María del Mar Moreno carries the weight of 'Ayer y siempre', the tribute to the artist

Silvia Calado Olivo, February 2004
Translation: Joseph Kopec

Jerez turns back the clocks and peers within to close its eighth flamenco dancing festival. The night of March 10th, 2004 at the Villamarta Theater, the star will be Angelita Gómez, the veteran Jerez-born bailaora who is to be paid a tribute with 'Ayer y siempre' ('Yesterday and Always'). And that means the artist's return to the stage forty years after her retirement. The show, with stage direction by Belén Candil, is going to send out a message: "Jerez-style baile is not lost". Together with Gómez will be María del Mar Moreno, who carries the weight of most of the show, cantaores Antonio Malena, Fernando Terremoto, Melchora Ortega, Luis Moneo and Luis de Pacote, guitarists Domingo Rubichi and Santiago Moreno, and as special guest, Sevillian bailaora Pepa Montes.

The Jerez Festival aims at vindicating in grand fashion one of the most outstanding baile figures on Earth: Angelita Gómez. 'Ayer y siempre' is the title of the show with which her former students, native artists and guests are going to display "a small appreciation" of the artist for her career as a bailaora and as a maestra, "of my labor for so many years of work", explains Gómez. And above all, for "my contribution to the Jerez style not being lost, that baile so slow, so unhurried".

That is the way that Angelita Gómez is going to recall on stage, dancing again forty years after her retirement from show business, but not from teaching. "I'm going to dance the way it was done in my time, in a more unhurried way, with more arm waving, more movement. That's the way I know how to do it, that's the way I express myself... and bearing in mind the age I'm at". In contrast, and also as a display of her legacy, dancing at her side will be María del Mar Moreno, "who does a baile of strength, of temperament". Together they will stage, with a romance, "how she relays to me, tells me to stop a bit and offers me a part of her, which I keep", as the disciple explains. María del Mar Moreno will also tackle another two numbers solo: "As I'm a seguiriyera, I have a liviana and serrana about the love I can't find. And my soleá".

With heart

Aiming for it not to be "a typical gala", stage director Belén Candil - who has worked on shows such as 'Dime' by Javier Barón and 'Inmigración' by Ángeles Gabaldón-, has thought up special settings for the tribute to roll as a show. Also taking part will be cantaores Fernando Terremoto, Antonio Malena, Melchora Ortega, Luis Moneo and Luis de Pacote; guitarists Domingo Rubichi and Santiago Moreno; the Fernando Terremoto Peña group; and Sevillian bailaora Pepa Montes as special guest. Angelita Gómez predicts that "it may be a very emotional show, since all of them love me a great deal and are going to give it a lot of heart".

María del Mar Moreno (photo: Daniel Muñoz)

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