SPECIAL FEATURE. BACKSTAGE WITH… ‘FLAMENCO HOY
DE CARLOS SAURA’
Dance, sweat, truth
Silvia Calado. Madrid, July 2009
Photos: Daniel Muñoz/ Translation: Joseph Kopec
Carlos
Saura recognizes himself as a movie man. When he’s
at the theater as a spectator, he feels tempted to leap
over the seats to see the artist’s face and sweat
up close. And many times he has reached the conclusion that
“the rehearsals are a lot nicer than the performances”.
That is why for the past couple of months, he has taken
a seat at the venue where Rafael
Estévez and Nani
Paños are putting together the choreography for
the show ‘Flamenco Hoy’. And he does so as the
director, but above all, as a ‘voyeur’: “I’ve
been a faithful observer so far, a little shy… Many
mornings I come here to have a good time, I bring my camera…
and I enjoy myself”.
An etching by Gustave Doré is passed
around from hand to hand this morning. The choreographers
intend to duplicate the scene with their dancers as the
end of ‘Fandango de Boccherini’, one of the
show’s star pieces. And it turns out that picture
is going to be the leitmotif. Carlos Saura explains that
“at the start there’ll be a big projection with
that etching and when the curtain opens, it’ll continue
to be projected upon the group then performing the first
number. They wanted to reproduce that baile… and it’s
really nice”. Rafael Estévez believes that
“you can see right in that sketch the coexistence
we’ve always talked about. The bolero school is kept
a little bit aside and no, it’s the origin of flamenco
dancing. You see the different types there, the boleros,
the dancer outstretched on the floor - which might be the
faint they do in Granada - or the more positioned flamenco.
You can feel the starting point there to create the choreographies
that we want. We love the old photos, the sketches, the
paintings… we continue along the lines of Dospormedio”.
| |
|
Carlos Saura:
“The idea is to do a powerful show where you see
that flamenco doesn’t just have a past and a present,
but also a future”
|
Their company’s philosophy, which
they always summarize with a “look back to seek modernity”,
has a lot to do with this show which premieres August 19th
to 23rd at Madrid’s Veranos de la Villa 2009. In essence,
according to Saura’s words, the idea is “to
do a powerful show where you see that flamenco doesn’t
just have a past and a present, but also a future”.
And he knows that in this project “some doors are
going to open”. The show is going to make it clear
“that there’s orthodox flamenco which is danced
in an orthodox way, there’s Escudero and Gades, and
that there’s another way of dancing contributing new
steps and new ideas within that fantastic line which Rafael
and Nani are along”. All of it is captured in each
choreography: “The fandango de Boccherini is halfway
between the bolero school, classical, the jota… On
the one hand, it’s nice to see how there’s a
certain relationship between diverse ways of dancing, and
on the other hand, for us to be able to stay within orthodoxy,
so to speak. There are sevillanas, but they won’t
be usual sevillanas, the pasodoble won’t be the usual
one, the bulería will go freely”. And the secret
of that differential value, at the choreographic level,
lies in “a contemporary concept” and in the
“coexistence of disciplines”. Estévez
thus believes that “flamenco has always been there,
coexisting with other disciplines and beside other types
of music”.
To make these ideas materialize, they are
designing movements for nearly twenty dancers, “a
wonderful troupe”, Estévez adds. The quality
and quantity of this dance corps are causing their creativity
to soar. Nani Paños affirms that “when moving
people around we’ve done a much more elaborate job,
with groups and movements, since we’d never had the
chance to play with so many dancers before”. Moreover,
he points out that they have space-time in their favor:
“We’re working with the peace of having a great
deal of rehearsal time and doing it at a well-conditioned
venue”. And it’s true that it is not usual for
dance in this country to have workplaces like this hall
at the new Teatros del Canal, with an impeccable floor,
perfect lighting and ample space to give free rein to the
physical and the creative.
The energy and the peace
But the team is quite a bit more extensive
and they frequently meet to coordinate the script, music,
wardrobe, stage design… Carlos, Rafael and Nani have
formed a trio who understand one another fluently. The choreographers
feel that it is a luxury “to have Carlos as director,
since he always gives us another viewpoint which we might
not think of, and complements us”, Estévez
affirms. Nani stresses the calm: “Normally, the numbers
we put together with young people are really jacked-up,
with overflowing energy… And most of the comments
by Carlos, whether it is due to age or whatever, give us
peace of mind and that balance that’s needed in the
show”.
From his point of view, Carlos comments
that “I haven’t really intervened a lot in their
work. In principle, because they seem 99% fantastic to me.
And that 1% which I can contribute is little stuff for the
moment of going to the show; it’s still early for
that. I’ll come in a little bit more, if they let
me, when we’re at the theater. We have to structure
all the elements there so that they shape up a sort of whole”.
He is not just referring to the music by Chano
Domínguez, “which is great and he’s
made it for us, but also the stage design which has to be
really taken care of, even though it’s going to be
very simple, the lighting is also fundamental, the wardrobe
by Antonio Alvarado, et cetera. We have to play with all
the material we have throughout the show to make a sort
of arch which can be made out well”. He knows “that’s
the hardest thing for me; organizing that material”.
With a view to spectators, “it’s all focused
so that from their visual viewpoint, the show is magical,
sensual, beautiful, happy when it has to be, dynamic when
it has to be dynamic”. And within that entire ensemble
of demands, he well knows what his role is: “My obligation
is to give them the utmost expressive possibilities, for
them to be as good as possible, since they are the ones
who are working; I watch”.
| |
|
Carlos Saura:
“Nani is one of the greatest bailaores I’ve
ever seen, and dancers! If he isn’t a greater
figure I don’t understand it, but he’s going
to be from now on”
|
And you admire upon watching. “I’ve
met them in this project, because I didn’t know them
and I don’t know, suddenly, we’ve become brothers
in spirit, it’s all so great and so fun that many
mornings I come here to have a good time”, states
the director of the mythical film ‘Flamenco’.
And he, who has seen so many great artists up close, has
nothing but praise and good wishes for the directors of
Dospormedio: “I sincerely believe that Rafael is a
fantastic energy source and that Nani is one of the greatest
bailaores I’ve ever seen, and dancers!, they have
capacity… If he isn’t a greater figure I don’t
understand it, but he’s going to be from now on. He’s
already great, but from now on he’s going to be greater.
I can assure you of that”.
Of course, the admiration is mutual. Rafael
remarks that “we’ve hit it off so well because
we grew up with his films”. And he recalls that in
‘Flamenco XXI’ “there’s a rehearsal
scene” totally influenced by the ones in the famous
trilogy starring Antonio Gades. Something logical, since
“the first flamenco stuff that caught my eye was the
fight of the cigarette girl in ‘Carmen’; those
pictures of wonderful rehearsals”. There are other
“concepts which fit in really well, for example, that
coming out on stage just like that, naturally, without that
pantomime of the magic of theater which is like trite”.
And for example, playing with “that naturalness, when
they finish ‘Fandango de Boccherini’, lets the
dancers be able to throw themselves down on the floor because
they’re really exhausted. And it’s also nice
for people to see that, that we’re human, that we’re
not dolls which are wound up”.
Rehearsal vs. performance
In fact, Carlos Saura recognizes that “the
ideal thing would be for it to always be a dress rehearsal,
for it never to be a performance. At the same time as you
see the perfectionism of a tremendous job, for you to sometimes
also see that spontaneity and joy in the bailaores”.
Estévez adds to this idea that “we really stress
smiles, in the numbers which call for those smiles”.
One of them is ‘La danza de los ojos verdes’,
a piece which includes a little tribute: “With all
the respect in the world, we’ve broken down the personality
of Antonia
Mercé, who’s an artist a little bit forgotten
but who is a fundamental piece in Spanish dance, so much
so that she was the one who created it. And she had that
marvelous big broad smile”. A lot of stress is also
made to the dancers “in giving, being generous to
themselves, to the audience, to us as choreographers and
to the maestro as director”. Generosity, smiles…
but if “it has to be serious, then there’ll
be a funeral if necessary!”. And there are instants
for it. Saura points out the saeta, which “is going
to be a little tremendous, with black veils… it’s
going to be a wonderful contrast”.
 Rafael
Estévez and Carlos Saura (Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
|
That play on opposites has just been seen
in the rehearsal of the sevillanas. The first ones are biblical,
with very calm movements, very serious countenances, it
all revolves around contention. The second ones are corraleras
(Andalusian songs), a burst of energy, dynamism, freshness…
and virtuosity. They are performed by all the dancers, with
Laura Rozalén as a soloist, a role which will also
be undertaken by Concha Jareño. Pastora
Galván, with her unmistakable Triana-inspired
tangos, and Rocío Molina, with the guajira from her
show ‘Oro viejo’, head the troupe together with
Nani and Rafael. The two of them, who act as choreographers
at the same time, say they feel very proud to work with
this ‘great troupe’. “There are dancers
from our company, from Dospormedio, and then we’ve
chosen new people by audition”, they explain. And
the selection wasn’t easy: “It’s really
complicated to find dancers who get comfortable with the
two so marked styles we have, which at the same time are
seen as a single style”.
| |
|
Nani Paños:
“We need the music to inspire us”
|
Even though the baile will evidently be
the most visible part of the show, it will also provide
a lot to listen to. Nani comments that “we need the
music to inspire us; if not, it would all boil down to asking
the musical director for twelve measures of twelve and that’s
it”. And Rafael confirms it: “We really stage
the music. We can stage a note or it can have a certain
sense. Many times we stage more on the music than on the
rhythmics, although of course it’s all to the beat”.
Saura thinks that “the musical lineup, of cantaores,
guitarists… is great”. Among them, besides the
Cádiz-born pianist who authors the soundtrack, is
guitarist Antonio
Rey, cantaores Jesús
Méndez, David Palomar, Blas Córdoba…
And Estévez thinks that “we can be a big family
that’s going to come out on stage to all enjoy ourselves
guided by Mr. Saura”. To which the director suddenly
replies: “This is no longer just Carlos Saura, this
is now a really dangerous crew!”.
The three of them continue speaking placidly
about sweat and energy. Saura insists that he enjoys watching
them dance here, in the rehearsal room, where everything
is one hundred percent real. And you can guess his need
to get lost amidst their spins, pirouettes, turns and heel
tapping with a camera at the ready. We now know that as
soon as this show premieres, he will begin to shoot the
sequel to ‘Flamenco’ in Seville. But he doesn’t
want to mix subjects and postpones the conversation about
that other project for later on. “I now have too much
flamenco in my head!”, he kindly protests.
And you can understand everything when
you appreciate his involvement in this show which is now
in the staging phase. He says that now that he’s watching
the work, “these rehearsals so far along are wonderful”.
But those early days are still fresh in his mind “when
they were making up a choreography… seeing how that
invention process is done is really nice”. The reflection
he makes is that “they have a lot of experience, but
they’re always immersed in a brave process”.
More so when, as Nani and Rafael uphold, they refuse to
repeat themselves: “The style and tools are defined,
but we always rack our brains. It doesn’t seem honest
to us to grab an entire sequence from a previous show and
fit it in as if we were playing Tetris”. The final
sentence of this interesting chat with the three artists
is provided by the veteran: “They’re obliged,
like me, to always go a little bit further”. But the
youngest one would burst if he didn’t answer: “Backwards,
not on your life!”.
