VIII Festival de Jerez – 3 de marzo. Isabel Bayón 'Del Alma'

Dance: Isabel Bayón, Fernando Romero.
Cante: Miguel Ortega, Vicente Gelo. Guitar:
Jesús Torres, Paco Arriaga, Manuel Pérez. Chelo:
Gretchen Talbot. Percussion: Nacho López.

The big event of the sixth day of the Festival de Jerez
was the arrival of Farruquito and the press conference in which
the dancer briefly explained the show that Thursday night will fill
the Villamarta to the rafters and leave a considerable number of
people in the street hoping to pick up a ticket. The young maestro
commented that seeing the smallest member of the family (because
they come in a wide variety of sizes), is enough to understand how
important family roots are. When someone asked if he preferred dancing
with one guitar or several, he answered: “I can dance with
half a guitar” and it didn’t sound like bluster because
we all know how true it is.

Next
on the agenda was guitarist Santiago Lara and his brother José
at the Sala de la Compañía where we saw their version
of the most updated flamenco, and from there we made our way to
the Villamarta for the main show with Isabel Bayón’s
group.

The opening gambit was promising. With the house lights still on,
and latecomers wandering around looking for their seats, the performers
appeared casually on stage one by one as if showing up at a rehearsal,
immediately projecting a controlled naturalness and the desire to
set new precedents. An intriguing idea that prepared us to pay absolute
attention as the lights were slowly dimmed.

This presentation led to a danced malagueña, beginning with
the most classic cante, the second time since the festival began
that dance has been applied to this rhythm-free form, and it is
a pretext for moving into folky ‘abandolao’ rhythm which
effortlessly transforms into its rhythmic cousin, bulerías.
For the first time in many years we also hear a folk malagueña
where the sound of primitive instruments is evoked. Isabel has been
dancing rondeña since she was a little girl and it served
as a point of departure to construct an admirable tribute to a portion
of flamenco’s history.

Controlled naturalness and the desire
to set new precedents

The relentless darkness of black costumes against a black backdrop,
a fashion of recent years that reflects an exaggerated desire to
abolish any trace of flamenco’s folkloric roots, begins to
irritate – depth of expression is more convincingly pursued
via the intrinsic qualities of the music and dance. Nevertheless
Bayón appreciates the need to project and this dancer who
rarely used to take her eyes off the floor now sends her warm smile
directly out to the audience.

An admirable guitar solo despite the less admirable sound system
leads to another flamenco form that has been recuperated in recent
years, soleá apolá, including the controversial Charamusco
cante. Tangos marianas includes some styles from Extremadura but
employs little cante overall is followed by a duet to romance in
which Bayón and Fernando Romero dance together, but never
communicated. The two singers whose voices blend well are complemented
by the sound of the cello and this ends up being one of the most
flamenco moments of the show.

This work is full of beautiful images and the careful attention
to detail is impossible to miss, but it never fulfills the promise
of the interesting opening and the overall pace is excessively uniform,
lacking in contrast, even cold. As on person said upon leaving the
theater, “so much effort to say so little”.

At midnight Diego Núñez, El Cabrillera, Paquito Jerez
and María Ángeles Nieto offered a more traditional
image of flamenco at the Peña La Zúa, and once again
we return home having enjoyed a wide range of presentations.

Text : Estela
Zatania

Theater
Villamarta Program
De Peña
en Peña Program: Trasnoches,
De Peñas, Peña de Guardia
Other
shows(Gloria Pura, Bordón
y cuenta nueva, De la Frontera, Café Cantante, Sólos
en Compañía)
Courses
and workshops