JEREZ FLAMENCO FESTIVAL. ‘DIÁLOGO DEL AMARGO’ BY MARIO MAYA

Lorca's drama

Silvia Calado. Jerez, February 26th, 2006

‘Diálogo del amargo’. Direction and choreography: Mario Maya. The Horseman: Diego Llori (guest artist). El Amargo: Juan Andrés Maya. The Lover: Conchi Maya. The Mother: Rafaela Gómez (cante). Dance corps: Raimundo Benítez, Álvaro Méndez, David Fortes, Francisco Vílchez, Eva Esquivel, Patricia Guerrero, Silvia Lozano, Anabel Moreno. Guitar: Miguel Ochando, Emilio Maya, Rafael Santiago ‘Habichuela’. Cante: Juan Ángel Tirado, Alfredo Tejada, María José Pérez, Gema Caballero. Percussion: Benjamín Santiago ‘El Moreno’. 10th Jerez Festival 2006. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), February 26th, 2006. 9 p.m.

	Diego Llori y Juan Andrés Maya (Foto: Daniel Muñoz)

One of the lines the Jerez Festival has been working on in the decade of its history is the recovery of classical works of flamenco and Spanish ballet. In this time, Teatro Villamarta's stage has displayed indispensable shows like ‘Fuenteovejuna’ by Antonio Gades and ‘The Three-Cornered Hat’ by Antonio. And in this edition it recovers ‘Amargo’ by Mario Maya, now revised and extended under the title ‘Diálogo del Amargo’. The fundamental novelty of this version is the staging of a first part with poems by Lorca danced by a dance corps of five bailaoras and four bailaores, with live music taken from Diego Carrasco's creative discography such as ‘Oliva y naranja’ and ‘Cinco toreros’, plus some scores from ‘Lorca’ by Enrique Morente, among other authors. The entire block, split into independent pieces, lays its stakes on the dynamism and color of the choral movements in the purest ‘mariomaya’ style and quality, with room for the solos through soleá by Anabel Moreno and the final seguiriya by Juan Andrés Maya.

The second block is the El Amargo poem just the way it was conceived several years ago by the Córdoba-born bailaor and choreographer. The plot in the verses, popularly spread by Camarón in ‘La leyenda del tiempo’, is respected to the last letter and is displayed simply and efficaciously. It isn't a show at the same level as ‘Bodas de sangre’ by Gades, but it does feed on that same esthetic and choreographic line. And on this occasion it benefits from Diego Llori's successful role as The Horseman, that inevitable death in the form of a horse and knight. The show kicks off in the scene of El Amargo's christening, when death already comes to announce to him that the hour when his life will end has already been set. And not even the resistance put up by his mother and lover can check what destiny has written. There are choral passages of popular festivals, there are cantes abandolaos (marking at all times the ‘orientalism’ of flamenco in this work), there is music by Stravinsky, there are romantic steps for two and there is an intense final scene where Diego Llori and Juan Andrés Maya uphold the ending with a duet framed by the dance corps spread out in a circle on the floor, beating the sound of the clock's hands. The audience responded with a standing ovation which intensified when maestro Mario Maya came out to say hello.

Mario Maya Company (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

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