Annex 1
La Música del Cuerpo (The Music of the Body)
SYNOPSIS
Lately, flamenco shows have placed great emphasis on the instrumental. That is, the dance has relied heavily on the instruments, thus losing the central focus it deserves.
La Músical del Cuerpo, the only musical instruments used are those which enrich and develop the dance, not distract viewers from it. The only instruments used in this show are the guitar, cello, double bass, piano and percussion. As such, the musical “silence” of the dance allows us to hear the music of the dancers’ bodies through the sounds of their movements and rhythms. To hear a hand, a head or a foot in the air is the fundamental concept behind this dance.
Set up in three different parts, the performance explores all the Andalusian and universal feelings of love, solitude and dreams, through the music of the body.
The dance plays with the natural elements – air, water and fire – intertwining this with the Andalusian myths of Air, Sea and Sun, personified in the cello, the guitar and the piano.
FIRST MOVEMENT
A Cinco (To Five)
From stillness and silence, time was created.
A hand, a foot or a head, make sounds in the air, as if the wind is moving them.
Even the creator has not heard the sound of silence before.
With the music of silence, the world is created.
We recognise ourselves through the musical movements of the body.
To celebrate this creation, the body is turned into music in five tempos, celebrating through the sound of each instrument. Each instrument expresses the sound of each body. Two bodies dance to the tempo of the music and the silence.
SECOND MOVEMENT
Arcángeles (Archangels)
Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, the three archangels appear when called by the romantic voices of humans: to watch the flowers grow; to look at the fish in the waters; and to listen to the jasmine of the night surrounding a woman who sounds like a guitar covered by the waters of the sacred rivers of Andalusia.
The music and the dance are created by the archangels who fall in love with water.
THIRD MOVEMENT
Tras el espejo y A puertas abiertas (Behind the Mirror)
They say that memories are little bits of glass dropped through the roads of life, but nobody recognises them until they see their reflection. When you call them, they don’t come. You talk to them and they hide away. Yet when the long tails of silk move, they don’t have a choice but to appear, as if conjured up by magic.
It is then, behind the mirror, the presence of a memory comes up. This time, it is made into the reality of a mythical woman who darkens the light of life.
Doors open…
Three women, three faces, three bodies. The women open the doors to dance, to flamenco, and to the feminine secrets of the world.
Annex 2
PRODUCTION AND CAST LIST
Company Director and Choreographer Rafaela Carrasco
Dancers Concha Jareño
Olga Ramos
Daniel Doña
Álvaro Paños
Marco Flores
Musicians Arcadio Marín (Guitar)
Jesús Torres Athama (Guitar)
José Luis López (Cello)
Luis Escribano (Double bass)
Sudhi Rajagopal (Percussion)
Pablo Suárez (Piano)
Manuel Gago (Flamenco singer)
Composers Arcadio Marín
Jesús Torres Athama
Pablo Suárez
José Luis López
Set Designer Mambo Decorados
Lighting Designer Gloria Montesinos
Costume Designer Ana Rodrigi
Photography Facundo Suárez
Production and Distribution Chácena
Executive Producer Alejandro Salade
Annex 3
Artists’ Biographies
RAFAELA CARRASCO
Choreographer
Rafaela Carrasco is considered one of today’s finest contemporary flamenco dancers, with her unique style that combines force and sensuality. She is also one of the most important creators at present. Her creative talent is clearly demonstrated in her show, La Músical del Cuerpo,
She started dancing at the age of six and obtained her certificate in Spanish Classical Dance from the Flamenco Dance School of Matilde Coral. In 1991, she joined the Flamenco Company of Mario Maya as a member of the dance corps, progressing to soloist, and finally to principal soloist. In 1994, she joined the Andalusian Dance Company as a soloist for two years.
Carrasco started her career as a choreographer after she joined the company of Belén Maya in 1996. Since then, she has been travelling extensively between Seville and Madrid where she had also appeared in flamenco shows like Los Gallos and Café de Chinitas. She was a choreographer and soloist in the show Thinking Flamenco by Adrián Gala and performed as a guest on the show Hasta aquíí hemos llegado for the Cumbre Flamenca Company.
In 2001, she toured with the Company Pura Pasión, together with Cristóbal Reyes and Lola Greco and performed in various cities in Spain as well as internationally. That same year, she acted in the Flamenco Galas at the Central Theatre of Seville together with Juan Ramírez. The following year, she acted in the show New Generations at La Maestranza de Sevilla Theatre. She was also the principal flamenco soloist in the show De Sol a Luna by Company of Ricardo Franco, and performed in the Flamenco Festival of Jerez with Manuel Reyes at the Villamarta Theatre.
The highlight of her career was at the XI Edition of the Choreography Contest of Spanish Dance and Flamenco in June 2002 where she was awarded prizes for Best Choreography, Best Musical Composition and Outstanding Dancer. Carrasco formed her own flamenco company in 2003.
ARCADIO MARÍN
Musical Composer/ Guitar
Marín studied classical guitar at the Montreal Music Conservatory, Montreal, Canada and graduated in 1982. From 1990 to 1993, he was with the Ballet Español Rosita Segovia as musical director, solo guitarist and accompanying guitarist. Off stage, he worked for the Institute for Spanish Arts where he taught flamenco guitar. He has also given speeches and demonstrations on classical and flamenco guitar in Montreal University, New World School of the Arts of Miami and California University.
In 1995, he performed in the Life and Death flamenco guitar concert together with Marcos Marín, Eva Paslodos and Michel Dupire. He also shared the stage with Alejandro Granados, Belén Maya, Antonio Vizárraga and Juan Soto during the Madrid en Danza International Festival.
His compositions include original music for New World School of Arts (1991), with choreography by Rosita Segoria, and A Noise Within (1993) for a play by García Lorca.
PABLO SUÁREZ
Musical Composer/Piano
Suárez started his classical career in Barcelona with Rosario Vilanova when he was 13. At 21, he moved to Madrid to start his flamenco career. To date, he has worked with the dance companies of Antonia and Manuel Reyes, Belén Maya, Currillo de Bormujos, Lola Greco and Aida Gomez, as well as for different Spanish and international companies.
He has performed with Eva Yerbabuena and Rafael Amargo in La Garra el Angel; Adrian Gala Flamenco Company in Pensando Flamenco; Rafael Blanco Company in Colores during the Bienal de Flamenco 2000 in Seville, and also at the Teatro Maestranza de Sevilla with Alejandro Granados, Adrian Gala, Ingesta Cortés and Rafaela Carrasco.
His compositions include music for Amargo by Rafael Amargo, together with Diego, and original music for Psique by the Danzadas Dance Company. He has also done musical arrangements for the records of Paco de Pozo.
JESÚS TORRES ALHAMA
Composer/Guitar
Born in Barakaldo (Vizcaya), Alhama moved to Madrid in 1989 where he worked as a guitarist for different flamenco professors like Manolete, Paco Fernandez, Sara Lezana, Rául, La China, Belén Maya, Elvira Andrés. He is part of the company of María Rosa and has collaborated with the company of José Greco.
Alhama joined the Andalusian Company of Dance with Mario Maya in 1994 and was responsible for several shows for this company. In 1996, he worked for the Antonio Grades Ballet for Carmen and Fuenteovejuna. He has also composed music for the Choreographic Festival of Madrid, and was a finalist along with two other composers. He worked with Antonia Rodriguez and the Cordoba Orchestra in the show Requiem Flamenco at the Gran Teatro de Cordoba.
In 1997, he joined the company of Belén Maya in the show La diosa en nosotras which toured Australia. That same year, he again toured with Mario Maya in the show Los Flamencos cantan y Bailan a Lorca in Seville, Madrid and Jerez, among other cities.
He toured France again in 1999 with Belén Maya and Maite Martín and participated in the Bienal de Flamenco in 2000 in Seville with Mercedes Esmeralda, Israel Galván and Isabel Bayón.
JOSÉ LUIS LÓPEZ
Composer/ Cello
Born in Madrid to a family of musicians, López studied cello and chamber music under the direction of Enrique Correa, and later with Mareck Kubicky. On top of the degrees he has obtained in both disciplines, he has also been received Honorary Mention for Chamber Music.
He went on to further his artistic studies with maestro Mikhil Komister, Professor of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, as well as with Piero Farulli, Kim Scholes, Clarence Myerscough, Jessie Levina, David Waterman, among others. He did his doctorate in music at the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid.
With his extensive teaching experience, he has been Professor of Cello and Chamber Music of the Salamanca Conservatory of Music. López has worked with the orchestra of RETVE (Spain’s National Radio and Television), the National Classical Theater Company and has produced and directed three records. He then joined the group, Trio de Madrid, where he played regularly in important chamber music events. He is the Artistic Director of the Orchestra of Grabaciones Cinematográficas (Cinematographic Recordings) of Madrid, where he has participated in movies like El Hijo de la Novia.
With his keen interest in the musical and artistic richness of flamenco, he has worked with José Antonia Galcia, Lole Montoy, José Monke “Viejín”, Pablo Suarez, Eva Durán, Juan Antonia Suarez “Canoti”, Diego Franco, and Rafael de Ronda, to find new ways of creating music with his cello within this genre.
He has worked with flamenco dancers like Eva “La Yerbabuena”, Rafael Amargo, Juan Ramírez, and Alejandro Granados. He has recorded as a soloist in Salom, with music composed by Roque Baños for the Aida Gomez Ballet.
López has been a guest performer in the dance companies of Adrián Galia, Merche Esmeralda, Antonia Marques, Manuel Reyes, Antonia Perujo and Rafaela Carrasco.
He was awarded the prize for Best Musical Composition, together with the guitarist Arcadio Marín, in the XI Choreographic Festival of Spanish Dance and Flamenco in 2002, for the piece, A Cinco, from Rafaela Carrasco Company’s La Música del Cuerpo.
Annex 4
La Música del Cuerpo
Programme
First movement A cinco
Second movement Arcángeles
Third movement Tras el espejo y A puertas abiertas
INTERMISSION
Una mirada del flamenco
First movement De antaño
Second movement Solo un solo
Third movement Encuentros
Fourth movement Por soleá