María Pagés premieres
‘Self Portrait’ at the Baryshnikov Arts Center
in New York
The flamenco bailaora performs in the
Big Apple from November 7th to 11th, 2007
Flamenco-world.com, October 2007
Flamenco is now on friendly terms
with contemporary dance. María
Pagés has been invited to display her work
at New York’s Baryshnikov Arts Center. For such
a special occasion, the Sevillian bailaora and choreographer
has created ‘Self Portrait’, a selection “of
the solos I like most, the ones which identify me most
as María”. The show will be seen at the stage
in New York from November 7th to 11th, 2007. But her collaboration
goes beyond that. Together with Canadian choreographer
Aszure Barton, she will spend two weeks working with a
selection of young dancers to establish a dialogue between
the styles of flamenco and contemporary dance.
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María Pagés
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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“Am I dreaming or is it true?”.
When the brilliant dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov
invited María Pagés to his center in New
York, she couldn’t believe it. It happened a little
over a year ago and since then, the Sevillian bailaora
and choreographer has been getting ready. “Baryshnikov
asked me for something that had never been done before
in New York, since we’ve already performed every
show by the company there at stages such as the Joyce
and the City Center. He wanted me as the creator and performer”.
And the artist saw the ideal occasion to shape up an idea
which had been going around in her head for some time:
‘Autorretrato’, or in English, ‘Self
Portrait’.
The program of the show, which is on
the bill from November 7th to 11th, 2007, contains a total
of six pieces. It starts off with ‘Ergo uma rosa’,
on a poem by José Saramago; continuing with ‘Soleá
de la Cueva’, with lyrics by Antonio Machado and
bits of music from ‘Sherezade’ by Korsakov.
It also includes ‘Percusiones’, made from
the sounds of fans, canes and castanets.
And it returns to poetry with ‘Nana de la Cebolla’,
on the version Joan Manuel Serrat did of the poem by Miguel
Hernández. Next, ‘Mario y María’
is a seguiriya based on a poem by José Hierro recited
by Mario Gas. The show ends with ‘Triana’,
tientos-tangos which cross cultures with lyrics by Sevillian
poet Ben Sahl. Pagés will be accompanied live by
bailaores Emilio Herrera and José
Barrios, cantaores Ana Román and Ismael de
la Rosa, guitarists José Antonio Carrillo ‘Fyty’
and Isaac Muñoz, and cellist Barnabas Hangonyi.
Flamenco and contemporary dialogue
María Pagés
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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But María Pagés wanted
to make the most of her stay at the Baryshnikov Arts Center,
since “it’s a place with very lively creation,
which bridges the gap between Europe and New York at the
creative level”. And she made a proposal: “To
reside there for a time and see how flamenco could contribute
to the projects which are developed there”. So after
the five performances, María Pagés will
spend two weeks working with a group of young contemporary
dancers selected by Baryshnikov himself. To do so, she
has teamed up with Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton,
who went to Spain last September to rework the choreography
‘Ergo uma rosa’. “She wanted to study
it and transfer it to her language, besides getting to
know the flamenco rhythms and see how she could absorb
them”, the bailaora explains. The result remains
to be seen, but “the idea is for us to bring out
a little work which comes back to the company. Neither
are we going to do contemporary dance, nor are they going
to dance flamenco, but I think there’s a lot that
can enrich us”.
María Pagés’s project
at the Baryshnikov Arts Center could be considered a milestone
for flamenco dancing. “What I’ve concluded
is that there’s a lot of interest in flamenco on
the part of other disciplines. There have always been
attempts to draw nearer and share, but now they’re
the ones who are after us”. And in fact, she assures
that she already has “other projects with choreographers
and dancers who want to get to know us”. María
Pagés, who will take ‘Self Portrait’
to Japan next May, doesn’t hide her satisfaction:
“Flamenco’s recognition is more and more evident.
We knew that Baryshnikov felt lured to flamenco, but he’d
never taken such a clear step to put it in the limelight”.
