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FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2007.
JAVIER BARÓN, ‘MERIDIANA’
Flamenco time
Silvia Calado. Jerez, February 25th, 2007
‘Meridiana’. Javier
Barón Company. Directing, original idea,
choreography, baile: Javier Barón. Dance corps:
Manuela Ríos, Ana Morales, Leilah Broukhim. Music:
Javier Patino (guitar), Alexis Lefèvre (violin).
Guitar: Ramón Amador. Cante: Miguel Ortega, Juan
José Amador, Jesús Méndez. Cante/baile:
Tomasito. Percussion: Tino di Geraldo, Luis Amador. Musical
director: José Manuel Gamboa. Special collaboration:
Juan Dolores Caballero. 11th Festival de Jerez. Teatro
Villamarta (Jerez, Cádiz), February 25th, 2007.
9 p.m.
Javier Barón (Photo:
Daniel Muñoz)
Javier
Barón and time. Time and play, the dirty trick,
going, evolving, what it is and doesn’t seem, what
it brings, what it takes away, what passes on, what remains.
The mathematics of the minute hand, which is the skeleton
of music... and of flamenco. There’s nothing simpler
nor at the same time more complex. And thus is ‘Meridiana’,
a show with a complex undertone and a simple appearance.
The Sevillian bailaor and choreographer shows he is bubbling
over with creativity and, as throughout his entire work,
firmly grasps the global quality of his projects. The
music, baile, choreography, rhythm, lighting, wardrobe...
nothing is left to chance, but just the contrary. Though
it doesn’t seem so, since there’s no subjugating
script, nor distracting discourse.
Everything here is complicity with and
commitment to the music and baile. ‘Meridiana’
consists of passages fluently strung together through
the composition of both the sound and the movement. The
music, composed by Javier Patino and Alexis Lefèvre,
not only provides the rhythmic and melodic guidelines,
but also favors play and shapes the ambiences. The guitars
by Patino and Ramón Amador contrast one another;
future toque and deep-rooted tradition. Lefèvre’s
violin is blinding with brilliance, now sharing with overwhelming
ease. Tino
di Geraldo contributes good taste to the rhythm, sprinkling
it with details. And next, the contrasted cantaor trio,
performing the complex play of styles even bordering on
folklore. Worthy of special mention is the participation
by Tomasito,
flamencura in all its essence, winding up the clock. He
blows in such mighty energy that it upsets Javier Barón’s
composure and lifts him one palm off the floor. When he
appears with his mischief of spoken-danced-sung compás,
the bailaor enjoys himself by instinct. “Ay, holy
baron, give me the candle that lights your way, for the
sun lights mine and the moon lights yours”.
“Aaaay, ojú”,
the baile. Javier Barón offered well-rounded solo
performances. He unites maturity, ease, resoluteness,
personality and overwhelming musicality not just in his
feet, but also in the plastic art of his movement. He
applies the same values to the choreographic work designed
for the trio of bailaoras, who firmly uphold the artistic
precepts of the Alcalá-born bailaor. Ana Morales
was brimming over with versatility; sweet in the classical,
vibrant in the flamenco. Leilah Broukhim used power and
jondo guts. Manuela Ríos marked the elegant curve
of her arm movement in her solo. And together they made
a trio design work which traveled from the oneiric to
the outburst, visual, evocative and energetic. And all
of it in a simple package, just consisting of the intelligent
lights by Olga García. ‘Meridiana’
was convincing.
| Bordón y cuenta nueva Series.
Santiago Lara
It’s not that guitar
has much weight in this edition of Festival
de Jerez, but a little room has been made
for it. The ‘Bordón y cuenta
nueva’ Series kicked off at Bodega Los
Apóstoles with Santiago Lara who, awaiting
its release by the record company, gave a
sneak preview of the entire repertoire of
what is going to be his first album, ‘El
sendero de lo imposible’. The young
Jerez-born guitarist, a disciple of Manolo
Sanlúcar, brought the audience to its
feet with a serious, mature, comprehensible
repertoire. He performed it surrounded by
a band of well-measured arrangements consisting
of percussions, bass, second guitar and cante
by Londro and David Palomar. Rondeña,
tangos, alegrías, soleá, rumba,
ballad and farruca which Mercedes Ruiz danced
impeccably, made up a repertoire which is
dazzling due to its personal, modern, melodic
fluency. As the lyrics say, “Come, I’ll
take you, I’ll show you new roads”.
Santiago Lara
and Mercedes Ruiz (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
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| A-compás-a-dos Series. Alicia
Márquez & Ramón Martínez
If the previous
evening Rafael de Carmen settled for the usual
group, Alicia
Márquez and Ramón Martínez
went to Sala Compañía with a
purified show also with baile, cante and music.
The motif of ‘De la memoria’ was
to take a look back in order to build a reflection
of the present, of their present. Both of
them were brimming over with training and
stage know-how following their respective
ways of weaving movement. Alicia Márquez
offered elegance, figure, refinement, both
in the martinete by Rosalía de Triana
and in the soleá wearing a bata de
cola. Ramón Martínez was surprising
with relentless technique and a personal conception
of flamenco dancing, between the concrete
and the abstract, both in the rondeña
by Ramón
Montoya, and in the very extensive alegrías.
And together in the zapateado. Both were always
accomplices of the beautiful music made by
Paco Arriaga, on toque together with Jesús
Torres, and with cante by the versatile Miguel
Ortega (who had just sung at the Villamarta
with Javier Barón) and El Londro (a
while after accompanying Santiago Lara). Marvelous.
Alicia Márquez
and Ramón Martínez (Photo: Daniel
Muñoz)
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| And tomorrow... 
José
Valencia. Palacio de Villavicencio (7
p.m.)
Antonio Márquez Company. Teatro Villamarta
(9 p.m.)
Juana
Amaya. Sala Compañía (midnight)
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