JOAQUÍN GRILO. 2004 FESTIVAL DE MONT DE MARSAN

In full bloom

Silvia Calado. Mont de Marsan, 5th July 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘Grilo’. Dancers: Joaquín Grilo and Rosario Toledo. Guitars: José Quevedo ‘Bolita’ and Daniel Méndez. Vocals: Carmen Grilo, José Valencia and Antonio Núñez ‘El Pulga’. Contrabass: Pablo Martín. Violin: Alexis Lefevre. Percussion: Paco González. Palmas: Carlos Grilo. Espace François Mitterrand. Mont de Marsan (France), 5th July 2004. 9pm.

Clusters of red and yellow lights symbolizing the colors of the Spanish flag in the streets, and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi' in the air announce the imminent arrival at Mont de Marsan of a new edition of one of the most prestigious flamenco festivals on the calendar. And not only is it ready to go - the town is positively brimming over with excitement at the prospect of the start of the sixteenth edition of the French festival. In fact, all the tickets are already sold and the dance, guitar and compás courses are full to overflowing. No sooner had the busloads of artists, managers and journalists arrived from across the border in neighboring Spain, than the gallery at la Minoterie was suddenly startled into action with the official opening of the festival, marked by a cocktail party amidst a photographic exhibition by Marie-Béatrice Seillant. And the center of attention was soon shifted from the banks of the river Midouze to the enormous François Mitterrand auditorium, where the true initiation was just about to begin.

Joaquín Grilo was charged with the duty of raising the curtain with the show ‘Grilo’, where he dances shoulder-to-shoulder with bailaora Rosario Toledo, accompanied by a fine band of musicians. More than two thousand people eagerly waited for the flamenco to begin to flow. And their patience was rewarded without delay. Accompanied only by the sound of handclaps, whistles and the drumming of feet on the stage, the two bailaores burst into the huddle of cantaores and palmeros, and all proceeded to carve out a tango rhythm. The immense space of the hall was instantly filled with warmth. Silence, tension, the dare, the game plays out.

Rosario and Antonio. Reminiscent of Antonio Gades and Cristina Hoyos. Two dancers, partners, revindicating 'baile de pareja', take on the challenge of a seguiriya. They begin, their movements (flamenco and otherwise) breathing life into an inspirational musical passage featuring guitar, violin and contrabass. The aesthetics of the dance. The music of movement. Grilo, from Jerez, dances in an intensely personal way, strong, emotive too. His face, revealed in close-up on the giant screens beside the stage, shows it all. And the audience feels the pain of the story of a love that is not to be. There's a moment of light relief in the form of an instrumental, which smacks of simply buying time, after which Rosario Toledo takes the stage. She showed her love for her homeland dancing ‘por alegrías’, dressed in an elegant and unusual jewel-encrusted flamenco-style evening dress. Tracing out curved forms, she oozed femininity, reminding the viewer of contemporary bailaoras such as Eva Yerbabuena or Belén Maya. Progress and tradition, hand-in-hand. The audience is overwhelmed, and she's rewarded with a tremendous ovation. Joaquín Grilo takes her place now, por soleá. His posture and his poise impress the spectator. He performs a masculine dance to the music (featuring a strange but welcome violin), majestic and sweet at the same time. His sister sings for him, her sweet warbling drifting across the stage. And he takes every imaginable risk as he dances, using his magic to be both one and the whole, both Grilo and flamenco, both flamenco today and flamenco through the ages. The bulería arrives, and with it come playfulness, joy, and ecstasy. Joaquín Grilo seems possessed, his movements come from who knows where, dancing as if it were outside of his body, as if in a trance, but never for a moment letting go of his sense of aesthetics, of the music, of flamenco. And the audience gives a rapturous applause, stomping on the floor of the great auditorium. The bailaor and his company aren't ready to go home yet. They give an encore, huddled together on the stage producing a noisy hubbub 'por bulerías' with no-one left out. Grilo put his hand on his heart, and motioned to share it with all those who were at that moment watching him in adoration. And not content with just that, he remained on stage alone, and used up the last of his forces dancing solo to the sound of his inner music. The end.

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