Rojas and Rodríguez plunge into flamenco with their new show ‘Cambio de tercio’

The show by Nuevo Ballet Español, with choreographies by Rocío Molina, Rafael Campallo and Manuel Liñán, is presented in Madrid and London

Flamenco-world.com, February 2010

“Flamenco dance”. That is the label which Ángel Rojas and Carlos Rodríguez, directors of Nuevo Ballet Español, put on their new show ‘Cambio de tercio’. Following years of being focused on renewing Spanish dance, the Madrilenian dancers center on the jondo, applying their style and a personal esthetic trademark to it. As collaborators in this production, they have Rocío Molina, Rafael Campallo and Manuel Liñán; all three as choreographers. The show is to be presented at Flamenco Festival London 2010 from February 13th to 15th and at Madrid’s Teatro Apolo from February 18th to March 14th, to kick off the international tour.

Nuevo Ballet Español, 'Cambio de tercio'

Endorsed by a fifteen-year career and over three hundred performances of their latest show ‘Sangre’, Nuevo Ballet Español begins a new era. The company, directed by Ángel Rojas and Carlos Rodríguez, sets aside Spanish dance and now applies its unique style to flamenco dancing. The result is ‘Cambio de tercio’, a show which both of them star in together with four female dancers - María López, Pilar González, Cristina de la Vega and Raquel Tamarit – and a group of six musicians also included up on stage. They are guitarists Daniel Jurado and Gaspar Rodríguez, violinist Thomas Potiron, percussionist Enrique Terrón and cantaoras María del Mar Fernández and María Rosa Navarro ‘La Divi’.

Nuevo Ballet Español, 'Cambio de tercio'

The script is organized in ten pieces, each of which is defined by a flamenco style: cantiñas, sevillanas, fandangos, bamberas, bulerías, seguidillas… And the leit motiv is change: “It presents the figure of the dancer as matter that performs and dresses for each baile and each piece. The choreographers thus invite us to a game of variety and changed gears, changes in style, changes in wardrobe and in flamenco styles”, the dossier elaborates.

But Rojas and Rodríguez aren’t the only ones responsible for designing the bailes. In this show, with wardrobe by Vicente Soler, they have relied on genuine specialists in the matter. To be exact, they have the collaboration of three guest choreographers: Rocío Molina, Rafael Campallo and Manuel Liñán. “When you stage for yourself, you don’t see the whole, so they’ve staged our bailes and they’ve made them fit into the whole”, Rojas and Rodríguez explain.

International tour

Nuevo Ballet Español, 'Cambio de tercio'

Following a presentation on giant screens on a building on Madrid’s Gran Vía on February 10th, ‘Cambio de tercio’ immediately kicks off its international tour. The first stop is the British capital where, from February 13th to 15th, the show inaugurates Flamenco Festival London 2010 at Sadler’s Wells. Next, the company stops off at Madrid’s Teatro Nuevo Apolo from February 18th to March 14th. And from there it begins a tour which will travel in the upcoming months to countries such as the Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Brazil and Turkey, among others.

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