Text: Estela Zatania
Photos: Paco Sánchez
Pilar Ortega / Carmen Ledesma
Sala La Compañía. 1900h
Dance: Pilar Ortega. Guitar: Javier Leal, Jordi Albarrán. Cante: Ismael Fernández, Manuel Tañé. Percussion: Paco Vega
These big festivals like the one of Jerez are good for showcasing the gamut of the current flamenco offering, like a snapshot of a moment frozen in time showing the state of flamenco in the year 2007.And if at the end you’ve seen something interesting or different that offers new forms or revels in existing ones, the event has served an important purpose.
Pilar Ortega
Pilar Ortega was unknown to me before now, but I’m not likely to forget the name. Google was unable to supply much information about the dancer from Seville, so her appearance the the Festival de Jerez represents a sort of coming-out party, and it was an opportunity she know how to make the most of. Hers is a dance of vitality and compás...and naturalness. So many dancers these days seem to be showing off a catalogue of the latest steps from their dance class, but this woman dances with the self-confidence of a real pro. Martinete, fandangos and alegrías with personality, charisma, original movements and a lovely smile she flashes at selected moments showing command and self-confidence. The audience went wild in response to one of the best shows we’ve seen at the Sala La Compañía in this year’s edition of the festival.
Carmen Ledesma
Veteran dancer Carmen Ledesma, winner of the Macarrona prize in Córdoba, came to substitute in the second half for Belén Fernández who was unable to attend for health reasons. Ledesma’s powerful elegance was the perfect contrast to Pilar Ortega’s exuberance, both of them very flamenco, each one in her own way. With Enrique el Extremeño and Fabiola singing, and Antonio Moya on guitar, she was the portrait of dense instinctive dancing, anchored in the moist earth of the Andalusian countryside, although the audience didn’t quite seem able to appreciate it after the dynamic dancing in the first part of the program.
Israel Galván “Arena”
Teatro Villamarta.
9:00pm
Dance: Israel Galván. Guest artists: Diego Carrasco, Diego Amador, Charanga Los Sones, Percussion Ensemble of Andalucía (recording), Enrique Morente (video). Cante: David Lagos. Guitar: Alfredo Lagos. Compás: El Eléctrico, Carlos Grilo. Gaita of Gastor: Mercedes Bernal.
 “Arena”, which debuted at Seville’s Bienal de Flamenco in 2004, is the next to last work of dancer Israel Galván.The show is loosely based on the world of bullfighting, and is divided into six segments – Bailador, Granaíno, Pocapena, Burlero, Playero y Cantinero – names of bulls who took the lives of celebrated bullfighters.Between scenes there are audiovisual interludes with the projected image of Enrique Morente singing poetry related to bullfighting.In these three years since its premiere, “Arena” has had time to mature and fine-tune, and there is doubt it has grown in a positive direction.
You can’t approach Israel Galván’s shows the way you do others. When you take your seat in a theater, it’s normally a totally passive act that comes down to “entertain me”.It’s not that Israel isn’t entertaining, but he makes you participate actively and intellectually in the process.His dancing is anything but conventional, for which we are grateful.Others of the new generation often strive to stand above the crowd by presenting incoherent works with little substance.Israel, by contrast, is all substance.Too much substance perhaps for some who aren’t prepared to take part in the game and find no redeeming factors in his work.In fact, the reactions to his dancing reflect the extreme polarity of public opinion, which is why we critics spill so much virtual ink talking about Israel Galván de los Reyes, winner of the National Prize for Dance, profession: enfant terrible.
Having already reviewed the work on three previous occasions, it seemed like a good idea to carry out an informal survey at the door of the theater after the show.Dance stars, some of whom have displayed their wares on this very stage, Germans, Japanese and French taking courses this week, friends of my own addicted to flamenco, tourists who may have wandered into the show thinking it would be polkadots and the flower between the teeth, specialized investigators...there were mostly positive reactions among a large range of people, but all agree on one thing: “Arena” has very important high points of extraordinary quality, and some lagoons of limited interest, not to say boring, at which times there seems to be a shortage of cante and flamenco references.
In a high-society fashion show we often see outlandish clothing no human would be caught dead in, however, new paths are blazed that set the direction of a style that is eventually distilled and translated to daily use.Thus is born a “school”, and at this festival we have been able to see that young dancers are timidly beginning to adopt elements of the Galván school which is serving as yeast (a term borrowed from mister Antonio Mairena when he would speak about elderly singers) for an entire generation of dancers.
I wonder what Israel Galván would be dancing like had he landed on Earth only twenty years earlier, and not been a beneficiary of the dramatic opening-up of flamenco which got under way around 1973, the year he was born.In other articles I’ve used this virtual podium to address him directly.Now I’d like to publicly communicate the following request:Israel, we’ve seen you dance to standard cante and compás with that irresistibly unique aesthetic of yours that we love so much, and many of us long to see it again, if only briefly.
Brothers David and Alfredo Lagos, singer and guitarist respectively, is the top-of-the-line team that makes the flamenco machine run like a fine clock during those interludes when Israel lets himself be guided by it.Diego Carrasco, as wonderfully idiosyncratic as always.
Melchora Ortega / Mariana Cornejo
Bodega Los Apóstoles. 2400h
 At the Bodega Los Apóstoles, the series titled “Café Cantante”, two female singers, from Jerez and Cádiz respectively, closed out the scheduled program with a varied menu of cante from the province of Cádiz. Melchora, in full flamenco costumes, polkadots and flower included, sang tientos tangos in which she paid tribute to Pirula de Málagag, to Triana and to Extremadura.In soleá, she traveled the length ofthe Guadalquivir, from Alcalá to Cádiz. With siguiriyas, “my favorite palo”, she unleashed the histrionic personality characteristic of Jerez, then fandangos, much appreciated by the small but grateful audience, closing with bulerías plus encore. Pascual de Lorca on guitar, wonderful as always, and the palmas of Carlos Grilo and Manuel Macano.
Mariana Cornejo, the seasoned veteran and most important female voice of Cádiz today, represents the festive soul of the city.She’s from the old school, the kind of person who talks like she’s singing, and sings like she’s talking, with her quick wit always about to burst forth, laughing at her own spicy words, and letting compás invade everything... sheer delight from beginning to end.Again, it was the guitar of Pascual de Lorca who ably backed up Mariana’s singing.
Mariana Corneja
Melchora Ortega
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