MARÍA PAGÉS, ‘UTOPÍA’. TEATRO ESPAÑOL IN MADRID. REVIEW & PHOTOS
The right to dream
Silvia Calado/ Flamenco-world.com. Madrid, December 18th, 2011
‘Utopía’. Idea, choreography, direction, scenography, wardrobe design, dance: María Pagés. Dance: Isabel Rodríguez, Eva Varela, María Vega, José Barrios, José Antonio Jurado, Paco Berbel, Rubén Puertas. Musicians: Ana Ramón and Ismael de la Rosa (cante), Rubén Lebaniegos and José Fyty Carrillo (guitars), Fred Martins (voices, guitar, cavaquinho), Sergio Menem (celo), Chema Uriarte (percussion). Lighting: Pau Fullana. Teatro Español. Madrid, December 15th to 30th, 2011
María Pagés, Utopía
(Foto David Ruano) |
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They’re just three horizontal lines. They’re three strokes which are subtly curved, straightened out or cupped, shaping a dome. And those three simple lines resolve the stage design of 'Utopía', the creation by
María Pagés inspired in the architecture of Óscar Niemeyer. The choreographic design also appeals to the curved stroke, both in the choral and in the individual, two totally different aspects in the show. The us is the dance corps with seven dancers moving and dressed as a grayish whole. The me is staged by María Pagés, with four solo scenes distinguished by their wardrobe, music and words. She dances the farruca 'Diálogo', choreographed by her lead dancer José Barrios and musicalized by guitar and cello, to be a silhouette and stroke. She dances the granaína sung for her by Ana Ramón about herself, framed by the arches of the symbolic red dress acting as the bill. She dances-walks the taranto-martinete 'Camino rojo'. And she dances the alegrías 'Evocación' in a bata de cola as a path to soar.
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María Pagés, Utopía
(Foto David Ruano) |
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But not everything is a building, nor construction in space. The inspiration from the centennial Brazilian artist also comes from his thought. And even his verse was first turned into a samba and then here into some tangos flamencos which, because of Fred Martins, conserve their Rio de Janeiro essence. And she confirms that own trademark of the company since its early days, that of shattering borders between musical genres in order to understand them flamenco-wise, according to the rhythm. A similar process is the one she follows with poetry. Verses by Benedetti, Machado, Neruda, Larbi el Harti and even a text about the freedom of 'El Quijote' by Cervantes are soleares, granaínas, deblas and guajiras here. And the messages of those poems, on getting caught and being juxtaposed between the lines and curves, the individual and generality, are what shape this simple show in which the Utopian is put forward as the human right to dream.
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