EVA LA YERBABUENA HAS BEEN AWARDED SPAIN'S NATIONAL DANCE PRIZE FOR 2001

The panel of judges noted the "modernism and personal talent"
of the dancer from Granada

Silvia Calado Olivo

Flamenco dance has also been called up to the podium. The Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escéncas y de la Música [national institute of dramatic arts and music], a branch of Spain's Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes [education, culture and sports ministry] has awarded the Premio Nacional de la Danza 2001 for interpretation to the dancer from Granada, Eva la Yerbabuena, who follows in the footsteps of previous flamenco winners such as Antonio Canales or Cristina Hoyos. The panel of judges valued "the modernity and richness of a kind of dance in which she has maintained all the subtlety of traditional flamenco, thanks to her personal talent". The choreographer Manuel Segovia, director of the dance company Ibérica de Danza, carried off the prize for creativity because of "his investigation of Spanish folklore to which he manages to give a fully updated outlet with quality and strength".

Eva la Yerbabuena (Photo:Paco Sánchez)

The five women of Eva la Yerbabuena's most recent work accepted the Premio Nacional de Danza 2001 for interpretation with utmost pride because, according to the dancer from Granada, "it is the greatest prize an artist can receive", without failing to mention that flamenco "is an art which merits recognition because it should be at the same level as any other". Eva la Yerbabuena gives a perspective to the jury's declaration, citing aspects such as modernity, richness and personality while maintaining traditional flamenco. She maintains that innovation is "being oneself, without ever forgetting where you come from". But that is no obstacle in her continuous searching in other art forms that she strives to draw from, because "we must see what our necessities are, and how we want to communicate them".

The dancer from Granada who defines herself as "amibitious" for being a woman, allows that she still has a long way to go. And she thanks the great figures of flamenco who paved the way and beside whom she claims to still feel like a novice. This is why Eva la Yerbabuena and her company are already preparing a new show that doesn't even have a name yet, while she continues to tour with '5 Mujeres 5'. With this work, which premiered in Seville's Bienal in 2000, the dancer plans to go to France, the United States, Brazil and England beginning in January.

Eva la Yerbabuena (Photo: Anahí Carmody)

From the age of eleven Eva Garrido García discovered her passion for flamenco, and has developed an international career forged, at first, alongside maestros such as Enrique el Canastero, Angustillas La Mona, Mariquilla and Mario Maya. Later on she studed dramatic art in Seville and dance in Havana, Cuba, where she was a student of the choreographer Johanes García. Upon returning to Spain she danced in the companies of Rafael Aguilar, Javier Latorre, Manolete and Merche Esmeralda. With Joaquín Cortés she participated in the show Jóvenes flamencos' [young flamenco artists] performing on stages in the United States and Japan. She has also flirted with cinema taking part in the 1997 documentary Flamenco women by the British filmaker Mike Figgis who again used the dancer in his movie Hotel along with John Malkovich, Burt Reynolds, Salma Hayek and Ornella Mutti. At the same time, she was beginning to make her mark as choreographer and after her first creation, La garra y el ángel, created her own company with which she presented 'Eva' in Seville's 1998 Bienel de Flamenco. Among the distinctions she has received is the prize 'Flamenco Hoy' for best dancer of 1999.

Renewed folklore

Folklore rounds out this edition of the Premio Nacional de Danza. The panel of judges from the Instituto Nacional de Artes Escénicas y de la Música emphasizes the investigation, quality and updating in the work of Emanuel Berruezo Chaves whose artistic name is Manuel Segovia, head of the company Ibérica Danza which was created in 1993. Although he participated in Carlos Saura's film Carmen along with Antonio Gades, flamenco has never been his main objective since he claims to uphold the premise that "Spain is not just flamenco". The dancer and choreographer won second prize at the Fourth Certamen Coreográfico de Danza Española y Flamenco for his work Cerialia the second time it was produced. His latest ongoing projects, together with Violeta Ruiz, are Bailando en el Tiempo, and La Memoria del Olvido.