Flamenco. Flamenco Festival 2010. Backstage with... 'Todo cambia'

FLAMENCO FESTIVAL USA 2010. BACKSTAGE WITH… ‘TODO CAMBIA’

The mutable and the immutable

Silvia Calado. Madrid, January 2010
Translation: Joseph Kopec

Flamenco Festival Nueva York 2010

Flamenco Festival 2010. ‘Todo cambia’ Tour

Manuel Liñán and Pastora 'Todo cambia' rehearsal
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)

Flamenco is always an art to discover. No matter how much it has been seen, there’s always something new, something more, somebody different, somebody up-and-coming. And the audience which has attended Flamenco Festival USA for a decade knows that very well. On its bills year after year, consolidated artists coexist with new artists, classical shows with innovative shows… giving a broad vision of today’s flamenco. Variety and innovation are constants in its offer, two values which are usually highlighted by the gala each edition invents. And much more so by the one this year which is precisely called ‘Todo cambia’ (‘Everything Changes’).

Just a couple of weeks away from the premiere and U.S. tour, the stars of ‘Todo cambia’ are gathered in a rehearsal room at the Teatros del Canal in Madrid. Manuel Liñán is in charge of this gala which brings together new talents in flamenco dancing, himself included. He has Pastora Galván and Belén López. beside him. “We have several profiles; the difference lies in our styles and personalities, but always attacking flamenco from a traditional viewpoint”, the Granada-born bailaor and choreographer explains during a break. But there’s little time to talk. The choreography by the three of them por fandangos, one of two they do together, is full of nuances and… changes, which follow one another at a furiously-paced rhythm. Jesús Corbacho might just as easily be singing at the back as up front next to the rush-bottomed chair. Pastora’s bata de cola traces invisible spirals, while Belén López clacks the castanets and lets her long black hair fly, while Manolillo intertwines with them, while everything changes place.

Belén López. 'Todo cambia' rehearsal (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

The sketches of the choreography capture to perfection the concept of the mutable. The idea for the show, which comes from the direction of Flamenco Festival, “comes from a song by Mercedes Sosa, in which she talks about how in reality human beings are constantly changing personalities, families, when they leave their land, when they grow, in the farewell… but there’s always something that doesn’t change; the roots of each human being and his or her frankness”, Liñán comments. And it’s a reflection which has a lot to do with the essence of art, of the artist, and in this case, of flamenco. Flamenco is constantly evolving and so are flamencos… but the roots are still firmly anchored. And that’s what happens to Manuel, Pastora and Belén, as is reflected in this piece which they tirelessly rehearse.

As coordinator and choreographer of ‘Todo cambia’, Manuel Liñán maintains that he has “tried to seek each one’s personality. I didn’t want to lay out the fandango, for example, as a dance corps but rather, although it’s a group number, I try to choreograph it for us to give the best of ourselves, not what a choreographer says to do”. To do so, he says there has “always been an agreement with them to highlight their profiles and for the differences to be made out”. And they confirm it. Belén López, who will make her début in the United States with this gala, says that “Manuel has been able to find my good touch with the castanets and he’s put together really personalized work for each of us; he’s looked for our place, a place where we’re comfortable and we can show off a little bit”. Pastora, who will moreover do a solo performance singing and dancing, also remarks that “he has a lot of patience when staging and it’s a pleasure to work with him”.

Pastora Galván. 'Todo cambia' rehearsal (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

Paco Cruz and Manuel Cazás. 'Todo cambia' rehearsal (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

And what does Manolillo say about his bailaoras? “Belén and Pastora are incredible. What strikes me the most about the two of them is that they have very pronounced personalities. You see one’s baile maybe in another person and you know that it’s Pastora’s baile… or Belén’s. That’s what I admire the most about them and about any artist: that his profile stands out and that he upholds his personality”, the choreographer points out. But it’s hard for him to describe each one: “I consider Belén something new, fresh, who’s getting started but with a lot of desire and professionalism. What can I say about Pastora?… What I try and do is to really feed on them because they fill me and contribute to me”, he humbly responds.

The audience and critics will have their say when they seen them perform on stages such as the New York City Center, Lisner Auditorium in Washington D.C. and Sadler’s Wells in London, both jointly and solo. Each of them has reserved his or her strongest style for that moment. Belén López is going to perform her alegrías wearing trousers… which are no longer the usual ones. The Catalan bailaora was injured – dancing – last summer and following the months of recovery which, as she admits, she spent working, she says that “I dance differently now”. And she is thus going to present herself for the first time in the United States, a challenge she takes “with responsibility and joy due to the colleagues I’m going with. I really want to see how I’m received there; I’m going to give it my all like every stage I set foot on, whether it’s the main square in a small town or the best theater in a big city”. Pastora already made her first foray into the American festival when she danced in ‘Cuatro esquinas’ with Carmen Linares, Miguel Poveda and Juan Carlos Romero in the 2008 edition. And in this second one, in the setting of ‘Todo cambia’, her weapon is the seguiriya, a piece which she takes from her recent solo show ‘Pastora’. The bailaor, who choreographed the final piece of the praised show ‘Mujeres’, the gala which the festival produced two years ago, will display his individuality in a soleá por bulerías with romance taken from his recently premiered show ‘Tauro’.

But three-way interaction returns at the end of the show, “a tanguillo which all of us do, a bit of a tribute to Lola Flores in which we talk and dance; it’s a sort of tongue twister and not the typical grand finale por bulerías. Lately I’ve been appreciating on stage that you have a good time, everyone’s involvement, that we all agree… and moreover, getting a smile out of someone gives me a rush”. A pity that it’s not time to rehearse it today, nor the pas de deux with castanets by Belén López and David Coria. We remain with the vibrant sketch of the fandango, the words of its bailaores and the restlessness of announced change.