Esperanza Fernández and Chano Domínguez stress the show's flamenco side

S.C. Madrid, March 2006

“At Café de Chinitas, Paquiro told his brother, I'm braver than you, more of a bullfighter and more of a gypsy”. Los Paquiros' story was just one of the many ones occurring at the historical venue in Málaga. Tales which inspired La Argentinita, taking the popular songs recorded with Lorca on piano as a musical reference, to develop one of her most famous choreographies. She even had Dalí's paintbrush in the design of the backdrops. Time having gone by, the Spanish National Ballet (BNE) takes back up the theme, but in its own way.

According to the company's director, José Antonio, “I saw her version as unsurpassable”, so he wanted “to create a different tale at a place called Café de Chinitas”. And the difference is brought by the commemoration, two years ago, of Dalí's centennial. The universe, motifs, worries of the painter and his tribute to Lorca, play a lead role in this show, which was already premiered in 2004 at the Peralada Festival by the Andalusian Dance Company when the Madrilenian choreographer directed that institution. After re-premiering at the 2005 Granada Music and Dance Festival, now by the BNE, and being performed in Santander and San Sebastián, the show lands at Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela, where it is to be put on from March 17th to April 2nd, 2006.

The special collaborations by Esperanza Fernández on cante and Chano Domínguez on piano make each show a unique experience. As José Antonio says, “the show is redone every night because neither Chano plays the same nor Esperanza sings the same”. The Sevillian cantaora redounds to this idea on explaining that “there's very special communication between the ballet, music and cante, and every night there's different magic”. The director upholds live music for baile, since “we're getting too used to playback and the artist is being mechanized”. Not in vain, the first part of the program, ‘Elegía-Homenaje a Antonio Ruiz Soler’ (‘Elegy-Tribute to Antonio Ruiz Soler’) in Madrid will have live music from the pit of the Community of Madrid Orchestra.

About the musical work, Chano Domínguez commented that “the material from Lorca's notebooks is indispensable in my music. I've been using them for years, but I never imagined it could turn out like that on adapting it thought-out and structured for baile. It's wonderful for me to get up and play this music with flamenco keys and a new sound”. To which he adds that “accompanying Esperanza Fernández is wonderful”. The cantaora has personalized her work: “What I do has nothing to do with La Argentinita; my voice is different, it's another era and I've managed to make the popular songs a little mine”.

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