Manuel Liñán and his never-ending footwork

“Baile de Autor”. Dance: Manuel Liñán. Voice: David Carpio. Guitar: Manuel Valencia. Teatro Central. Series: Flamenco viene del Sur. Wednesday, April 3rd. Attendance: Nearly full.

Sara Arguijo

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Manuel Liñán’s feet are unstoppable. There seems not to be a single space in his dance for silence. Not even a thousandth of a second to breathe. As if each thought or reflection swirling around in his head had an immediate translation in heelwork. As if each fantasy could be fulfilled with a percussive flourish.

The authorship of his dance is signed with frenetic footwork that involves his entire body, from the gesticulations of his face, to his heels, passing through his twirling hands and his hip movements. Thus, his “Baile de Autor”, the show he brought to Seville last Wednesday, one year after its debut at the Festival de Jerez and in which he joins his facets as choreographer and interpreter, comes about as a succession of disconnected vignettes and scenes in which both the singer, David Carpio, and guitarist, Manuel Valencia, both magnificent, function as doubles of the dancer. Mirrors with which to play, and in front of which to see oneself.

In this way the dancer, holder of Spain’s National Prize for Dance 2017, and Critics’ Prize from the Festival de Jerez 2016, gives free rein to his creativity, showing himself to be fresh and extrovert. As he particularly demonstrated in the mariana interpreted with the singing of the man from Jerez in a dialogue which allowed room for humor and letting off steam, and in the much-awaited and applauded cantiñas with shawl and long train dress in which the Granada dancer explored other liberating worlds.

Nevertheless, the use of dance resources turned out to be overwhelming, even over-saturating and, especially, subtracting drama from the whole, precisely because of this overuse. Something which was not helped by the overly busy staging and the general theatrical development which was in fact infantile.

In other words, although it’s hard to explain, the tension, the surprise and the interest provoked by a show goes beyond its artistic quality. And here there was an overdose of virtuosity, while taste and containment were missing, both in finding emotion as in delving in the universe of Liñán.