|
10th
of May, 2000. Teatro Villamarta
Antonio "El Pipa".
But Moraito, though
cheered as he was, did not receive the acclaim of el Pipa; resolved brightly with
bows as magnificent as his long jacket and with kisses blown at the crowd. Going
back to the beginning, the first thing they said to him was: "Vamos alla
los que bailan gitano! ¡Viva tu mare Juana!" ("Come along the ones of the
gypsy dancing! God bless your ma' Juana!"). Antonio el Pipa, the only dancer of
his company, smiled in ecstasy during the last "taconeo" of the "rondeña",
in which the voice of the young Manuel Tañe rose above his other four cantaores.
Antonio comes back
on stage: he raises one shoulder, then the other, and places one of his legs back
to start off proudly the "paseillo" (parade) at the front of the stage with transmitting,
positive, affectionate and gesticulating "alegrias". Those looks thrown at the
crowd and those continuous questions posed with the shoulder blade. No one can
compete with him. After forty minutes he paraphrases his first triumphant exit,
with some "tangos" performed by a tremendous Antonio Jero (and in his pedestal,
Diego Amaya).
As the bailaor
was growing in stature and satisfaction, he came on with his third costume, a
dark one, for a new series of delicate "bulerias" veined along his very long extremities,
in which he ended up dancing with his aunt with immense joy. It was not like last
year's performance - in which he had the support of El Torta and of Maria del
Mar Moreno - but nevertheless the response of the crowd was clamorous. And then
they had the nice gesture of bringing Moraito on stage to salute and he performs
some gracious "pataitas", this time quite inspired, and followed by the whole
company with a stylized Antonio el Pipa culminating and extracting his usual inner
self. And leaving a kiss suspended in the air.
Luis Clemente
|
