2005 JEREZ FESTIVAL

Rafaela Carrasco dares to make mannish
the ‘bata de cola’ in ‘Una mirada del flamenco’

The bailaora recovers the malagueña she triumphed with at the last Jerez Festival

S.Calado, February 2005

“I don't want to tell anything, just to show my vision of flamenco... at the moment and in the most honest way possible”. Rafaela Carrasco premieres ‘Una mirada del flamenco’, her company's second show, on Wednesday, March 2nd at the 2005 Jerez Festival, two years after her company's début with ‘La música del cuerpo’. The Sevillian bailaora's new creation includes the malagueña which she impressed the Jerez audience with last year, bulerías, a taranto, a soleá... and a risky venture: making three bailaores dance a farruca decked out in a dress with a train (bata de cola).

Rafaela Carrasco is putting together the new show ‘Una mirada del flamenco’ together with two bailaoras - Concha Jareño, Olga Ramos - and three bailaores - Daniel Doña, Marco Flores, Álvaro Paños -. The entire troupe takes part in the opening instrumental bulerías, “a very flashy number visually”. Alone, the bailaora performs the malagueña which she included in the last edition of the Jerez Festival in the show ‘Un, dos, tres... faaa’ by the Mario Maya Company. Next comes the taranto by the company's two other bailaoras, “the most traditional number”; and the soleá which “establishes three different relationships” between Rafaela Carrasco attired in a dress with a train and the three bailaores.

Rafaela Carrasco. 'Una mirada del flamenco' (Photo: Jesús Vallinas)

They are the stars of the challenge contained in this show. Rafaela Carrasco has had them dance a farruca in a dress with a train, “not as adornment, but so they break their face dancing it”. In the opinion of the bailaora and choreographer, this venturesome piece is “serious and sober, irreproachable in either the technique or the form”. The experience has been quite interesting: “I rehearsed with them separately; the first day they didn't know how to move it but they put forward a lot of ideas. I gave them a few guidelines so that they could learn the logic. I was seeking a more modern, more contemporary result, but it came out very traditional”. The controversy is here.

Just music and lights accompany the dancing. The music is composed specifically for the occasion by pianist Pablo Suárez, cellist José Luis López and guitarists Jesús Torres and Fernando de la Rúa. The stage design is not obvious; “it's very clean, very sober; the musicians aren't even on stage the whole time, so that the show is unveiled little by little”. The event will be on March 2nd, 2005 at the Villamarta Theater in Jerez, and afterwards another gala is scheduled on May 21st at Víctor Jara Municipal Auditorium in Arganda del Rey (Madrid).

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