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XI FESTIVAL DE JEREZ
Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía
Cristina Hoyos “Romancero Gitano”
Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía
Cristina Hoyos “Romancero Gitano”
Friday, February 23rd, 2007. 9:00pm Teatro Villamarta, Jerez
Text: Estela Zatania
Photos: Paco Sánchez
Dance: Cristina Hoyos, El Junco, Susana Casas, Cristina Gallego, Rosa Belmonte, María del Mar Montero, Rocío Alcaide, Lucía Guarnido, Zaira Santas, José Luis Vidal, Jesús Ortega, Jacob Guerrero, Javier Crespo, Daniel Torres, Abel Harana, Juan A. Jiménez.Cante: Reyes Martín, Vicente Gelo, Gori Muñoz. Guitar: Andrés Martínez, Ramón Amador. Percussion: Roberto Carlos Jaén. Choreography: Cristina Hoyos. Music: Pedro Sierra. Director and adaptation: José Carlos Plaza.
The eleventh Festival de Jerez has begun. And the opening was done in a big way with “Romancero Gitano”, a lavish production of the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía that debuted last summer, under the direction of Cristina Hoyos.
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe would be surprised to see the flamenco being done in 2007. The German architect who taught us that “less is more”, wouldn’t know what to make of the company of 22 dancers and musicians on stage, and that much again behind the scenes working in diverse specialties. At least 50 people to make the great machine tick, in addition to a generous budget that includes copious amounts of the taxpayers’ money.At the festival’s presentation it was explained that the smaller venues are for flamenco, and the Villamarta Theater would be reserved for “danza”, code language for elaborate works and a broader appeal. Perhaps that was it.
 A good evening at the theater, impressive in concept and presentation
I would love to talk about the dancing, singing and guitar-playing instead of the props (original), lighting (scarce) and wardrobe (classic), but except for brief intervals, Romancero Gitano sacrifices flamenco at the altar of good theater, which seems to be the most efficient way of attracting an international audience: substitute flamenco for something that goes down a bit easier, leaving a few recognizable references. Anyhow, most foreigners are convinced flamenco dance tells a story, (”..they talk with their hands...”, “...when they stomp on the floor it means they’re angry...”, and so forth...)
That said, and side-stepping the question of whether the world really needed another production based on Lorca, we bear the news that the BFA version of the Romancero Gitano, provides a good evening at the theater and is impressive in concept and presentation.The same generous funding in someone else’s hands could just as easily have resulted in a crashing failure, so hats off to Ms. Hoyos for her good taste and theater savvy, and for having chosen her collaborators with care, especially director José Carlos Plaza who did the adaptation of the texts, and Pedro Sierra who was in charge of the music.
The staging suggests “gypsies camped under a bridge” with the performers seated in a circle on the right side, the backdrop of a highway with suspiciously modern cars for the Lorca era, a red 4x4 vehicle just sticking its nose onto stage left and a large diagonal girder high above where the titles of each section are projected, as well as a few of the verses.
The lines of Lorca’s “Verde que te quiero erde”, sung to a variety of flamenco forms, are the common thread that ties scenes together, and each story of the ten that are represented, revolves around one form or another, from soleá apolá whose notes are the first to sound in this year’s festival, to alegrías, tonás, rondeña, siguiriya, cartagenera, bulerías, farruca, bamberas or even the melody of Camarón’s Leyenda del Tiempo, all as brief snippets.
The various “acts” are represented in their near entirety via group choreographies and pantomime. Solo dancing as such is only seen with Junco’s alegrías and Cristina’s soleá for which she uses a black bata de cola and castanets.Theater beats out flamenco, 8 to 2.
In some of the numbers it’s annoying to see the guitarists with their arms hanging motionless while lush guitar music sounds, the female singer is up to par, the male is not, the story of the gypsy nun comes off as frivolous, a rape scene is acceptably represented, but the knife fight looks like an outtake from West Side Story, and in the struggle that ensues a “baby” is blandished like a cured ham.
But these are minor glitches and the bottom line is an entertaining Andalusian-flavored night out that leaves you wanting to see some flamenco.
MAYTE MARTÍN
Bodega Los Apóstoles
Friday, 23th february
Text: Manuel Moraga
Photos: Paco Sánchez
SMALL SIPS OF LOVE AND SWEET WINE
Mayte Martín divided her recital in two parts. In the first, traditional flamenco, and the second, a selection of compositions from her various recordings.Peteneras, siguiriyas, malagueñas, vidalita, etc. filled the first half, with frequent references to “wines” and “bodegas”.She didn’t appear comfortable in this venue (“singing for you...and for the barrels of wine” and similar remarks indicated she was ill at ease), nor did she appear to be happy with the sound system.Or maybe she didn’t like the sound of the monitors, who knows... The important thing is, despite these difficulties, she worked into it and found herself, drawing fine lines of melody, digging deeply into all the melodic possibilities of each phrase and basically sniffing out beauty wherever she found it.This is the element in which she expresses herself most freely, where she feels most at home.At times you even had the feeling she was wrapping herself in her own melodies.It’s possible at such times it becomes more difficult to plumb the depths of emotion, but what is also true, once you know the way, a very special beauty emerges.Mayte Martín gets it together in the most angelical way.Her lovely smile is also a plus.Most noteworthy were the malagueñas and abanadolao cantes, and an original garrotín where you could sense a different approach, maybe because Mayte took it into a more rhythmic framework.
 In the second part, another guitarist joined the group, José Luis Montón, as well as violín, double bass and percussion.“S.O.S.”, “Navega sola”, “Ten cuidao”, etc. are some of the compositions she interpreted, all dealing with love, “because I only know how to do love songs”, said the cantaora.Despite her dissatisfaction with the sound, Mayte churned out a powerful performance that grew in intensity with each moment.In this way the current edition of the Festival de jerez opened its series in the Bodega Los Apóstoles with an odd mixture of the aroma of old wine, and the sweet voice of Mayte Martín. |
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