The rose is femininity. The metal is integrity. And the ash, revival. Olga Pericet plays with those three elements, the states they give rise to and the transformation from one to another in order to create ‘Rosa, metal, ceniza’. Although the Córdoba-born artist has danced at Festival de Jerez on many occasions, this will be the first time she does so solo. She will display herself as a performer and as a creator at this showcase, taking a step forward after winning the 2010 Revelation Prize for her role in the show ‘Bailes alegres para personas tristes’ by Belén Maya. The new show, with David Montero as stage director, premieres on March 7th, 2011 at the Teatro Villamarta.

Olga Pericet, 'Rosa, metal, ceniza' (Photo Palero & Lambán para i-Tek)

Olga Pericet premieres ‘Rosa, metal, ceniza’ at Festival de Jerez 2011. A headline which has many readings, since the Córdoba-born bailaora won the Revelation Prize in the event’s past edition. It wasn’t with a solo proposal, but rather with her appearance in Belén Maya’s show ‘Bailes alegres para personas tristes’. She had performed before at the Teatro Villamarta, but never with so much space of her own which this show has fostered. “I’m always going to thank the festival for this chance, but also Belén Maya, since thanks to me being able to share that show with her, my work was seen”, Pericet explains.

She takes the opportunity as an artistic incentive: “Having a showcase like that forces you to make an effort creatively”, she points out. And beforehand, she has weighed things up. Different dance disciplines have coexisted in her career and, as she affirms, “I need to give that other side of Olga’s”. But the stress is going to be on flamenco: “I’ve always had the polka dots, just like the slippers, it’s a question of artistic training and identity, but I’m at a more flamenco point because I really love it, I like to look back and to see where it’s evolving towards”. She is still in the process of finding out what that flamenco of hers is which she will display in this show, but the reference will be tradition.

So flamenco will be the musical script, except for a piece by Albéniz. It will be carried out live by cantaores José Ángel Carmona, Lavi and Miguel Ortega, as well as guitarists Antonia Jiménez and Javier Patino. The lineup is joined by contemporary dancer Jesús Caramés and bailaor Jesús Fernández as guest artists. Marcos Flores takes part as a choreographer of one of the parts of the show. And the one providing the ensemble with unity is stage director David Montero, with whom she has captured in three acts the reflections she had about the states and the transformation, besides allowing her “to delve more into the performance”.

‘Rosa, metal, ceniza’ will premiere on March 7th at the Teatro Villamarta, in the setting of Festival de Jerez’s fifteenth edition, a contest which has had Pericet’s baile on numerous occasions, although never solo. Work stands out such as her participation in ‘La música del cuerpo’ by Rafaela Carrasco in the 2003 edition. Four years later at the Sala Compañía, she displayed the co-production with Marcos Flores and Manuel Liñán which they called ‘En clave’. And last year, she performed the triumphant role in the aforementioned show by Belén Maya.