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May
1st, 2000 . Teatro Villamarta. Jerez.
Antonio
Canales. A "Cenicienta" (Cinderella) of flashy flamenco
The Ballet of Antonio
Canales presented "La Cenicienta" (Cinderella), an ambitious piece with
a glimmering scenography which was closed with words of thanks to Jerez.
He made the movement
of taking off his hat in a brusque manner and went on to adapt that simplistic
and dull story in a different fashion to give it a new sense in the morse code
of the flamenco footwork. "Taconeo" (tapping) there was and even some slapping
of the thighs during the central portion of the show, dancing of high class, which
hurt even the spectators´ own flesh. A showy and even affected set of costumes
contrasted with the exquisite play of lights and scenery, relegating the role
of the musicians at the pit almost to playback. The first part lasted almost an
hour and a half with Prokofiev in the introduction, and Albinioni in the second
part of around 20 minutes.
In the first five
minutes, dazzling in presentation, Canales anticipated the movements of a show
with flamenco reminiscence and with sparks of humor. It would be difficult to
imagine Sara Baras (who broke up with Canales just before the beginning of last
years edition of the festival), in the role of Cinderella interpreted this time
by the young 17 year old Cristina Gómez, graciously passing from the classic
ballet to the flamenco dance, playing a character that appears on stage pushing
a shopping trolley and finally leaves it pushing a very different one, the one
carrying the baby she has had due to her love relationship with the prince.
Canales gives himself
the role of wizard: he whispers in her ear, sprinkles her with magic dust and
thus the dance begins, first with a broomstick (the stepsisters with castanets),
and then, while the transformation is taking place within the wardrobe, he lets
himself loose "por bulerías" effortlessly, with nice poses for the photographers.
He makes a flamenco version of the "happy birthday", and "tanguillos"
are performed one after the other during the "fiesta" (party) - (with a mischievous
and "naughty" María la Coneja as stepmother), "sevillanas boleras" follow
with fitting laces and a set of percussion-based "bulerías": Canales´ leading
student is called Juan de Juan and he performed a very worked out set of footwork
in an extensive and tremendous dance, as a contraposition to a Cinderella without
tap-shoes (tacones) and with a tutu. Canales finally appears on stage with a top
hat, to make him even greater, with Montse Cortés singing for him "por
bulerías", and with a final burst of energy he disappears with a jump into
the pit.
The second part
of the show began with a twosome with adagio between Canales and De Juan until
finally we came to the testing of the shoes (to find out who Cinderella is); here
we had Guadiana coming up on stage in a brief appearance "por alegrías"
to be danced in any school. Ramón Jiménez also came out on stage
playing a "taranta" (type of flamenco song), and ultimately the shoe is found
to the sound of the "fandangos" in "bulería" key.
When bowing and
thanking the crowd, Canales said a few words in which he thanked Jerez, trying
to demonstrate that "you can break the geometry/rigidity of flamenco" by introducing
the son of the cantaora on stage to perform an innocent pataíta. For people
of all ages.
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