Text: Estela Zatania
Photos: Paco Sánchez
At the midday press conference singer José Valencia received the prize for Best Singer for Dance from last year’s Festival de Jerez, and dancer Joaquín Grilo was awarded both the critic’s prize and the audience prize, voted by ballots handed out at the performances, for his show “A Solas”.
Canela de San Roque
Palacio de Villavicencio. 1900h
The recital of traditional cante offered by Alejandro Segovia, “Canela de San Roque”, barely managed to fill half the folding chairs in the small room of the Palacio de Villavicencio. A sad commentary on the state of cante in the year 2007, considering that not only are we in Jerez, but the town is swarming with individuals who consider themselves flamenco fans.
Canela sang soleá and siguiriyas with the solid Jerez accompaniment of Niño Jero, with styles that varied from the usual standards. With a classic delivery and a flamenco voice he also interpreted fandangos, malagueñas and bulería por soleá with aggressive non-stop cheering from his two grown sons who were present in the audience.After 40 minutes of cante, he launched into bulerías, suddenly one of the sons got up and danced and they all headed for the door, but when the audience began to murmur in protest, Canela agreed to sing a couple of taranto verses with which his performance at the Festival de Jerez ended after 45 minutes.Knowledgeable, tasteful and not excessively dedicated to his profession.
Compañía Flamenca Ángeles Gabaldón “Femenino plural”
Teatro Villamarta. 2100h
Dance: Ángeles Gabaldón, Marco Vargas, Leonor Leal.Guitar: Raúl Cantizano, Daniel Méndez.Cante: David Palomar, Lucía Montoya.Percussion: Antonio Montiel
At the Villamarta Theater, the show “Femenino Plural” seemed like a spiritual continuation of what we’d seen the previous night: contemporary theater with dance, incorporating references borrowed from flamenco.At the press conference the group’s lead dancer admitted there were no flamenco forms in the show except for her soleá dance.
Only on rare occasions throughout history have art and politics made a happy marriage for both. For every Francisco de Goya, there have been countless artists and sculptors devoted to political themes whose work is seen exclusively in the public buildings and squares of the world. And if during Spain’s political changeover Mario Maya broke the mold with his brilliant protest works, or José Menese sang the equally politicized verses of Moreno Galván with absolute dignity, the danger implicit in such undertakings is clear.
Although the expressed goal of “Femenino Plural” is to “agitate the spectator’s conscience via sincerity and commitment”, my own agitation while watching the show took another form: “Good grief, so much money here on stage, and so many singers, dancers and guitarists out of work!” This subject has come up several times at the daily round-table discussions at the Bodega de San Ginés regarding flamenco in general, and the festival in particular. But if you think rationally, it just has to do with defining public objectives.If the “Andalusian Agency for the Development of Flamenco of the Cultural Ministry of the Andalusian Government” which helped to finance this project is so-named, it’s logical to assume that it’s flamenco that’s being defended, and not social aims, however important they may be, much less international experimental theater, however excellent it may be, and even less, the career of a dancer who, like so many others of her generation, is not able to make a go of it with traditional flamenco.
Although I’m not a theater critic, it seemed to be a professional level presentation as far as lighting, staging and music, if a bit gloomy at times, with some interesting touches that were perhaps over-intellectualized or even contrived. Fandangos sung in the vestibule of the theater before showtime, and models or actresses in pseudo flamenco dresses who infiltrated the audience about fifteen minutes before the curtain went up, taking their seats among the spectators; the show officially began when they stood up, each with her own overhead spot. The final scene of Casablanca is projected (with subtitles blocked from view by chairs and microphones on the stage), and other audiovisual moments that were fun, if irrelevant.Ángeles Gabaldón, motionless and rigid, is carried onstage and placed like a mannequin in a shop window. One number ends when the husband-dancer throws a glass of water in the dancer’s face.
An outdated and confused sort of feminism is represented which efficiently trivializes topics of great importance. Historic images of smiling female soldiers with weapons seems to contradict an anti-violence statement, and at best is reverse discrimination. A guajira interlude near the beginning, with “rap” included, another of tonás with a drone in the background and the soleá at the end which takes full advantage of the conventional image of the flamenco seductress (weren’t we going for equality?) is the flamenco balance of “Femenino Plural”.
Noteworthy is dancer Marco Vargas the first young dancer I’ve seen to openly and successfully reproduce segments of Israel Galván’s highly personal style, and the collaboration of choreographer Javier Latorre, lyricist Juan José Téllez and guitarist Daniel Méndez.
Inmaculada Ortega
Sala La Compañía. 2400h
Dance: Inmaculada Ortega. Cante: Ezequiel Benítez, David Vázquez, Roberto Lorente. Guitar and Lute: Amir Haddad. Guitar: Manuel Cazas.Percussion: Pablo Martín
At the Sala La Compañía, Jerez dancer Inmaculada Ortega, sister of Domingo Ortega, offered her recital “De la Raíz”. Thanks to the collaboration of guest artist Amir Haddad from Radio Tarifa, there was a decidedly North African feel to it all. In addition to the announced artists, there was a discreet violin who enriched the music and rounded out the exoticism.
After an instrumental number, Inmaculada danced a taranto. Following that, to the audience’s dismay, there were four solos of music or singing, about a half hour with no dancing at all, and no sight of the star. When she finally returns, it’s with an orange bata de cola and soleá. Her style is polished and professional, characterized by technical command and a charismatic personality that almost goes over the top at some points.
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