”Gala de Clausura”
Sunday, October 15th, 2006.8:30pm.
Teatro de la Maestranza

Special 14th Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla. Reviews, programa, photos...

Text: Estela Zatania

First part. Dance soloists: Manolo Marín, Merche Esmeralda, Nani Paños. Guitar: Alfredo Lagos, José Arenas, Juan Campallo, Antonia Jiménez. Cante: David Lagos, Tamara Tañé, Pitingo. Violin: Juan Pablo Zielinski. Percussion: Sergio Martínez. Special guest artist: Diana Navarro. Piano: Chico Valdivia.
Second part: Dance: Manuela Carrasco. Guitar: Joaquín Amador, Pedro Sierra, Miguel Iglesias, Eugenio Iglesias. Cante: Enrique Extremeño, Antonio Zúñiga, Tobala, Samara Amador. Percussion: José Carrasco. Palmas: Torombo.

The last show of the last day of the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, and the first day at the Teatro de la Maestranza. We humans like to focus on beginnings and endings of things, even though it’s all an infinite circle as Einstein more or less found out. A month full of shows of every type of flamenco, with an extra helping of the most contemporary projects, last night reached its conclusion.

We’d expected something more dramatic for the closing night. Some official declaration, or at least a few farewell words, or a different kind of show. But it was basically just another night at the Bienal. The pretext was to highlight the Seville style of dance, and this objective was covered by dancers: Manolo Marín, Merche Esmeralda and Manuela Carrasco.

In the first part, a backup group that included singers David Lagos, Tamara Tañé and Pitingo, a woman guitarist dressed up as a man and guest artist, popular singer Diana Navarro, made for a somewhat irregular mix that nearly turned into “The Merche Esmeralda Show”. The dancer was elegant and very Sevillian for alegrías with a white bata de cola and shawl. Her performance would have remained as a perfect jewel had it ended then and there, but a long song by Navarro, without musical accompaniment, led to an ill-advised pas de deux with Merche and the excellent dancer Nani Paños in which an age difference between the two of more than three decades stirred more comment than the dance itself, and Navarro’s voice began to over-stay its welcome. She continues singing, without music, “La Lola se va por los mares”, and Paños remains on stage alone making use of his classical preparation well adapted to flamenco with a farruca that includes a surprising José Greco-style leap with knees pulled up tight.

A declaration of interior strength, discipline, wisdom and good taste

Merche returns. She came out of retirement for the last Festival de Jerez, and having once again felt the roar of the crowd, she seems to be recharging her batteries, but age is working against her and not even a lovely red bata de cola managed to save a dance where she tried to do more with less, with the inevitable results.

Manolo Marín begins dancing tientos. This is something else entirely, a diminutive maestro packed with seven decades of life, he knows his body and what he can get away with, finds his personality and doesn’t let it go. Not one single instant is embarrassing and it’s all a declaration of interior strength, discipline, wisdom and good taste. Merche joins him for the tango ending and thus ends the first part.

The second part is Manuela Carrasco with nearly her entire regular company for three solo dances separated by “musical interludes” as shown in the program. Antonio Zúñiga’s voice breaks the silence with siguiriyas, and the goddess appears. It would be easy to criticize various points of her dancing, but her overwhelming charisma and presence make all wrongs right. She clutches the edge of her short jacket and seduces the audience with a couple of signature moves, then leaving the singers to their first musical interlude with rondeñas and other cante abandolao. The cajón wins the battle of the decibels and we have no choice but to recognize its dominance. The floor is also terribly miked in such a way that precludes subtlety and deep sounds.

Manuela returns for taranto with the voice of Enrique Extremeño and offers more of her attention-getting accelerations and stops. The second musical interlude is tangos with a flavor of Extremadura, and again the singers taking turns. The dancer returns for her classic soleá, the same one she’s been dancing some twenty-five years, this time modified to include a melodramatic entrace to the recorded voice of Camarón de la Isla whose outsized projected image seems to observe the goings-on. With the final mad crescendo of palmas and footwork, the dance ends along with this edition of the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, 2006.

More information:

Special XIV Bienal de Flamenco. Program, reviews, photos