EMBRACING THE WORLD BEYOND

‘Increasingly in flamenco, it’s the women who wear the trousers, literally and metaphorically’, reflected a reviewer for The Guardian on the performance of Sara Baras and her company at Sadler’s Wells in London, opening the 2019 international flamenco festival. Hailing from San Fernando in southwest Spain, the dancer and choreographer is currently a living legend of the genre whose performances sell out in record time. Could her secret be the raw, primal power that emanates from every movement and draws the eye like a magnet? Or is it the boldness with which she blends various dance, musical and visual genres on stage: classical and contemporary, ruffled skirts and figure-hugging trousers? Bartók Spring features the company’s latest production, Alma (Soul). B y Zsófia Hacsek

Andalusian Treasures Of Music And Dance

Sara Baras was born in 1971 and threw herself into dancing from childhood: she was initially taught by her mother, Concha Baras, a dancer herself who also headed a dance school. Two musicians had a huge influence on her early career. One of these was the Roma flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla, a great figure of the genre who lived in the same neighbourhood where young Sara grew up. Years later, Baras would still refer to Camarón as her ‘artistic godfather’, evoking the memory of the legend – who passed away in 1992 – in many of her performances. Her other role model is flamenco guitarist Manuel Morao who led the Gitanos de Jerez company which Baras herself joined at the age of twenty-four. Morao’s stated intention was to introduce the whole world to the flamenco talents of the Cádiz province and they toured extensively with this goal in mind. So it was that Baras found global fame. After appearing with Gitanos de Jerez in Paris in 1991, the following year she travelled to Japan, where she and dance partner Javier Barón took their show to a multitude of venues over six months.

Gitanos de Jerez also appeared at the 1992 Seville Expo while Baras’ popularity soared. In 1993, she won the Madroño Flamenco Prize as the most outstanding flamenco artist of the year, so it was no surprise when a growing number of leading figures in Spanish flamenco sought her out, including the singer Enrique Morente and dancer-choreographers Merche Esmeralda and Antonio Canales.

After years of guest starring for various companies and performing at festivals solo or with a partner, in 1997 Baras decided to finally stand on her own two feet. A year later, she debuted at the head of her own company with the show Sensaciones. The company presented 13 shows over the past quarter-century, all of which were choreographed by Baras; its popularity is clearly proven by the fact that it has remained on the bill for years in London, Madrid, Barcelona and Paris. It has also conquered stages beyond Europe, including shows from Thailand to Mexico and Shanghai to San Francisco. There have now been over 4,000 performances and the company’s enthusiastic and talented members never fail to realise their leader’s ideas, which – as the performance of Alma in Budapest will surely demonstrate – promise a range of surprises for the audience.

A SPINNING, PULSATING SOUL

The creation of Alma was inspired by Baras’s father, Cayetano Pereira – although he was not a devotee of flamenco (and ‘had a hard time differentiating a seguiriya from a soleá or a taranto’), he was still fond of the more melancholic bolero. In the piece, Baras evokes every musical and dance genre that her father held dear. In light of this, it’s particularly heartbreaking that he can no longer see the performance, as he passed away one month after the premiere in December 2021. Yet this also opens the way to another interpretation: namely, do the messages we send to our loved ones after their passing eventually reach them? And as Baras asks, are there any better means than art, catharsis and language beyond words for calling out to our departed while simultaneously reconciling us, deep down, with the fact they are no longer physically with us?

The performance is literally colourful, with a riot of different shades appearing on stage. Sometimes Baras dances in a classic ruffled black flamenco dress, with the crimson light around her evoking the colour most often associated with the genre. On other occasions, she and her partners wear figure-hugging polka dot dresses and don trouser suits (as mentioned before, also worn by the female dancers) or evening dresses, as a succession of solos, duets and group dances appear on stage. The entire show is a gigantic fusion – or, as Baras puts is, a vast embrace – in which flamenco and bolero melt together into a variety of styles, forms, colours and sensual experiences.

The Dizzying Clatter Of Heels

‘In Alma, the rhythm and beat, emotion-fuelled movement and dizzying, almost surreal clatter of heels streams from every pore, filling the entire auditorium with energy’, gushed a Spanish critic on the Diariocrítico portal. An Australian reviewer, having seen the piece in Sydney Opera House, praised the unusual costumes, well-composed sequence of dances (allowing the story to unfold slowly) and harmony between musicians and dancers. The review on the Theatre Travels website relates how Baras ‘mesmerised us with her body movement and remarkable footwork’, adding that ‘It was absolutely insane to see how the drummer was trying his best to keep up with Baras during her solo routines as the audience cheered her on.’ The choreographer herself says, ‘[L]ife sometimes takes us to madness and only love, the miracle, an embrace or the shelter of skin can save us.… [T]here is no need to tell you that I would give my life to dance with you, there is no need to tell you that my flamenco heart has a bolero soul.’ One can scarcely imagine a more moving artistic creed from a dancer. What more can we do than join Baras in hoping that amidst the plethora of costumes, lights and sounds, the embrace of Alma will reach the man who inspired the performance’s creation, her beloved father, in the world beyond.

10 and 11 April | 7pm

Müpa Budapest – Festival Theatre

SARA BARAS: ALMA (SOUL)

Performed by: Sara Baras, Chula García, Charo Pedraja, Daniel Saltares, Cristina Aldón, Noelia Vilches, Marta de Troya – dance, Rubio de Pruna, Matías López ”El Mati” – voice, Keko Baldomero, Andrés Martínez – guitar, Diego Villegas – saxophone, accordion, flute, Antón Suárez, Manuel Muñoz “El Pájaro” – percussion

Featuring: Juana la del Pipa, Israel Fernández, Rancapino Chico – voice, Alex Romero – piano, José Manuel Posada “Popo” – double bass

Written by: Sara Baras

Lyrics: Santana de Yepes

Music: Keko Baldomero

Set: Peroni, Garriets

Costumes: Luis F. Dos Santos

Lighting: Antonio Serrano, Chiqui Ruiz

Choreographer, director: Sara Baras