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'Pa ´ flamenca yo' Text: Pablo San Nicasio Actress: Marta Fernández-Muro. Dance: Inma Ortega, Domingo Ortega. Guitar: Fernando de la Rúa and Amir Haddad. Cante and percussion: Matías López. Cante: Gema Caballero. Cello: Sergio Menem. Flamenco as big as life itself Flamenco…making flamenco music in any of its various manifestations, is a dream. It’s something that, for those who live it, represent more than a good time, a simple hobby, or a way of making a living in the case of those who manage to become professional. Flamenco is a way of being and living, and of facing one’s own existence, and you’re flamenco, as someone once said, even jumping out of a sixth-floor window.
Well, that’s what “Pa’ Flamenca, Yo” is about, a show that debuted Saturday night at the modern Auditorio de Colmenar Viejo where a respectable number of flamenco fans and professionals showed up despite the distance from the city center. Many of them, students of Inmaculada Ortega, a terrific dancer who heads the bill and in addition to having a well-established career as dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, and also designed the wardrobe for this show. An entertaining show that mixes theatrical monologue by television personality Marta Fernández-Muro, with the absolutely fine dancing of the Ortegas, Inma and Domingo.
The story alternates dramatic narration by the actress about her experiences and frustrated artistic ambitions after a life given over to sewing, with each of her creations illustrated by the dancers. With excellent staging, and a group of high-quality musicians, the hour and twenty minutes duration of the show is powerful from the very beginning. Humor and melancholy go hand in hand in narrating the exploits of a potential flamenco dancer who longs to take the shortest route to her true goals. We see her various stages, childhood, first love, maturity, the reality of life, dreams come true… Everything is presented with all her strength thanks to the choreography and music, nothing ordinary, but all within the limits of orthodox flamenco. The dancers manage to pull this off without the least bit of frivolity.
And at the same time that you hear well-known verses, there are also winks for the tango of Piazzolla, “La Flaca” of Jarabe de Palo or sevillanas for an ending. Domingo Ortega is the permanent contrast to Inma throughout the piece, with superb interventions of tangos and soleá por bulerías. Inma, who possibly is the inspiration for the main character’s job of seamstress, is wonderfully elegant and expansive with the bata de cola and comes off as quite a well-rounded dancer. A versatile proposal that coaxed the best out of everyone on stage and led to a happy ending, because the pace and dramatic quality are perfectly structured. Success from the beginning at the all-important box-office, right up to the standing ovation and lines of admirers headed for the dressing-room afterwards. A message of hope for everyone. Seek and ye shall find, despite all the setbacks that life may bring. Videos: |
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