2003 FESTIVAL DE JEREZ
The Antonio Márquez Company: Flamenco Wedding (Villamarta Theater)
Esperanza Fernández & Dorantes: Voice and Ivory (The Apostles Winery)

The Distance between the Classic
and the Old-fashioned

Silvia Calado Olivo. Jerez, March 7th, 2003
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
Translation: Joseph Kopec

Antonio Márquez

Antonio Márquez triumphed with 'Boda Flamenca' ('Flamenco Wedding') at the Villamarta Theater. He triumphed. Not even the applause in time waited for the performance to end... and such a reaction was a first at this point in the festival. The Sevillian dancer offered a love story ending in a wedding between, according to what he explained previously (since in the work it's not deduced), the son of an Indian who returns to his father's homeland and a young woman who he finds there. There's a groom (Antonio Márquez), bride (Trinidad Artíguez), best man (Currillo), guests (the company's ten male and female dancers) and live musicians (Diego Franco and Iván Palmero, guitar; Johana Jiménez and Manuel Gago, cante; Omar Acosta, flute; and Amador Losada, percussion). With such a simple storyline, one of so many also used days earlier by Rafael Amargo on the same stage, he spun a yarn of individual and group pictures much to the delight of a gathering who are lovers of classicism and even, stretching it a bit, of cliché, the españolada. Antonio Márquez contributes nothing new; he recurs a thousand times over not only to references to the past such as Antonio, but also to vulgar exhibitionism, to easy applause he rouses with the most basic resources (the double somersault, the light cannon, the arms open in a receptive attitude, the genuflection...). And that works for a certain crowd because, moreover, it is consciously worked to that end... and with a certain quality, within his style. A pause to highlight the picture set up for the six dancers in flamenco costumes with a train and Manila shawls, a homage to the Seville school with precious winks at the maestra there present.

Those who flee from that way of applying flamenco and Spanish dance to the stage had an option to make up for it at the Apostles Winery. A blessed sort of singing café... For the first time, Esperanza Fernández and Dorantes took their reciprocal collaborations a bit further and premiered a joint recital, which they attended accompanied by Pablo Martín on contrabass and Tete Peña on percussion. They performed compositions appearing both on the album 'Esperanza Fernández' and 'Sur', by the Sevillian cantaora and the Lebrija-born pianist, respectively. Elegance, quality, sensitivity, creation, beauty, base and projection... And that classicism which doesn't necessarily have to be old-fashioned. The ivory orthodoxically accompanied por soleares this voice, one of the best in the current flamenco panorama, with a very broad spectrum, rich in nuances, of crystal-clear purity; but she also showed her personality alone with some of those tracks of nearly palpable plastic art from her album. And there were beautiful songs such as 'Di, di, Ana'; and that 'Baladilla de los tres ríos' by Lorca and by Pata Negra, por tanguillos; and bulerías with Lebrija moderation... A real pleasure.

Dorantes and Pablo Martín

Critiques for the critics

There is finally an answer to the until now rhetorical question. Who critiques the critics? The critics (or certain critics), according to what has been seen at several round tables which the Festival de Jerez convenes at the San Ginés Winery, turn out to critique themselves... And are also critiqued by the creators. Maestro José Granero and Javier Latorre, each a recognized professional of dance and choreography, coincided in demanding constructive critiques, in asking critics for flexibility towards creation, in requesting training and information from those pens, apart from judgment. Nothing that wasn't recognized by critics Julio Bravo and Joaquim Noguero days earlier at the same table.

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