SPECIAL FEATURE. FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2008
The premiere of ‘¡Viva
Jerez!’, a show about Jerez flamenco, will inaugurate
Festival de Jerez 2008
María el Mar Moreno, Mercedes Ruiz
and Fernando Terremoto star in the show, which is to be
performed on February 22nd at the Teatro Villamarta
S.C., January 2008
Jerez pays tribute to flamenco
dancing and Spanish dance in its festival. The twelfth
edition will open at the Teatro Villamarta on February
22nd, 2008 with the premiere of ‘¡Viva Jerez!’.
The show, which aims to display the variety and vitality
of the flamenco from this land, has bailaoras María
del Mar Moreno and Mercedes
Ruiz as well as cantaor Fernando
Terremoto as guest artists. Also figuring on the bill,
besides many other artists performing live, are Paco Cepero
as musical coordinator and Javier Latorre as choreographic
coordinator.
Mercedes Ruiz (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
‘¡Viva Jerez!’ starts
off with the premise that the compás born in this
land is the heartbeat of flamenco: “Its heartbeat,
soniquete, marks the original, inimitable rhythm of Andalusia’s
most genuine artistic creation”. And therefore,
more than about nostalgia, it is a show vindicating vitality,
evolution. Francisco López, director of the festival
and of this show produced by the Teatro Villamarta itself,
explains that “there’s no museum, or ancient
flamenco; but there is a plural display of Jerez flamenco
through today’s artists”.
And out of questions of “quality
and diversity”, a bill has been selected headed
up by María del Mar Moreno, Mercedes Ruiz and Fernando
Terremoto as guest artists, plus the special collaboration
of maestra Angelita
Gómez. They are flanked by an abundant company
including cantaores Antonio
Malena and Londro, guitarists Santiago Lara, Santiago
Moreno and Manuel Valencia, pianist José Zarzana,
percussionist Pedro Navarro and clapper Luis de la Tota.
Still further enticement is added by Mateo Soleá
on cante, Miguel Téllez on baile, Pascual de Lorca
on guitar... and Luisa Terremoto, Rosario, Juani Peña
and La Bastiana. And the thing is that, as the director
- who is also the director of this festival -, explains,
“everyone, each in his own way, has that ‘Jerez
flavor’ which distinguishes them so well and so
much”.
Like an opera
| |
Fernando Terremoto
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
María del Mar Moreno explains
that the artists “have to adapt ourselves to the
show as if we were part of an opera”. And the thing
is that no expense has been spared on means for the show.
The work is guided by “a musical ‘score’
of cante, baile and toque” created by guitarist
Paco
Cepero as musical coordinator and Javier
Latorre as choreographic coordinator. The stage design
and wardrobe by Jesús Ruiz, lighting by Olga García
and directing by López - imbued with extensive
experience in the world of opera and dance - aim to create
“a period show”. It is developed throughout
seven scenes which show how Jerez flamenco has evolved,
from work in the fields all the way to personal creation,
but of course, with the typical fiesta por bulerías
in between.
