Have you heard of this man? Well,it may interest you to know that in the 1960's he won the Sarah Bernhardt prize, recognizing him as the best dancer of his day. Who was his competition? None other than Rudolf Nureyev!
While in Madrid we went to one of the performances of the Suma Flamenca, a festival celebrating the oh-so-Spanish art of flamenco dancing.
The concert we went to on May 9th featured El Guito, a legend in flamenco dance. You simply have to read this interview with him at flamenco-world. The story of his first performance at age five is the stuff of legend!
This was my first, live experience of flamenco. Laure told me that most people either love it or hate it. I loved it! The concert started with two men standing on an empty stage dressed all in black. The spotlight shone on one of the men and he started singing, a capella, a song of immense feeling and passion. He put his whole body into this song and even though I didn't understand a word of it I was caught up in the feeling. Such is the power of music!
The spotlight then fell on another man and he took his turn singing and then they sang together. The stage went dark for a few moments. When the lights came back on these two men were seated at the back of the stage with two others; with three guitarists seated next to them. All were dressed in black.
They performed together, separately and in various groups. The guitarists were amazing and I'm disappointed that I lost my program and cannot, therefore, credit their outstanding performance.
I really appreciated the fact that there were no props, no set decorations and no fancy lighting. Just superb singers,one of whom sounded like the lead singer to the Gypsy Kings, guitarists and dancers.
And the dancers? Amazing! Beginning, of course, with El Guito himself. He walked onto the stage in tight black pants, a blousy black shirt with a black cummerbund and he was instantly commanding. At the time I thought that he was 60. After doing some research on the Internet I discovered that he is actually 65, which made his performance even more impressive! El Guito is particularly known for his expertise in the solea and farruca.
Laure told me that the audience would probably cry out his nickname, "El Guito," and other names for him during the concert. For me, this added to the performance. I always think that this idea of holding your applause until the end to be a bit constipated. I realize that there are moments when this is important but sometimes I think that it's good to let loose and really join in the moment!
There were two female dancers as well who danced both individually, together and with El Guito. It was truly an outstanding evening.
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