Belén Maya “Dibujos”

Friday, September 22nd, 2006. 9:00pm. Teatro Central

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

Text: Estela Zatania

Dance: Belén Maya. Cante: Rosario la Tremendita, Picúo, El Pecas. Guitar: José Luis Rodríguez. Palmas: Ana Calí, Vanesa Coloma. Violin: Vladimir Dmitienco.

Belén Maya, like her father Mario, possesses the extraordinary ability to perceive space that the rest of us only see as a disorganized jumble of colors and movement, in clean geometric forms which she manifests via her body. In the most literal sense, her dance is a series of drawings, “dibujos” as this show is titled, a work in which the dancer takes the liberty of using a blackboard and chalk where she symbolically studies the choreography with arrows and crosses, like a football trainer planning strategies. In the program the various numbers appear as “figure 1, figure 2...”, etc.

The magic of great dancers that makes you not want to avert your gaze for a single moment lest you miss a bit of beauty.

It’s a pretext Belén puts forth without falling into the overdose of intellectualism that sometimes mars the work of other contemporary flamenco dancers. Perhpas it’s a sixth sense, a certain good taste inherited from her dancer parents or the raw intelligence of a woman who has enough self-confidence to depend on her dancing as a definitive expressive vehicle. Her movements are perfectly calibrated and calculated, from point A to point B with no detours, but she somehow manages to avoid a cold projection. She possesses the magic of great dancers that makes you not want to avert your gaze for a single moment lest you miss a bit of beauty.

She likes props. She dances Bach’s Chaconne with a long red scarf attached to a large fan of the same color. Her hair-combs, earrings and other accessories are part of the choreography. Even the two women who do palmas are part of the stage set, and accomplices to Belén’s imagination.

There’s a free-form rondeña – it’s becoming fasionable to dance the rhythm-less cantes – ending with rhythmic abandolao. Noteworthy also is the classical tangos, including the Triana styles of Titi. Those of us who remember the dancing of Carmen Mora, Belén’s mother, see it reflected in the daughter, particularly in the numbers with bata de cola. But on this occasion the alegrías she ends with lack substance and the dance is little more than a pretext for doing tricks with the bata which finally upstages the dancer.

A varied show, with welcome touches of humor, and no great emotion on display. It’s possible the bottom line would have been more positive with a higher level of singers.

Homenaje a Carbonerillo
Friday, September 22nd, 2006. 11:30pm Hotel Triana.

At the Hotel Triana there was a recital devoted to Manuel Vega García “Carbonerillo”, Seville singer born in 1906 who died prematurely at the age of 31having become a star of flamenco singing with his “fandangos personales” at a time when this form was fashionable thanks to the voices of Pepe Marchena, Pepe Pinto and so many others.

Julián Estrada from Puente Genil, José Galán from Écija and Guillermo Cano, the young man from Huelva are not singers you commonly see on the festival circuit, but they were especially apt for this tribute to Carbonerillo as all of them cultivate a melodic type of singing and a taste for fandangos. The three singers offered their best cantes with the guitars of Manolo Franco, Manuel Herrera and Jesús Zarrías respectively.

Julian Estrada	Carmen Ledesma

Cano was especially good in the wide range of fandangos, José Galán with soleá de Utrera and Triana and Julián Estrada was noteworthy with classical alegrías de Cádiz.

The mini cante festival was rounded out with Seville dancer Carmen Ledesma and her group which included Antonio Moya on the guitar, and María Peña, Fabiola Peña and Guillermo Manzano singing.

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Special XIV Bienal de Flamenco. Program, reviews, photos