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2004 JEREZ FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
Spanish Ballet of Murcia
Regarding indifference
Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 1st, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
Translation: Joseph Kopec
Artist credits. Penelope. Spanish Ballet of Murcia.
Penelope: Beatriz Arce. Ulysses: Ramón Martínez. Melanto: Estefanía
Brao. Antinous: Pedro Córdoba. Pisandro: Daniel Navarro. Dione: Carmen
Coy. Telemachus: José María Maldonado. Solo guitar: Carlos Piñana.
Bass: Carles Benavent. Guitar: José Torres. Cante: Antonio Campos. Flute:
Raudel Betancourt. Violin: Luzía Sánchez. Cello: Maribel Cabrera.
Percussion: Miguel Ángel Orengo. Choreography: Javier Latorre. Direction:
Carmen and Matilde Rubio. Villamarta Theater. Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz,
Spain), March 1st, 2004. 9 p.m.
Salvador Távora
"Art needn't be reasonable". Salvador
Távora affirms that he does not worry about his works "being understood,
but that they are felt, since art must fundamentally be emotion". The Sevillian
playwright thus tried to explain what he considers inexplicable upon presenting
at Bodega de San Ginés 'Imágenes andaluzas para Carmina Burana'
('Andalusian Images for Carmina Burana'), a show which, as he confessed, "makes
me cry". Horses, death, confused religiousness... and cante, a cante "that
has the valor to be food for thought". With all of it, the director of La
Cuadra aims for "flamenco not to stay parked in a corner as a unique art,
but for it to be compared with other arts, putting it together with them".
The expectation proved well worthwhile... and indifference was ruled out by the
author himself.
The question set forth by Salvador Távora could be applied in inverted
form to the proposal of the Spanish Ballet of Murcia. The company revisited the
myth of 'Penelope', using the style of flamenco dancing in a deserving show, but
lacking fissures, full of the obvious. So much theatrical love, so much repetition
of resources of all kinds, appealing directly to indifference. The structuring
of the scenes turned out to be perhaps too predictable: the group dance, the dance
for two, that I am being courted, that I reject you. The music was disappointing
after that wonderful first minute offered from the pit by bass player Carles
Benavent. And not because the performance had any snags, but because the mutual
understanding with dancing and the narrative left quite a lot to be desired. There
was no room for gradations between joy and grief. The soloists offered a few good
moments, but in general, the level was homogeneous: dull. It seems that mythology
and flamenco already resolved their relationship in 'Medea'. There is the level.
Ballet Español de Murcia
A book, a rehearsal, a recital, a class...
Courses, recitals, rehearsals, book presentations, all-nighters... The day
offered a great many more options. While the maestros continued to pass on knowledge
to pupils in several classrooms throughout the city, artists like María
del Mar Moreno, Antonio Malena and Domingo Rubichi finalized the tribute that
they will pay to Angelita Gómez in the closing gala. If guitarist Niño
Josele offered a toque recital at Sala La Compañía in the afternoon,
at night the peñas offered refuge to night owls and at mid-day researcher
José Luis Navarro presented his latest book, 'El ballet flamenco' ('Flamenco
Ballet'), which will soon be on sale at Flamenco-world.com. The author summarized
the contents of this work, the second part of a trilogy devoted to the history
of flamenco dancing, which begins on April 15, 1915, when Pastora Imperio premieres
'El amor brujo' by Manuel de Falla, and ends at the beginning of the 1970s, with
'Quejío' by La Cuadra, the first work in which Salvador Távora sets
forth the reason for cante, about to appear.
magazine@flamenco-world.com
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