Thirst to life

by Petar PLAMENOV

21 December (Wednesday), 2011

Cambio de Tercio
National Palace of Culture
New Year Festival
Hall 1, 19:30, 30-100BGN

Address:
Sofia, 1 Bulgaria Sqr.
Phone: 02 916 63 69
Phone: 02 916 63 68 
 

“Rojas and Rodríguez put a fresh spin on flamenco that taps into passions both old and new” critics wrote enthusiastically. Nuevo Ballet Español is at the forefront of emerging trends in Spanish dance and flamenco, drawing on traditional dance, a 21st century pop sensibility and folkloric influences. In the Company´s brand new show, Cambio de Tercio, choreographers Rojas & Rodríguez are joined on stage by six musicians and four sensational female dancers who deliver a dazzling mix of traditional and contemporary flamenco styles including cantiñas, sevillanas, fandangos, rumbas, bulerías and seguirillas.




The show begins with a haunting, wailing song that could easily be mistaken for the muezzin’s call to prayer as the Nuevo Ballet Español pays homage to the mysterious origins of flamenco in Moorish Spain. It ends with the kind of slick modern choreography more usually associated with West End musicals. And in between, the audience is taken on a journey through the history of flamenco. Some critics have dismissed Cambio de Tercio as “flamenco lite” – and even the show’s directors Rojas and Rodríguez admit that some purists have been less than impressed.


 

“We are trying to make flamenco more accessible to younger generations and those who do not know much about it,” they explained. “That doesn’t mean the show is not ‘real’ flamenco. Purists don’t want flamenco to change, but we are showing that flamenco is evolving without losing its so-called purity.”

The Spanish phrase “cambio de tercio” originates in bullfighting – where it means the handover from one toreador to the next – but it is also used in other contexts to signify a major change.

As Rojas and Rodríguez explained: “The show is about transformation. It is a mix of traditional and contemporary, looking at the roots and evolution of flamenco.”



Purists or not, the audience at Sadler’s Wells theatre must have loved the show if their rapturous applause is any guide. And why shouldn’t flamenco change and evolve? Every other art form does – otherwise Spanish artists would still be trying to paint like Velázquez and we would never have got to enjoy Picasso, Dalí, Miro et al. In any case, a big-stage production at a theatre such as Sadler’s Wells is bound to be a very different experience when compared to an intimate tablao in a Madrid bar or an impromptu session around a genuine gypsy campfire. That doesn’t devalue its artistic merit in any way, and it certainly does not mean it’s not “real” flamenco.

But Rojas and Rodríguez aren’t the only ones responsible for designing the bailes. In this show, with wardrobe by Vicente Soler, they have relied on genuine specialists in the matter. To be exact, they have the collaboration of three guest choreographers: Rocío Molina, Rafael Campallo and Manuel Liñán. “When you stage for yourself, you don’t see the whole, so they’ve staged our bailes and they’ve made them fit into the whole”, Rojas and Rodríguez explain.

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