FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2009. ‘TRIBUTE TO MARIO MAYA’
Mario Maya and life
Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 14th, 2009
‘Tribute to Mario
Maya’. Bailaores: Ángel Atienza,
Manuel Betanzos, Manuel Liñán, Diego Llori,
Juan Andrés Maya, Marco Vargas, Juan Manuel Zurano.
Bailaoras: Isabel Bayón, Patricia Guerrero, Belén
Maya, Manuela Reyes, Miriam Sánchez. Cante: Antonio
Campos, Jesús Corbacho, Manuel de Paula, Alfredo
Tejada. Guitars: Juan Requena, José Luis Rodríguez,
Jesús Torres. 13th Festival de Jerez. Teatro
Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), March 14th,
2009. 9 p.m.
'Homenaje a Mario
Maya' (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Belén Maya, Israel Galván,
Rafaela Carrasco, Isabel Bayón, Marco Vargas,
Nani Paños… shape up a batch of bailaores
with a common denominator: Mario
Maya. All of them are personal, restless and makers
of a road of their own, but they are strongly branded
by the mark left on them by the Córdoba-born
bailaor and choreographer residing in Granada when they
were members of the Compañía Andaluza
de Danza (Andalusian Dance Company). Not only do they
dance well but, as Galván said the other day
at the technical days, they have that “bonus of
concept” which makes them special.
Mario passed away a few months ago,
but they all remained to uphold his legacy. Sometimes
they’ll uphold it tacitly and others, as it happened
at the close of Festival de Jerez 2009, the most explicit
way that can be imagined. Not all of them, but a considerable
handful of them, set aside their individual names and
projects in order to return to that mythical company
and revive together, all mixed up in the dance corps,
choreographies like ‘Oliva y naranja’ and
‘Un, dos, tres… fa’, both with music
by Diego Carrasco. One was the prologue and the other
the epilogue to a just, brilliant tribute which, coordinated
by Belén
Maya and promoted by the recently created Mario
Maya Foundation, premiered a couple of days ago at the
Teatro Lope de Vega in Seville with the intention of
continuing. And here it was a matter of going beyond
good intentions and remembering the maestro with a show
worthy of his memory.
'Homenaje a Mario
Maya' (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Leaving aside the little technical
difficulties - this edition’s cross -, between
everyone and with the help of stage director Miguel
Serrano, they have composed a balanced, representative
collage with rhythm, with a great deal of emotion …
And full of unique moments. One of them, perhaps the
most special one, was the seguiriya by Belén
Maya, a sort of danced, heartfelt duel which stood the
crowd’s hair on end due to its substance and its
form. Next, Isabel
Bayón would come in swinging beautifully
por jaleos. But if something determines Mario Maya’s
work it is the treatment of male baile. And it is seen
in the clean and still modern choreographies ‘5
toreros’, ‘3 sillas’ and the solo
por alegrías performed by Manuel Liñán
who, without having been a member of the company but
rather a recent collaborator, made the solo por alegrías
all his own. Then ‘Cantes de trilla y martinete’
from ‘Camelamos naquerar’ and ‘Dúo
de Amargo Jinete-Caballo’ from the show ‘Diálogo
del Amargo’ are from another dimension; they’re
gems of dance-theater-flamenco and emblems of his creation.
Manuel Betanzos was the one who had the courage to put
himself in the shoes of the oppressed man who longs
for his freedom, held by the arms by cantaores then
included on stage, just as Carlos Saura captured it
in ‘Flamenco’. And Juan Andrés Maya
and Diego Llori, Amargo and Jinete starred in the show’s
culminating scene, that dramatic victory of death and
destiny which determined when the ‘Lorcan’
character’s time was up … and surprised
Mario Maya with his pockets full of projects. That’s
why it might not be a time for requiem, but rather for
keeping his legacy alive.
Carlos
Carbonell, ‘Acompasa2’
Sala Compañía,
7 p.m.
Carlos
Carbonell and Ana Arroyo
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Flamenco
dancing and contemporary dance shook hands
in the show ‘Acompasa2’ with
which Cádiz-born bailaor Carlos Carbonell
and dancer Ana Arroyo closed the bill at
the Sala Compañía, with Jerez-born
pianist La Reina Gitana as guest artist.
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