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Alhambra flamenco combines the genius of Lorca with the dance of the gypsies
"Flamenco and the Alhambra all in one! Things could not get better."
I went to the Alhambra Flamenco Ballet performance last night with my wife, Babs, and four friends. And it was an experience to be savoured.
We were sitting in the open air theatre in the Generalife gardens of the Alhambra. It was just before the starting time of 10 o'clock at night and the atmosphere was electric.
People of all ages, wearing varied styles of dress from casual to dressy, came - as we did - to pay homage to the triple essence of Granada; the dance of Flamenco. My poet hero, Frederico Garcia Lorca. And Flamenco dancer extraordinaire Cristina Hoyos.
But this Alhambra flamenco dance is flamenco with a difference. Referred to as "Flamenco Ballet" it has the fire of the gypsy, the extraordinary singing of the cantores (singers), and it also contains choreographed sections where the dancers stamp, flick and enthrall us all with synchronised movements.
The Alhambra flamenco ballet was stupendous
This year, in 2010, the Alhambra flamenco programme featured the "Poema del Cante Jondo" (The poem of the Jondo song), which incidentally was the same as last year...
The poem was written by Granadino poet Frederico Garcia Lorca and is set in an imaginary Chinitas Café amidst crystal lamps and green mirrors....
Federico wanted to create a feeling of "a mysterious and clear work that is like a flower: arbitrary and perfect as a flower" when he penned the poem of the Jondo song.
The overall result of this presentation was entrancing.
These three highlights stood out for me
There were many highlights during the show, but for me, three in particular, stand out..- Amidst the thrumming music being relayed to the audience over the sound system, all sound suddently STOPPED and we had the dance of "El Silencio" (the silence).
Everything was deadly silent.
The male dancer's facial and bodily expressions evoked in me a deep sense of affinity for the suffering he portrayed.
- A pair of female dancers wearing flamenco dresses with long "trains" danced in unison. They smiled and danced with a wealth of expressions in their hand/ body movements which defied belief. Each one kicked and flicked the long train of her dress deftly and with the ease and natural ability that can only come from years of practice. I could have sworn that one of them smiled at me... and
- The two brothers who, in turn, good naturedly competed with each other to see who could perform the most dashing and daring movements of body, arms and feet.
I was literally spell-bound.
Cristina Hoyos and Garcia Lorca in younger days
The theme of the show was
88 years in the making
The theme of the Alhambra flamenco show was taken from the works of Garcia Lorca, the Granadian poet who wrote a book of poems called Poema del Cante Jondo in 1921. He was just 23 years old at the time.
He was inspired to write it because he and colleague Manuel de Falla were organising a festival of "Cante Jondo", which was going to be performed in the Alhambra.
How fitting that, 88 years later, flamenco star Cristina Hoyos and director José Carlos Plaza worked to bring the show of the same name back to the Alhambra, where it had all started all those years ago.
Here is some TV show footage of Cristina Hoyos performing flamenco in her own inimitable style.
Previous summer performances in the Alhambra's Generalife auditorium have been- Wedding of Blood (2002)
- Yerma (2003)
- The Roads of Lorca (2004)
- The Bitter Dialogue (2005)
- Romancero Gitano (2006)
- Poet in New York (2007), and
- Poet in New York and Romancero Gitano (2008)
- The poem of the Jondo song (2009).
I enjoyed every moment of last night's performance.
Even though Cante Jondo is a style of singing where the singer conveys how much suffering he or she has endured, the actual performance I saw actually uplifted me. I left the open air auditorium with a lightness in my step and a song in my heart.
The show runs until August 31 2010, but now I have seen it, I am already looking forward to seeing next year's Alhambra Flamenco performance. Maybe I will see you there?
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