Four years ago, at Madrid’s Sala Pradillo, a show full of originality was presented for the first time. The main figures were three dancers from the new generation with solid careers who joined forces to create Chanta la Mui. But as logic dictates, trios are more prolific than duos, so a second work has sprouted: “Chanta la Mui II Complot”, a show which has already been broken in and will shortly be in Bogotá, Puebla and Birmingham, in addition to Las Rozas (Madrid). The people to blame for all this are Olga Pericet, Daniel Doña and Marco Flores.
We now have two installments of Chanta la Mui…let’s begin at the end, what is Chanta la Mui II Complot? Daniel Doña (DD): Chanta la Mui II is the result of our need to find something different in our work, and the vision we have of flamenco and dance. The first show was a little easier in the sense that we didn’t have so much infrastructure for live musicians and staging. Chanta la Mui II was first of all, a change, and second of all, a way of backing up our vision of dance and flamenco, which is why, between the three of us and with the rest of the team, we conspired to make a plot.
Daniel Doña, Olga Pericet, Marco Flores (foto: Gijsbert Copier)
What does Chanta la Mui mean? Olga Pericet (OP): “Shut up” in gypsy language. We want to provoke, to feel the audience’s silence and say this is our proposition, whatever comes out, what we want to say, and always provoking that silence, so we said “cállate la boca”, in other words, Chanta la Mui. We liked the sound of it and it stuck, even as the name of the group.
You get the feeling it’s more than a show, that it’s a project with three performers and you do whatever you feel like…at least that’s how I understand it, an overall concept or philosophy more than a work. OP: It’s actually the name of the company, the thing is, projects come up and we develop them, and after four years we’ve been together, Chanta la Mui is our philosophy, one that came from that original “shut up”, an almost childish provocation, and it’s stuck: Compañía Chanta la Mui with Complot a second baby, like you say, and it seems it’s starting to take off.
“We have fans who say “hey, that was very ‘chanta’”, I really like that expression. ”
This most recent work, was it planned to come into existence? I mean, had you wanted two “children” from the beginning, or was it a natural result of the success of the first show? Marco Flores (MF): Both were planned, the first and the second. The first one was born out of the necessity to express ourselves and work together and devise a concept to bring to the stage. And since it came out so well, and was so well-received, we decided to do a second part, because we have a very special communication between the three of us, and we’re even going for a third part because we have this creativity and this need to work together. DD: It’s the need to join forces and propose what each one has to say. That’s the most defining characteristic of Chanta la Mui, because we don’t create projects just for the sake of doing it; if there’s nothing to say, there’s a pause, we continue working on things and don’t look for anything in particular. But if you light the wick of a candle and it burns strongly, that’s where the three of us delve into it.
I don’t think it’s easy for three artists, each one with individual feelings, to work together and be in agreement. DD: Before dancers, first, we’re friends, and at difficult times we have that to fall back on, our friendship which is above everything else and allows us to communicate on an intimate level.
OP: We’ve struck this very good formula. Work is work, and since Chanta la Mui came out four years ago, we have a presence, there are people who follow us, and I think we’ve created a language with three disciplines or lines of thought, because each one contributes, and not only as performer, but each one has a different perspective. The language of those three ways of moving is what works. I don’t know what formula we’ve followed, I think it’s based on the urge to understand one another and communicate even on stage, because I see things happen in the show and I think “whoa, that wasn’t planned!” And we have fans who say “hey, that was very ‘chanta’”, I really like that expression. Aside from that, there’s a commitment with Chanta la Mui that has taken shape as a philosophy, but we’re really three dancers, each one managing a career independently, and we do this because we like it.
Daniel Doña, Olga Pericet (photo: Gijsbert Copier)
“The audience will have a good time and they will dream”
You’re a liberal-minded trío, in the broadest sense of the word. OP: Completely, and I think that’s really the formula.
You’ll be setting out on tour very soon…what can audiences in Bogotá or Puebla for example expect? MF: They’re going to see a mixture of styles, each one in its place. They’re going to see Spanish dance, flamenco, stylized contemporary, a very good musical base…they’re going to see a journey through time, other dancers who play with choreography. Basically, the audience will have a good time and they will dream. This is a show in which light-hearted moments alternate with the most profound ones. They are certainly not going to be bored.
Olga Pericet, Marco Flores, Daniel Doña: three paths from three different places (Córdoba, Arcos de la Frontera and Granada) and which come together…where? DD: In the street.
That’s the only way it could be. But you’ve also worked together in some companies… OP: We were together in several companies, but the time came when we said, “From now on we’re going to do more things together. We’re going to build a project and we’re going to learn from each other”.
MF: And although each one has also had independent work, we’ve always been marching on together, thinking and doing things, until the right time came and we took the decision.
“Nosotros no hemos tenido todavía la necesidad de una ruptura total y de empezar por el final”
“We haven’t yet felt the urge to make a complete break or begin at the end”
I think that’s characteristic of your generation. Maybe because time is of the essence…it used to be everyone wanted to have a big company with lots of artists, but nowadays the dynamic of the market makes you go for the more reduced format in which, as Olga says, you learn from each other. DD: Carrying that further, we’re independent dancers, but we work together, and now some people have realized this formula works, and you can even do important festivals this way, bringing dancers together and making a new show. In that sense, I think Chanta la Mui had clear ideas from the very beginning: it wasn’t independent unto itself, but rather each member maintains a voice and is respected. And perhaps people are now finding out you can work together with others and achieve quality as long as you respect each other and aren’t looking to steal the show, because then it’s no longer interesting…what would be the point of hooking up with others? OP: There are several factors at work, because it’s true, there are no more big companies. First, when it comes to finances, festivals, marketing, etc., there’s little funding available, and not much demand. Our generation has had to look in a different direction. Also, individualism in flamenco continues to exist.
Marco Flores, Olga Pericet (foto: Gijsbert Copier)
In actual fact, it’s a genre which is unique in the first place. What about funding?…do you have outside backing? OP: Yes, Chanta la Mui has receive public funding, but dance continues to need more economic support. Even though we receive money, we always put part of our savings, because you have to buy publicity in order to make a name that people recognize, we want to dance more and be programmed. And all that requires a bigger infrastructure which Spain is not prepared for.
You’re not really “break-away” performers in the sense of deconstructing forms, but rather you try to evolve from within what has gone before, and I think that is more difficult than a complete break. MF: Personally, not as an artist but as spectator, I miss shows of dance, cante and guitar that require no musical contrivance or brainy pretext. We’ve seen that people have to do this kind of stuff in order to get programmed, and some artists aren’t prepared to do it, so they force the issue, and then, you get some strange things.
And then they have nightmares when they get together with the pillow… MF: I think programmers and festivals ought to do their part by going for more standard flamenco. There should be room for everyone, not everything has to be “ground-breaking”. OP: That should come from an artist’s creative and expressive needs. We haven’t yet felt the urge to make a complete break or begin at the end. We always keep to the roots, because it’s what comes naturally.
At www.chantalamui.com it’s possible to see some moments from Complot, and it’s clear we’re in another time and place from the first show. OP: And since we’re talking about roots, let me say that the previous tendency was to be experimental, but in this second show we wanted to do the opposite: we’re taking our roots and doing a run-down of Spanish and flamenco dance from the very beginning, without copying anything, just doing it through our own perspective. We lead the audience on a journey through our background in Spanish dance.
Let’s see how you fill out that space inside your heads…what books are you currently reading? DD: I’m into the trilogy “Milenium”. MF: “Vestida de Novia”, a book about a dancer from Madrid. OP: I’m reading the book about Lola Flores.
A film. DD: Dances with Wolves. MF: “Gone With the Wind” OP: Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona”.
The landscape of your dreams. DD: A blue landscape…very peaceful, with a beach, palm trees and sun. OP: A long clean pathway with lots of trees on either side. MF: I have two…one is the same as Dani’s, and the other more metropolitan.
An unmentionable wish? OP: If it’s “unmentionable”, it can’t be mentioned. MF: To work more. DD: A healthy group, work-wise. That this project should take off and go places, it’s what we need. Us, and everyone else in the world of dance.
