FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2010. FERNANDO BELMONTE, ‘REENCUENTRO’
Belmonte, maestro
Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 13th, 2010
‘Reencuentro’. Baile:
Fernando Belmonte, Joaquín
Grilo (special collaboration), Ángel Muñoz,
Fernando Galán, Christian Lozano, Alicia Márquez,
Charo Espino, Úrsula López. Students
of the Belén Fernández School. Students
of the Fernando Belmonte School. Cante: Carmen Grilo,
José Antonio Núñez, José
Carmona. Guitar: Juan Requena, Jesús Guerrero.
Percussion: Israel Mera. Little Gypsy Girl: Luisa
Ruiz. Voice in off: Antonio Gallardo. 14th Festival
de Jerez. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz,
Spain), March 13th, 2010
Honoring the maestros is the concept
of every close of Festival de Jerez. But, like what
already happened last year with the ‘Tribute
to Mario Maya’, sometimes the show surpasses
the gesture. The curtain of the event’s fourteenth
edition closed for the last time with ‘Reencuentro’,
a tribute to Jerez-born maestro Fernando Belmonte.
And it was a real show, with good baile and a lot
of emotion. Joaquín
Grilo, one of his followers, took charge of the
directing, shaping up as a show (and not a gala) the
biography of this artist who gave up his destiny as
a bullfighter in order to devote himself to baile.
The script had already been written
years ago by Antonio Gallardo, a poem which the poet
himself read in off as the story’s starting
point. And meanwhile, the veteran maestro appeared
once again on stage at a theater thirty years after
his retirement. Fernando Belmonte was seated at his
studio, with the folding screens, chests, bullfighter’s
bolero, posters and photos, the tape recorder playing
Albéniz… with all of his memories. And
little by little, they came to life.
The passages from his youth were
performed by Fernando Galán, another of his
disciples. And the similar physical appearance between
the two made believable his arrival in Madrid at the
age of fifteen. That’s where he trained with
the great maestros back then, in regional dance, in
Spanish classical dance… And fruit of that learning
is his ‘Benamor’ to María Rosa
and to Beti and to Ángel García, performed
with the utmost taste by Charo
Espino, Christian Lozano and Úrsula
López. Next, the military interval in the
Sahara, an episode danced and marched three-way by
Galán, Muñoz and Lozano, with an original
choreography by Grilo for footwork and muskets, to
the sound of a martinete upon a saucepan.
The moment when Belmonte becomes
a bailaor was insinuated by Ángel
Muñoz, with a farruca of his own which,
full of silences, he performed with stage brilliance
and precise technique. The next solo was performed
by Alicia
Márquez, another magnificent bailaora of
that off-generation which has mistakenly been forgotten
nowadays and which Grilo has had the good sense to
extol for this occasion. Looking like death and with
a doubtful soul, she tempted Belmonte dressed in a
black bata de cola and shawl, a beautiful figure with
movements of plastic art. The intensity of this chapter
was lightened by the appearance of the children, some
grasping the ballet bar, others showing promise in
flamenco, representing that studio on Bizcocheros
Street where the students learned not just steps,
but also discipline.
From that hotbed arose the Ballet
Albarizuela, a children’s company formed by
Belmonte and Paco del Río in the ’80s,
and it was a breeding ground not just for baile, but
also cante and toque. What they used to do on stages
was represented, to the sound of ‘La vida breve’,
by the six guest bailaores. Joaquín Grilo reserved
the stage to expand his soleá, but the interesting
thing occurred just beforehand: it was the prior encounter-mirror
with the maestro, a delicate pas de deux with high
emotional contents. And afterwards Belmonte was even
able to mark some delightful alegrías, warmed
by six bailaores who gave up their respective egos
that night in order to pay their respects to a maestro.
And the little gypsy girl returned, now old, and told
him: “And I finish here, king of mine…/
I didn’t lie to you, did I?/ Your last name’s
really great / for me to forget about you…!/
You’re the best born!”.
Fernando
de la Morena / El Torta
Bodega de los apóstoles,
midnight
Following
the emotions experienced at the Teatro
Villamarta, some chill or another still
had to be reserved for the dual recital
at midnight. The sacred Bodega de Los
Apóstoles, completely jam-packed,
offered the festival’s last breath
in the shape of cante by two heavyweights
from Jerez. First, Fernando
de la Morena, a very personal cantaor
who, even with his admirable constant
features, managed to surprise in many
phases. And he was exciting in his soleá,
forceful in his fandangos and generous
in his seguiriyas, in whose grief he
saw the drama of those affected by the
floods of the Guadalete River. And then
came El
Torta, a rara avis of cante
who did know this time how to satisfy
his followers, which he has… and
a great many. And he was mighty por
alegrías, deep-rooted in the
soleá por bulerías, over-elaborate
in the seguiriyas, catchy in the tangos
to Luis de la Pica and personal por
bulerías. Ending with that compás
was the 14th Festival de Jerez, which
now has to weigh things up and think
how it can outdo itself for the next
edition. That’s a tall task. |
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