Antonio Canales situates flamenco dance in a labyrinth. The dancer and choreographer from Seville found the necessary inspiration in Athens to convert the mythical Minotaur into a story line for his next work. But Canales, far from looking for the key to some transcendental enigma, like the heroes of antiquity, tries to "make a stand for the tradition of the virile patriarch". Bullfighting, the countryside, hispanic Iberia and the figure of Rafael Alberti will be significant in a presentation that will outline "the society we move in".

Antonio Canales (Photo: Paco Sánchez)

Antonio Canales, who has been working for six months on this new work, will give life to the mythical character, while Juan de Juan and Paul Vaquero will take turns as Teseo. The dancer isn't considering Sara Baras for the part of Ariadne, as was rumored, because "the dancer's prior engagements make it nearly impossible". In her place, Canales is giving an opportunity to a little girl from Cádiz of only twelve "who dances like the angels". The stage direction of Minotauro is still pending. Although for the moment, Lucho Ferrucho, who participated in Torero and Gitano, is already working on the staging, the artist will also seek the collaboration of Mario Gas or Ramón Oller.

Minotauro, which Canales defines as "juicy and passionate", reiterates the bullfighting motif already worked by the dancer in Torero; and mythology, which he already has dealt with in Narciso and Venus and Prometheus, in two different editions of Mérida's Festival de Teatro Clásico.

While preparing the new show which will debut next year, Canales is keeping a tight and multifaceted agenda. In addition to continuing with the tour of Bailaor, the show he premiered at Seville's last Bienal de Flamenco, he has extended himself to cinema and literature. After his acting debut in the French production Vengo, Antonio Canales participated in the filming of Vida en Color, Santiago Tabernero's first work, a film about the life of Antonio Machín; and Randa Haines' film Camino Flamenco. The artist's literary side will make its debut with the publication next January of Anacleto Latin Lover, a novel which he describes as "a very humorous book which tells the life of a bullfighter who goes through a thousand adventures". A wealth of activity which explains why he says "forty is a good age to retire, but I don't feel like it. I'm still a fighter. The moment will arrive...".

Translation: Estela Zatania