Isabel Bayón "Del Alma" Villamarta Theater Jerez de la Frontera. Wednesday, March 3nd, 2004. 9:00pm

Dance: Isabel Bayón, Fernando Romero. Cante: Miguel Ortega, Vicente Gelo. Guitar: Jesús Torres, Paco Arriaga, Manuel Pérez. Chelo: Gretchen Talbot. Percussion: Nacho López.

The big event of the sixth day of the Festival de Jerez was the arrival of Farruquito and the press conference in which the dancer briefly explained the show that Thursday night will fill the Villamarta to the rafters and leave a considerable number of people in the street hoping to pick up a ticket. The young maestro commented that seeing the smallest member of the family (because they come in a wide variety of sizes), is enough to understand how important family roots are. When someone asked if he preferred dancing with one guitar or several, he answered: “I can dance with half a guitar” and it didn’t sound like bluster because we all know how true it is.

Next on the agenda was guitarist Santiago Lara and his brother José at the Sala de la Compañía where we saw their version of the most updated flamenco, and from there we made our way to the Villamarta for the main show with Isabel Bayón’s group.

The opening gambit was promising. With the house lights still on, and latecomers wandering around looking for their seats, the performers appeared casually on stage one by one as if showing up at a rehearsal, immediately projecting a controlled naturalness and the desire to set new precedents. An intriguing idea that prepared us to pay absolute attention as the lights were slowly dimmed.

This presentation led to a danced malagueña, beginning with the most classic cante, the second time since the festival began that dance has been applied to this rhythm-free form, and it is a pretext for moving into folky ‘abandolao’ rhythm which effortlessly transforms into its rhythmic cousin, bulerías. For the first time in many years we also hear a folk malagueña where the sound of primitive instruments is evoked. Isabel has been dancing rondeña since she was a little girl and it served as a point of departure to construct an admirable tribute to a portion of flamenco’s history.

Controlled naturalness and the desire to set new precedents

The relentless darkness of black costumes against a black backdrop, a fashion of recent years that reflects an exaggerated desire to abolish any trace of flamenco’s folkloric roots, begins to irritate – depth of expression is more convincingly pursued via the intrinsic qualities of the music and dance. Nevertheless Bayón appreciates the need to project and this dancer who rarely used to take her eyes off the floor now sends her warm smile directly out to the audience.

An admirable guitar solo despite the less admirable sound system leads to another flamenco form that has been recuperated in recent years, soleá apolá, including the controversial Charamusco cante. Tangos marianas includes some styles from Extremadura but employs little cante overall is followed by a duet to romance in which Bayón and Fernando Romero dance together, but never communicated. The two singers whose voices blend well are complemented by the sound of the cello and this ends up being one of the most flamenco moments of the show.

This work is full of beautiful images and the careful attention to detail is impossible to miss, but it never fulfills the promise of the interesting opening and the overall pace is excessively uniform, lacking in contrast, even cold. As on person said upon leaving the theater, “so much effort to say so little”.

At midnight Diego Núñez, El Cabrillera, Paquito Jerez and María Ángeles Nieto offered a more traditional image of flamenco at the Peña La Zúa, and once again we return home having enjoyed a wide range of presentations.

Text : Estela Zatania

Theater Villamarta Program
De Peña en Peña Program: Trasnoches, De Peñas, Peña de Guardia
Other shows(Gloria Pura, Bordón y cuenta nueva, De la Frontera, Café Cantante, Sólos en Compañía)
Courses and workshops

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