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The Spirit of Spain
Cadiz - Flamenco Edition
Elmshurst School for Dance
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UNLIKE many
other Dance forms which through staging or choreography can seem
contemporary, Flamenco still conjures a romantic connection to its 17th
Century Andalucían roots.
It is possible that the
only time someone in the UK might have encountered Flamenco would be
during an excursion on a package holiday to mainland Spain or one of its
islands.
That’s about to change if Ana Garcia has her way.
After 20 years working as dancer, teacher and choreographer of Flamenco
she has launched Flamenco Edition, a new company that plans to bring
this highly passionate dance form to new audiences across the UK.
The inaugural performance took place in the
intimate theatre space at the Elmhurst School for Dance. This one off,
specially commissioned piece by Jesús Fernández is his personal view of
the 3000 year old city of Cadiz and his Andalusian heritage. It features
Fernández performing original choreography accompanied by four
additional artists all from Cádiz.
The opening
 guitar
of Jesús Núñez sounded warm and typically Spanish but then punctuated by
heavy thunderbolt sound effects it was clear from the outset this was to
be an aggressive performance. Joined then by Israel Mera on Percussion
and Anabel Moreno, Palmas (Handclaps ) the entire performance took
on a dynamic precision that had the knowledgeable audience calling out
after every complex move.
Once the quartet was joined by Vocalist David
Vázquez he seemed to become a central point for Fernández who challenged
him at several points to a sort of song versus dance duel.
Jesús Fernández
As someone who has not seen a lot of Flamenco I
felt that at times it was a display of brilliant technique rather than
an engaging piece and struggled to see what each section or Palos was
entirely about. Cadiz overall is a very masculine performance danced
here often in a blackened stage with dramatic pools of light and side
lighting creating long shadows so there is little colour within this
personal work.
There was an impressive precision between the
complex rhythms in sound created by the percussive elements and the
heels of Fernández into the sudden dead stops to silence.
The sheer energy of his performance clearly left
Fernández exhausted and dripping with perspiration and he had to exit
the stage for a complete change of costume and no doubt to recover
several times. When this happened his absence was covered with songs but
as they were sung in a foreign language it was hard to gain any benefit
of their contribution to the meaning of the piece.
For me the most engaging part followed the final
curtain call whereby the troupe dropped back to deliver an impromptu
final number and percussionist Israel Mera stepped forward to present a
few steps of his own much to the delight of the cast and audience. Then
too did Anabel Moreno, who is clearly a capable dancer, and dressed in a
long traditional Spanish dress, injected a much welcome feminine element
that was missing from the evening.
As an inaugural performance by a new company, set
on bringing these Andalucían flavours and the Spirit of Flamenco to a
wider UK audience, then it is the atmosphere of these last few minutes
where there seemed a greater emphasis of participative enjoyment and
romance and less on the aggressive and masculine technicalities of
Flamenco that will surely do it.
Jeff Grant
20-06-14
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