"Fuego" of Antonio Gades debuts in Spain after 25 years

Teatro de la Zarzuela. Debut, July 6th; 8:00pm

July 6th to 20th, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, the Antonio Gades Company will present its version of Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo, which was the second presentation Gades set to this ballet that closes the trilogy created by the dancer and Carlos Saura, after Bodas de Sangre and Carmen, and which had never, until now, twenty-five years after its debut in Paris, been seen in Spain.  The cast of dancers and the rest of the artists will be accompanied by the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid under the direction of Miquel Ortega.

“Fuego” debuted in France in 1989, a quarter century ago as of last January.  This took place at the Teatro de Châtelet in Paris, and the audience was so fascinated, they decided not to stop applauding until the company was obligated to repeat one of the numbers from the show.  And the tour went from France to other European countries: Italy, Germany, Switzerland…and reached Asia, Japan being the most enthusiastic country, and the work was even seen with the same reaction in Brazil.

But circumstances, particularly the existential condition the artist was living at the time, and which is represented with a Goya painting in the work, kept it from going to Spain, and it wasn’t even interpreted again after that initial adventure, which now makes it extremely attractive and valuable.  It’s as if Gades were still talking to us ten years after leaving, and twenty-five years after delivering his message.  With words never before uttered, but without abandoning his sublime manner of understanding staged flamenco dance.

It is now, at this moment of noteworthy meaning, after ten years without Antonio Gades and twenty-five since the debut of that ballet, when the debt is finally settled.  “Fuego” is finally coming home to its audience.  And it does so with central figures from back then.  Stella Arauzo, first dancer in the shows of the Châtelet, is today the artistic director of the company.  Dominque You, lighting technician from those faraway days as well as now, and the technical director is the same.  Goyo Montero, legendary ballet master, was both then and now.  Likewise, “Fuego” exudes the spirit of Gerardo Vera, head of stage sets and costuming.  Add to these the talent of the dancers and musicians of today (some from the old days as well).  But in “Fuego”, above all, more alive than ever, is the essence of Antonio Gades.  The artist and the man.

Spanish Debut
Sunday, July 6th, 2014; 8:00pm
Teatro de la Zarzuela
Performances: July 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20