Flamenco a dos. Juan de Juan – La Macanita. Centro Cultural El Monte – Sevilla

FLAMENCO
A DOS

Seville, Thursday, November 6th at nine p.m
Centro Cultural El Monte.
Sevilla

On Thursday, November 6th at nine p.m. the Centro
Cultural El Monte de Sevilla was the setting for two great
artists of the current flamenco scene: La Macanita and Juan
de Juan.

Tomasa came on with a ruffled dress and green high heels which
was in itself enough to cause a commotion. She began with tientos,
opening her arms wide to deliver all her racial intensity. Well
warmed-up, her velvety voice moved through the dense silence.
The guitar giving its just measure. Held back. Then the tangos
ending…“Viva Sevilla y Jerez!”.

It was in the soleá where she began to grab the audience
as her vocal chords embraced styles from Alcalá and
coddled the verses of Fernanda de Utrera whom she always honors
in this form. Some Carapiera styles and endings with her fists
clenched were all that was required to shake the foundations.
It’s possible the echo of her voice still lingers proudly
in the aisles of the theater.

With El corazón tras la puerta she begins with bulerías,
getting cozy with Jerez and promoting her recording, La Luna
de Tomasa. And one wonders when the next record will be coming…
A malagueña that turns out to be a bit unwieldy…no
doubt a difficult form for her which she soon leaves behind
to return to her ‘birthright’ bulerias, dance
included.

Great palmas with plenty of art from Gregorio and Manuel
Guerrero, the well-known Chícharo, just seeing their
faces, who could resist? And of course the grande finale por
bulerías, three little dances each, one-two-three!
Viva Jerez y Sevilla! Now it’s your friendly reviewer
shouting out. The audience is ecstatic with olés and
laughter as the art flows freely.

The intermission gives us time to prepare ourselves to withstand
the force and dimension of the dancer from Morón de
la Frontera, Juan de Juan. The accompaniment is provided by
two extraordinarily competent guitars on the same wave-length
who show off an elegant playing style that defies description.
The “guilty” parties are none other than Daniel
Méndez and El Domi, also from Morón. And Juan
was right up to the level, distancing himself from mere imitation
of his maestro, Antonio Canales, dancing a well-controlled
bulerías, good enough to wrap him up and take him home,
captivating, daring, surprising, sublime. A few subtle movements
and a heel-tap here and there were enough to excite to the
point of near heart-attack.

His strength did not flag for the seguiriya. His slender
form stretched as if reaching for the heavens, the jacket
held tightly. He fills the stage with his defiant and profound
swagger, then comes to a dead stop. Clean strong heelwork,
his flamenco hands keep compás and reinforce the depth
of his impetuous dance even more.

Alegrías to end, dressed in white, bullfighting with
his jacket and dedicating each step with glances to the back-up.

The grand finale. Macanita comes on stage, everyone sings
and dances. The audience gives sincere thanks with thunderous
applause.

In a word: excellent

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