Flamenco-World Magazine / 3rd of March 2006
To Class

Flamenco awakens curiosity, raises questions. When does it originate? Who creates it? Where? Which came first: baile or cante? And so as not to open the pages of one of the many wise books theorizing on said questions - none of them translated beyond Spanish -, many find out the answers through hearsay and rumor. Here's José Luis Ortiz Nuevo and a young flamenco group led by bailaora Ángeles Gabaldón, ready to make it easy with the didactic performance ‘Érase una vez el flamenco’ (‘Once Upon a Time, Flamenco’). Starting with his findings, the fruit of delving into the periodicals library in Seville, Ortiz Nuevo has spun a narration which recites and reveals, which is replied to by baile, cante, toque and compás. Sometimes they're just touches, others are complete pieces, like the esthetic tientos by Ángeles Gabaldón. He quotes old press articles, recovers legends passed on by flamenco personages like Pericón de Cádiz, daydreams about the facts, pulls out key references like the quote by Stravinsky: “Although it might seem anarchic, flamenco is subject to exactness”. That is, he offers fundamental information but decorated and on the surface, so that as he said, “people who don't know flamenco leave with the curiosity”. A really good idea is the showing of the entire script subtitled in English and Japanese, fundamental in a festival with an international audience.

Jose Luis Ortiz Nuevo and Angeles Gabaldon
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

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