More (No) More

Creating an amalgam of images that support the hagiographical triptych of a woman who sculpts her personality by taking a step away from her origin but without renouncing it, María Moreno not only explores her limits, wandering between tradition and contemporaneity, but also finds the strength to break away from her own taboos and fears, rethinking the world around her and her place in it.

Dance is transformed here in a battle of extreme opposites—disguise against nudity, refuge against liberation, extroversion against timidity—of an artist who finds in her feet the wings to fly and her anchor to return to the earth.

En la Cuerda Floja (On the Tightrope)

Ana Morales is a powerhouse of contemporary flamenco dance.  Her elegance, the narrative nature of her work, and sleek staging have garnered Morales an onslaught of national awards including four Lorca Prizes and a Giraldillo Prize for Best Dancer at the Seville Flamenco Biennial. In 2022 she returns to the Festival de Jerez with her production “On the Tightrope.”

The relationship that we have with our moods makes us wonder whether stability is a utopia or something tangible. If it is long lasting or temporary; if we like or reject it; but, at the same time, we understand that imbalance is something necessary to survival.

What happens to our bodies and our minds when we look for order and when we feel comfortable in chaos?

“On the Tightrope”

We’ll test ourselves…
Decide, accompany, traverse, live in the moment and recognize it.
Balance…
Invent, try to accomplish something and not achieve it. Imbalance…
And generate more energy to
Achieve it…
That’s where everything begins.

En tierras de Jerez (On Jerez Land)

Last year our viewers asked us to not only show them the amazing flamenco taking place in Jerez’s theaters, but to also take us into the heart of this historical city, and when you ask we listen. So join us for a flamenco performance at one of Jerez’s most coveted spots for spirits, revelry and music, the Damajuana Cafe & Bar, which sits nestled in a XVI century palatial home on the historic Calle Francos.

In the Damajuana’s traditional Andalusian patio, we present the Pablo Giménez Spanish Ensemble’s second full-length production, En tierras de Jerez. Featuring three string instruments (a guitar and two cellos) that unite to cradle the flamenco song of Tomás García and to elevate dancer Irene Morales’ body so that it can forcefully and gracefully fall back to earth to that syncopated beat so typical of Jerez de la Frontera.

With melodies rooted in flamenco tradition, and with the influences of classical Spanish music, the driving force behind this show is to share the essence of flamenco with new instruments and to shed new light on Andalusian temperament and artistry.

Ser Baile. Capítulo 1 Triología. Geografía Flamenca del Pensamiento (Be Dance. Chapter 1 Flamenco Geography of Thought Trilogy)

The first chapter of this trilogy aims to emphasize the true transformation of the performer throughout his emotional journey, with all of the different elements that question and contribute to the mutation of intangible material and that is capable of transforming thoughts in something totally fascinating: the moment in which the body is no longer a body but becomes dance.

The performer’s true journey is one in which the spectator is the guest of honor for simply participating in the communion of body and mind, a moment that doesn’t always take place, but that without a doubt is one of the most sought after by the performer and anxiously awaited by the public; that which will never be repeated in exactly the same way and as ephemeral as breathing.

The stages of this story arc build to this cherished moment. They are framed by the root of flamenco in its purest form: guitar, song, and percussion.

From the rhythm created by these three vital flamenco elements, a journey begins, first individually and then collectively, to coexist with a triangular form, both numerically and also as an onstage visual motif, along with the movement, lighting and sound, to create a common framework within which this artistic experience becomes possible.

Playeras

In the format of a jazz trio or maybe a flamenco quartet, Rosario Toledo (flamenco dancer), Alba Haro (cellist) and Javier Galiana (pianist) present Playeras. The show is based on an incredible album recorded by the musicians during the Coronavirus pandemic and that they wanted to dedicate to the beaches of the world. We sing what we lose, and some of that loss strums the strings of the piano and cello, something that makes Rosario’s restless feet dance. She could see the footprints in the sand, and she didn’t even realize that they were her own!

That is how Playeras is born. The musicians, Javier and Alba propose that Rosario come dance to this music, and Rosario dives in the water. Everyone knows the musical nature of Rosario’s feet, her zapateados are musical phrases and that is how they exist here. Don’t Alba and Javier use their bodies when they play? Aren’t they dancing as well? So we all try to understand the phrasing, the depth of the rhythms, the ebb and flow of the tide. I would dare say this is almost a political project. This dedication to the sea, the beach, where rivers go to die, is some kind of assertion of life above all else.  There is a profound melancholy in these patterns, these endless walks on the beach. But what I know is to live, nothing here is dyed black, even the darkest wells are seen in the most blinding sun at the edge of the sea.