level of dance is exceptional. I get annoyed about
flamenco artists because there are so many good artists
out there... Of course, that isn't the whole story.”
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Israel Galván
in 'Tabula Rasa'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Love at first sight
“And with Israel above all it was his approach.
He never sought an easy applause, the whole set-up was
pretty unusual with the audience, he turned his back on
them a good number of times. He never did an extra footstomp
for the final applause. That struck me. And we started
working on ‘Los zapatos rojos’. From that
moment on... I mean Israel is something else.”
And has this relationship made
Israel a different artist to the one he would've been?
“Of course, for better or for worse. I hope for
better.”
It isn't my fault...
“Israel is the one that finds that hardest to take.
I love it.”
what NOT to do
“I can't stand the work that artists and theater
people are doing with flamenco. It always horrified me.
I think flamenco has enough tools by itself and it has
enough background that it doesn't have to dress up or
‘move with the times’ ”.
The project
“My work with Israel wasn't like that. I don't do
set-ups with predetermined aesthetics. I try to aim for
a project that puts him in context, really at his service.
To give him material, give him things that he thought
of or that he wanted to try. When we put ‘Los zapatos
rojos’ on I used the construct of taking the story
of Félix el Loco and the whole history of cubism,
and Vicente Escudero and the flamenco of that era. But
as well as offering all that material, more than specifying
what production I'm going to do it's like you dance how
you want, and we'll put a really beautiful background
there.”
Israel Galván
in 'Tabula Rasa'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Contemporary comes as standard
“There's already enough theater in a soleá
piece... it's a complete theater production in itself.
What can most contemporary dance contribute to flamenco?
I mean flamenco is a lot more modern and radically advanced
than contemporary Spanish dance, with a few well-known
exceptions. When I started out in flamenco and they used
to call me Maeso, I did a cultural education program for
ballet dancers that didn't have a flamenco background,
where the first step was to familiarize themselves with
the relationship between contemporary and Spanish dance
- where flamenco plays a major role. It might seem like
a radical viewpoint, but what do choreographers from Seville
or Andalucía have to offer Manuela Carrasco? What
can Blanca Li do for flamenco if any old turn by an artist
in Jerez has a lot more in common with Merce Cunningham
than anything she could ever dream up? And people have
to deal with that situation somehow or other but they
don't realize that. When they come from abroad who's interested
in seeing something that isn't flamenco? And it isn't
just a cliché. Israel is capable of assimilating
what happens out there and he knows it. And one thingI've
done was to say to Israel ‘don't worry, whatever
you dance it's already so modern...’ But it was
really important to be aware of that.”
Insecurity
“Really I think it's the only thing that I did,
apart from carry on working with him: give him material,
build scripts or contribute musical styles or juxtapose
it with other things. Work a little on security. Because
of the way flamenco artists are presented culturally and
because of their training, they have a lot of doubts,
insecurity... You can see that, they're driven crazy,
they don't know what road to take next.”
Independent creators
“But Israel is really aware of having something
that modern artists already found, which is creative independence.
I think in flamenco it's mostly been just as well that
this hasn't come about. It's difficult to find artists
that are truly independent like Antonio Gades, Enrique
Morente or Mario Maya - the fact they're independent doesn't
make them any better or worse. Or like Matilde Coral,
artists that gain independence in terms of what they do
and are aware of their talents.”
The vanguard
“That was the relationship Israel had with the vanguard.
Ever since the first time I saw him, he already had the
feeling. OK, now he's had more opportunities to see butoh,
for example. When we started working we did so with choreographers,
but saw that what Israel does is a lot better than those
other contributions. I remember there was a kind of step
that was in fashion then and there wasn't one show in
Seville that didn't include it. I told Israel that if
he did it I was going.”
Israel Galván in 'La
Edad de Oro' ( Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Revolution without music
“Vicente Escudero conceived the idea of dance without
music, but on the other hand it's something intrinsic
to flamenco because the music is the body of the bailaor
itself. And he conceived it thirty years before Merce
Cunningham performed the great revolution of dance without
music. And when he appeared in New York in the thirties
using rhythms without music the reviews were excellent.
Later things happen, Vicente Escudero came back to Spain,
disappeared, but there they celebrate it like something
amazing, a truly radical artist. The ballet dancer appeared
as the true owner of the stage - that's something very
important in the vanguard, that you don't depend on the
music to build a project on stage. That - one of the greatest
dance revolutions since the Second World War - happened
first in flamenco. And on top of that, it forms part of
the idiosyncrasy of flamenco itself. If you take that
on board then you'll understand why Israel has no hang-ups,
he can speak to modern artists as an equal. Recently he
went to the Guggenheim in Bilbao with Sol Picó
and modern dance. I have friends who specialize in dance
who'd never seen him and they called me saying 'this guy
has everybody talking about him.' All the others that
were supposedly modern looked archaic alongside him.”
University
“Israel has some huge fans among art-lovers. The
Complutense university in Madrid is preparing a seminar
on his work this coming December.”
A disease
“Really I'm a flamenco-lover only because by coincidence
José Manuel Gamboa and José Luis Ortiz Nuevo
are really close to me, but as friends not colleagues.
And it's a piece of good luck when I come across things
that get me caught in the web of being branded an aficionado
- it's a disease like any other.”
... and you suffer
“I remember that in the beginning I really enjoyed
it. Later came the harder years with Israel because I
was so wrapped up in it and suffering so much... or watching
how he suffered so much in the struggle, the setbacks
that certain things cause, he didn't enjoy himself much.
Now I'm in a position to start enjoying everything more
again.”
