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FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2008. ANDRÉS MARÍN, 'EL ALBA DEL ÚLTIMO DÍA'
From and towards cante
Silvia Calado. Jerez, February 28th, 2008
'El alba del último día'. Andrés Marín : baile, artistic director. José Valencia, Segundo Falcón: cante. Salvador Gutiérrez: guitar. Antonio Coronel: percussion. Pablo Suárez: piano. Musical directors: Andrés Marín, Salvador Gutiérrez. Script and dramatic art: Andrés Marín, Salud López. 12th Festival de Jerez. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), February 28th, 2008. 9 p.m.
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Andrés Marín (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Avant-garde and concept. A show like 'El alba del último día' brings up a way of understanding flamenco shows very close to abstract arts. With it, the festival achieves the aim of having a showcase of proposals. And that of Andrés Marín isn't of the kind that leave you indifferent, neither in his way of understanding movement, nor in his staging, nor in his way of communicating with the music.
The Sevillian bailaor has forged a body language of his own, which combines geometric shapes with exquisite percussion work. His fine black silhouette, his surly expression, his radical angling of extremities, his sketches, his rests... have now become his trademark. And he's alone here. The staging is completely in consonance. A cleared space, contrasting lighting, the cyclorama to project shadows or brief audiovisuals and a red platform.
But the most impressive thing about this
show is the relationship between the dance and the music
... more specifically, the cante. The journey to the era
of the singing cafés proposed by the show has sparked
research on cante which has taken on a nearly encyclopedic
look live. And those who make it materialize are Segundo
Falcón and José
Valencia. Both of them are huge, each in his tessitura.
From work cantes to tangos, from soleá to taranto,
from polo to granaína... All of it strung together
in the development of the plot which very surreptitiously
gives rise to the show: Café Kursaal in Seville,
Café de Chinitas in Málaga and Café
Suizo in Granada. And the three instrumentalists - Salvador
Gutiérrez on guitar, Pablo Suárez on piano
and Antonio Coronel on percussion - don't just accompany,
don't just act as filling, don't just provide the climate.
'El alba del último día' is a multi-dimensional
show. Perhaps if it were presented somewhat more condensed,
it would rid itself of that rehearsal-like stench that
makes it hard to stomach at times. But it has the virtue
of stimulating in the audience a type of response which
in the language of ovations means something like respect
for perseverance and for depth.
SALA COMPAÑÍA
'Cuando uno quiere y el otro no'.
Marco Vargas & Chloé Brûle
Marco Vargas
& Chloé Brûle
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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From the street to the theater.
'Las 24' turns into 'Cuando uno quiere y el
otro no', the indoor version of a show which
has triumphed in the past few seasons at squares
and corners in cities such as Seville, Madrid
and Mont
de Marsan . In essence, it continues to
be the same tale; that of a couple in their
life together, in their day-to-day existence,
with a dance style moving between flamenco
and contemporary. But now Marco
Vargas and Chloé
Brûle-Dauphin have several more
allies. The main one is Juan
José Amador, who acts as the voice
of his and her conscience with his live cante
between packaged pieces. It's a real luxury
to have this artist in this context, since
upon freeing himself of the 'ties' of guitar,
he lets his voice fly with surprising creativity.
Another ally is the theater setting, which
allows them to play with ingredients such
as the lighting, used courageously here. The
third ally, which is the crowd, changes its
role here and takes on the traditional one
of the seats. And the thing is that if there's
something magical about its street precedent,
it's the interaction with the audience.
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And tomorrow ...
· Ultra High Flamenco. Bodega Los Apóstoles (7 p.m.)
· 'Mujeres'. Teatro Villamarta (9 p.m.)
· Patricia Guerrero. Sala Compañía (midnight)
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Rocío Molina
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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The weekend of feminine baile begins with the presentation of 'Mujeres' at the Teatro Villamarta. The heavyweights of female flamenco dancing are going to present their credentials in Jerez. And kicking things off is the trio consisting of Merche Esmeralda, Belén Maya and Rocío Molina, together in 'Mujeres' . Mario Maya , who has taken care of directing the show, highlighted the qualities of each of the stars at the noon round-table and earnestly recommended paying attention to the pas de deux by Belén and Rocío, a medieval romance "that's going to be the number one lingering in people's minds this season".
Rocío Molina was also there to tell of her experience in this show, which has already been presented in Madrid and New York. The Málaga-born bailaora admitted how proud she was to be a part of the project and the admiration she feels for her colleagues: "Before I dance, I come out between streets to see them in order to dance better". She continues to astonish due to her age, but there are already younger artists coming on strong. Appearing at the Sala Compañía at midnight will be Granada-born Patricia Guerrero, a bailaora born in the nineties who tackles the responsibility of solo baile after winning an award at the past Festival de La Unión.
But not everything is going to be baile. Scheduled in the evening at Bodega de los Apóstoles is the concert by the group Ultra High Flamenco, a band of instrumentalists that proposes "fresh, lively, intimate music". And since the time stretches so much every day at noon at the headquarters of the Regulatory Wine Council of Jerez, there was also time for the presentation of a book including a record; the one José Manuel Gamboa has done about Sernita de Jerez . Beside him was the author of the book's prologue, Diego Carrasco, defending a cante figure who, as it was stated, doesn't enjoy the recognition or the appreciation he should have... and not just elsewhere but also here, since "flamenco is much more than Jerez".
UHF (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
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Further information:
Festival
de Jerez 2008. Index of reviews, photos, videos
All
about Festival de Jerez 2008: reviews, photos,
videos, program, courses, news, store...
Bienal de Sevilla 2006. Andrés Marín, ‘El alba del último día’. Review, photos
Visit the international flamenco festival
agenda
www.flamencofestival.info
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