Festival Flamenco Nimes – Rocío Molina «Bosque Ardora» & Los Pañeros «De Algeciras Vengo»

Text: Estela Zatania

Saturday, January 24th, 2015. Nimes (France)

ROCÍO MOLINA PRESENTS HER MOST RECENT WORK IN NIMES

Choreographer and director: Rocío Molina. Artistic director and script: Rocío Molina and Mateo Feijoo. Music director: Rosario Guerrero. Dance: Rocío Molina, Eduardo Guerrero, Fernando Jiménez. Guitar: Eduardo Trassiera. Cante: José Ángel Carmona. Rhythm: Jose Manuel Ramos «Oruco». Percussion: Pablo Martín Jones. Trombones: José Vicente Ortega Sierra, Agustín Orozco.

An acoustic recital of Sorderita, son of Manuel Soto «Sordera» and founding member of Ketama, opened Saturday's extensive program at five P.M. at the Nimes festival which this weekend reaches its conclusion.

Modern dance tinged with flamenco

Shortly afterwards, at the Bernadette Lafont Theater, Rocío Molina, the young super-star of contemporary and flamenco dance, presented her work «Bosque Ardora» which debuted in Spain at the last Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla just four months ago.

Upon leaving the theater after the show, a middle-aged French lady who'd seen me taking notes during the performance asked me if what we had just seen was flamenco.  It's a tough question to answer objectively, because the answer depends on how an individual defines «flamenco».  Without a doubt, the fragments of tangos, serrana and soleá towards the of the show can be called flamenco.  Sinter José Ángel Carmona always brings us back to flamenco, and the splendid guitarist Eduardo Trassierra certainly plays flamenco.  But the atmosphere of a damp forest, upside-down trees, bare-chested men on the prowl, others who play trombone, shoes that let off sparks and other surreal elements, place us firmly in Rocío Molina's dreamworld.

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Hunter and hunted, the domination of men over women, pain and pleasure, lust and erotica in movements that border on explicit… Such are the themes of this unsettling work of modern dance tinged with flamenco.

The journey of two brothers to flamenco's recent past

At the intimate Odeon Theater we returned to the world of classic flamenco with two brothers who interpreted traditional forms while managing to avoid the pitfall of imitation.  «Los Pañeros» are José and Perico, and they are from Algeciras.  If Perico is surprising with his rich flamenco voice and Mairena/Talega repertoire, no less surprising is the festive singing and dancing of José.

Guitarist Antonio Moya, expert interpreter of the flamenco sounds of the Seville interior, is the ideal accompanist for the style of these two artists.  Gonzalo Peña, nephew of el Lebrijano, added his discreet palmas.  Four men with knowledge of the serious forms…and those not so serious…because if Perico charges the air with his intensity in tonás and siguiriyas, José's easy graceful dancing and singing por bulerías and cantiñas is irresistible.  They take turns for soleá, tientos tangos, bulerías with verses that hark back to old times, and that special way of dancing that hardly exists any more.

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