‘POET IN NEW YORK’. LORCA
IN GRANADA 2007
ANDRÉS MARÍN & ENCARNITA ANILLO
The observer
Silvia Calado. Granada, 4th August 2007
‘Poeta en Nueva York’.
Blanca Li: dance, choreography, director. Andrés
Marín: flamenco dance. Encarna
Anillo: cante. Rob Li: vocals. Rafael Águila:
sax and flute. Pablo Báez: bass. Gherardo Catanzaro:
keyboard. Salvador Gutiérrez: guitar. Tao Gutiérrez:
percussion. Nicasio Moreno: cello. David Tabares: guitar.
Javier Viana: percussion. Vanesa Aibar, Salim Begayoko,
Javier Cobo, Aurora María Colmenero, Juan Pedro
Delgado, Jean-Geráld Dorseuil, María Fernández
Gator, Steve Guimaraes, Ahmed Karetti, Stéphane
Lavallée, Ana Maciá, José Maldonado,
Yana Maltseva Le Gac, Sergio Moya, Pascale Peladan, Pedro
Ramírez, Ozy Shyne Tony, Deborah Torres: ballet
dancers. Tao Gutiérrez: original score, musical
director. Pierre Attrait: stage design. Jacques Chatelet:
lighting. Lorca & Granada season 2007. Teatro del
Generalife. Granada (Spain), 19th July to 31th August
2007. 10pm
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Andrés Marín
in 'Poet in New York' (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Without flamenco, there is no Lorca.
At least, that seems to be the case every time a show
draws inspiration from the lines of the Granada-born poet.
And the phenomenon goes beyond flamenco. The contemporary
ballerina and choreographer Blanca Li made sure there
was no shortage of wailing, powerful 'desplantes' and
furious footwork in her show ‘Poeta en Nueva York’,
offered this year as part of the program for the 2007
Granada & Lorca season at Teatro del Generalife. Lorca
himself is played by a flamenco bailaor - Andrés
Marín. Although the poet is only an observer
in this eclectic representation of the journey he took
to the Big Apple in 1929.
The bailaor's role in the project is
that of a bystander and watcher, rather than an active
participant. He's a passive observer around whom the action
unfolds. Although that doesn't mean he stands still. Andrés
Marín has his moments to express himself on the
stage. And the does with his fragmented, tortuous dance,
more a series of sketched-out movements than a continuous
display. This is the case when the poet appears alone,
confronted by the metallic reflection of a surreal ovoid
planet rooted in Mother Earth, represented by either Encarnita
Anillo or Carmen Linares - the cantaoras who perform
on alternate evenings. And this evening it's the turn
of the Cadiz-born rising star Encarnita Anillo to let
fly her vocals in the incredible surroundings of the Generalife
gardens, alongside the Alhambra palace.
The interventions of both bailaor and
cantaora are surrounded in three dimensions by a diverse
amalgam of dance, music, lights, props, projections, showers...
The dimensions of this production are colossal. If there
are thirty people on stage, there are another thirty in
the wings. And the audience hasn't time to recover from
one effect, when the next catches them open-mouthed. This
spectacular whole gives shape to the action in the spotlight.
Versatile ballet dancers tracing out movements to the
sound of musical styles ranging from tribal to hip-hop,
from rhythmical flamenco to mellow jazz. Choreographic
sketches. Accent on the group. Dynamic throughout. Blending
approaches in terms of both style and content. But accessible
and easy to digest, without faults. A thousand people
should flock every evening to such an incomparable venue,
with the gardens and palace as a backdrop, with the scent
of grass and flowers, to sounds of 1922, night in Granada.
And flamenco is the guest of honor... invited to observe,
to loosen up, to learn, to grow.
Andrés Marín
on 'Poet in New York', by Blanca Li
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
