A TIME OF CONTRASTS AND CURIOSITIES
Fernando González-Caballos

Friday, July 6th, 2001.
Mont de Marsan. France
"Tiempo al tiempo" [Biding time]

And since it couldn't have been any other way, the latest fads also made their presence felt at the XIII Festival de Arte Flamenco in Mont-de-Marsan. The night devoted to the cutting edge held some surprises for an audience little accustomed to this type of thing, since apparently the show was all about contrasts.

The first contrast: The stage at the Espace François Mitterand was left in total darkness so that a feeble light could illuminate the silhouette of a young male dancer, while the voice of La Tobala marked out the lead-in for seguiriyas, as well as the great divide that separated her throat from that of her fellow-singers, Juan José Amador and Enrique El Extremeño - these two can express profound sorrow - the rest is just superficial Juana. How complicated it is to be artistic! How can someone try to make the leap to solo singing without having first passed through the 'school' of accompaniment singing? But no...she just went for it...and anyone can do that.

Joselito Romero slowly began to move. His elegant armwork gave extraordinary depth to the dance. Nevertheless, an excessively long footwork solo watered down the impact of a choreography in which the virtuosity and physical capacity of the young dancer from Madrid became self-evident in a continuous display of showy tricks.

Second contrast: Israel Galván came out on stage as Joselito took his leave in the presence of the great, metamorphic dancer from Seville. The music continues to mark the way through seguiriyas, but Israel insists on doing his own thing. Bide your time Israel...bide your time.

Third contrast: Belén Maya, not wanting to be left out, also offered up her personal vision of contemporary flamenco dance. Despite dancing seated on a chair, she managed to return some meaning to a show which got lost in individuality.

Fourth contrast: Soleá brought Joselito Romero back on stage for Juan José Amador to show him the way to Jerez, while the young man insisted on machine-gunning the floor once again...ratatata...tata...tata...

Gerardo Núñez (Photo: Anahí Cármody)

Gerardo Núñez brought the show back together with a beautiful composition in which he was left alone to squeeze out the first tumultuous ovation of the night.

Fifth contrast: After the intermission, Carmen Cortés came out por soleá while Enrique el Extremeño threw himself heart and soul into the musical heritage of Juan Talega. This dancer has a passionate concept of flamenco dance...so passionate in fact that she doesn't manage to pull off anything with the right timing and her overly-dynamic personality leads her to ungainly poses in the closures.

Sixth contrast: Pedro Sierra took off in alegrías together with Pájaro and El Cepillo so that Israel Galván could come out and dance in the same line as in the first half. Nevertheless, the change to soleá por bulerías made the dancer ooze compás, working an authentic miracle in the change to tangos and causing the public to stomp. That's the way to do it!

After Gerardo Núñez' comeback por bulerías, it was fiesta-time on the small tablao allowing falseness and pretense to take centerstage in a kind of senseless duel. Anything for the sake of contrast, no?

Translation: Estela Zatania