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FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2009. MARÍA
PAGÉS, ‘AUTORRETRATO’
Inside. Outside
Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 3rd, 2009
‘Autorretrato’. María
Pagés: baile, directing, choreography,
stage design. María Morales, Sonia Fernández,
Isabel Rodríguez, Anabel Veloso, José
Barrios (farruca choreography), Emilio Herrera, José
Antonio Jurado, Alberto Ruiz: bailaores. Ana Ramón,
Ismael de la Rosa: cante. José Carrillo, Isaac
Muñoz: guitar. Chema Uriarte: percussion. David
Moñiz: violin. Rubén Lebaniegos: original
music. 13th Festival de Jerez. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez
(Cádiz, Spain), March 3rd, 2009. 9 p.m.
María
Pagés (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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The image lingering at the end was
that of an outburst of gold-colored fringes wrapping
up in a spiral the figure of the bailaora with infinite
arms. The epilogue of a show which, for the time being,
has received the greatest ovation, the kind that is
only felt once at each festival and which is accompanied
by a unanimous ‘ay!’. María
Pagés hit the nail on the head with ‘Autorretrato’,
a look inside which paradoxically reaches outside loud
and clear. Not in vain, out of the four spaces reflected
by the show, the last and conclusive one is the stage,
the face-off with that crowd which completes the artist.
From its origin, a solo by assignment
for the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, the Sevillian
bailaora and choreographer has ended up creating a show
which she stands out in as an individual, but always
in relation to the others; that is to say, with her
company. Whether they are musicians or dancers. Her
poetic arm movements are there, which are the core of
recovered pieces such as ‘Ergo uma rosa’
recited by Saramago himself and ‘Nanas de la cebolla’.
Nor does she leave out the now characteristic moments
of loosening up and comic relief which she always works
out so well, like that ‘Tú (¿) y
yo (¿)’ in which she can’t escape
from herself through a mirror, and the tanguillos of
‘Trajín de María’ which she
herself sings to the sound of her speedy castanets.
And meanwhile, she continues to stress
the group movement which the dance corps performs with
devotion and precision. On this occasion, as a partner
for these duties she has one of the troupe’s most
veteran members, José
Barrios, who authors the choreographies of the farruca
and the zapateado, elegant in the plastic art and in
the musical. The soleá, tientos-tangos, alegrías
and cantiñas… are stuck in a repertoire
in which not always styles are danced, but also words,
sounds and even feelings. That is what happens in the
piece ‘Retrato de familia’, the most subtle,
chilling way to express absence.
Rosario
Toledo, ‘Del primer paso’
Sala Compañía
midnight
Inspired by her own
story, Rosario
Toledo composes ‘Del primer
paso’. The show was born in an up-close
format for the street, as it was seen
a few months ago at the Mont de Marsan
Flamenco Festival. And now it is presented
in Jerez turned into a theater show, although
without losing its coziness. To do so,
the group has gone from two to three members,
now adding Daniel
Méndez on guitar to David
Palomar on cante and the Cádiz-born
artist’s star baile. A genuine trio
of aces of today’s flamenco which
gathers in this minute but brilliant show,
in which a lucid, vibrant Rosario Toledo
narrates how she went from the ballet
bar to surrendering to the charms of flamenco,
of the seguiriya, of the soleá.
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Rocío
Márquez •
Celia Morales
Palacio de Villavicencio,
7 p.m.
A
new echo comes to stay on the cantaor
scene. That was the forceful message which
Rocío Márquez came to leave
in her appearance at the Palacio de Villavicencio,
in the early evening and without a microphone.
The Huelva-born cantaora showed stage
know-how and vocal confidence unusual
in a newcomer … no matter how much
she was endorsed by the Lámpara
Minera 2008 Award. Malagueñas by
Chacón, fandangos by Juan Breva,
cuplé by Vallejo, tangos by Lole
and Graná, soleares, mineras…
make up a varied repertoire which she
reeled off with her polished voice. A
pity that the box drum player didn’t
bear in mind the unplugged situation and
nearly silenced her on more than one occasion.
Celia
Morales
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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But
she wasn’t the only star of the
evening. For the first time at this festival
and almost at any festival, a female guitarist
offered a solo recital. Antequera-born
Celia Morales opened the series, which
will include up to four female concert
performers, with a display of her own
scores heavily influenced by classics
such as Ramón Montoya and Niño
Ricardo. The situation might have been
too much for her and she didn’t
manage to perform them as cleanly as could
be expected. But not due to a question
of gender, but rather because this stage
can be really difficult and has already
had that effect on more than one artist.
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And
tomorrow …
• Javier
Barón, ‘Dos voces para un baile’.
Teatro Villamarta, 9 p.m.
• Antonia Jiménez • Tamara
Tañé. Palacio de Villavicencio,
7 p.m.
• José Porcel, ‘Cositas
flamencas’. Sala Compañía,
midnight
The magnificent
winner of the 2008 National Dance Prize lands
at Festival de Jerez. Javier Barón,
who admits he is “brimming over with
happiness” because of it, presents his
show ‘Dos voces para un baile’
at the Teatro Villamarta. As he explained
at the Bodega San Ginés, “it’s
taking a look back and seeing what my early
days were like when I won the Giraldillo del
Baile Award at Seville’s Bienal”.
The bailaor from Alcalá de Guadaíra
- who is backed by Miguel Ortega, José
Valencia, Javier Patino and Ricardo Rivera
- defines the show as “very classical
and it joins many styles with the help of
the musical script by Faustino Núñez”.
Stage director David Montero added that “the
entire stage movement remains in the middle
distance in order to highlight his work; and
the same as the musical layout, it responds
to a general idea of fluency for the baile
to be expressed in total freedom”. A
couple of hours earlier, another double recital
without amplification will begin at the Palacio
de Villavicencio. The guitar playing will
be provided by Antonia Jiménez, who
thanked the organization’s effort to
“cover the inexplicable void of the
female guitarist”. The Cádiz-born
artist faces her first solo recital with creations
of her own in styles like the malagueña,
alegrías, farruca and tanguillos, some
of which come from her constant work for flamenco
dancing companies. Next comes the turn of
Jerez-born cantaora Tamara Tañé,
who will perform accompanied on toque by Periquín
and Niño Jero.
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