Despite its name, the Spanish National Ballet (BNE) is the custodian of a unique style of stage dance, deeply Spanish and highly stylised. It is rooted in Spanish traditional dances (flamenco is one of them) and acquires its stage refinement, thanks to ballet and the virtuoso bolero school. The repertory of the company combines legendary 20th-century works with new additions every season. The latest, premiered at Madrid’s Teatro Real on Friday, is a piece of intense theatrical impact. The mastermind behind its fabric is Spain's latest prodigy, the choreographer and artistic director Marcos Morau.
The work is inspired by two books of photography on contemporary flamenco dancers by the visual artist Ruven Afanador: Ángel Gitano, The Men of Flamenco (2014) and Mil besos, 1000 Kisses (2009), the women of flamenco. Both monographs share a similar view of Andalusian Spain, at times surreal, at times tragic, glamorous in its boasting facade, and profound in its gypsy roots and religious influence. The photographs are in powerful black and white. Morau has very successfully transferred these qualities into his choreography, which also uses black and white in set design (Max Glaenzel) and costumes (Silvia Delagneau) and which is full of visual, aural and kinetic references to Andalusian Spain.
The dancing updates Spanish dance vocabulary with Morau’s personal style. The execution of movements is clean, dynamic and assertive. It becomes occasionally spasmodic and is crafted through patterns of repetition. The floor patterns tend to be static once the dancing bodies evolve from one group formation into the following. With this spatial arrangement, the sculptural beauty of the body in communal, unified motion emerges powerfully. Additionally, the choreography is rich in evocative imagery that exploits the characteristic movements of Spanish dance (stamping feet, strong torsos and undulating arms) to expose traits of the Spanish soul and traditions.
The music that goes with this choreography (by Juan Cristóbal Saavedra) is also saturated with evocative references. Its basis is electronic, with emphatic percussion throughout the piece. It has frequent religious references through bells, Easter drums and Easter songs. Flamenco voices and guitars feature prominently, either in recorded or live form.
In a piece inspired by photography and created by a choreographer who also trained in photography, the visual component of the work is arresting. To the images that stem directly from Afanador’s pictures, which onstage preserve the same compelling power as on the page, Morau adds a little of his own artistic universe. An audience familiar with his work might recognise his screen projections of live drawings, which on this occasion build on and expand Afanador’s original images. The lighting (by Bernat Jansà) is also a key element of the piece. It provides the stage with a bright white that counterbalances the dominant black in the costumes.
The overall effect of this theatrical mix is potent. It is wrapped with a subtle dramaturgy that eludes both a narrative thread and the typical succession of numbers of flamenco shows. It is rather a chain of metaphorical motives that alternate surreal images with well-known clichés about Spain and deeply-rooted traditions of the country. This elusive and pervasive symbolism is perhaps the best asset of the work, as it permeates its very attractive surface with a complex, enigmatic soul.
In the premiere, BNE’s dancers performed Afanador with their usual virtuosity and commitment. The current Artistic Director of the company, Rubén Olmo, danced the last solo of the piece. At that moment of the show, the stage is dimly lit. Olmo enters through a big trunk upstage centre. His entrance, with a bare torso and with a shawl that he frequently moves with wing-like movements, recalls a phoenix that rises from ashes. It is one of the last beautiful metaphors of the work, one that I interpreted as evocative of the relevance of this piece for the renewal of Spanish dance on stage. Defying stagnation, it can be masterfully regenerated.
