Rocío Molina and José Barrios each create
numbers for a work inspired in the four seasons

Flamenco-world.com

María Pagés is extending the resident company project. The Sevillian bailaora has started to work on a choreography workshop in which bailaors from her group take part. As the first fruit of this initiative, Rocío Molina and José Barrios are staging two of the numbers of a work inspired in the four seasons, the company's next premiere.

(Foto: Daniel Muñoz)

Taking advantage of the stability it has for being the resident company of the Madrilenian theater of Torrelodones, María Pagés is making one of her projects a reality: to create a choreography workshop. The Sevillian bailaora and choreographer has put Rocío Molina and José Barrios, both members of her group, each in charge of staging numbers for the company's new project. "They're minor choreographies within the general show I direct and which I want them to take part in actively and not just as performers". The work "arises from a motif which has always been very inspiring in music, literature, painting... It has nothing to with the composition by Vivaldi, but rather deals with watching the seasons pass from the flamenco point of view".

The criteria prevailing in these works revolve around María Pagés' typical modus operandi; that is, "around knowledge of serious flamenco training, in which all aspects of flamenco are taken into account, the traditional ones as well as the evolutionary ones". The artist who, precisely, has received the 2002 National Dance Prize of Spain in the category of creation, thinks that "right now the term choreography alone is new and infrequently used in flamenco". She therefore believes in the "need to surround ourselves with artistic elements different to flamenco which enrich us". She adds that choreography "has greater tradition in ballet, since flamenco has always been considered an individual art". This cause, together with the lack of training plans in flamenco choreography and the need to learn, have led María Pagés to "investigate other arts, other disciplines". The importance of creation for the artist is crucial: "A choreography is not done overnight, nor can just any performer be a choreographer".

(Foto: Daniel Muñoz)

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