The ballet 'Carmen' by the Antonio Gades Company arrives at the Villamarta Theatre

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La Antonio Gades Company arrives at the Villamarta Theater on Tuesday, March 4 with the ballet Carmen, a masterpiece by the Alicante choreographer in collaboration with the filmmaker Carlos Saura. In this way, the company, under the artistic direction of Stella Arauzo, wants to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the premiere of the opera G. Bizet and has begun a tour of the main venues in our country as well as other European cities.

It will not, however, be the only claim to the dance legacy of Antonio gades. And it is that, previously, on the stage of the Blas Infante Social Center, Rafael Ramirez will present Chronicle of an event, a show with which he intends to pay "from respect and admiration" a tribute to his "main artistic reference". Chronicle of an event He addresses, in his own way – "not as a copy," he clarified – some notable episodes of the work of the man he considers his teacher.

After Don Juan y Blood Wedding, Carmen It was the third narrative ballet created by Antonio Gades and the first stage fruit of his close collaboration with the filmmaker Carlos Saura. Its creators were inspired, above all, by the book Merimee, as both find that the description of the story and its characters reflect the Andalusian people much better than the opera libretto. However, they make use of Bizet's extraordinary music and contrast it for the first time on stage with live flamenco music.

Gades, a profound admirer of Spanish popular culture, said: "I wanted to play the music that Bizet had been inspired by, to play the original music of the people, so that it could be seen that a guitar and a singer can be as powerful or more powerful, at a given moment, than an orchestra."

"I made Carmen because I didn't like that stereotypical and false image she has, being a woman who when she loves gives herself without reservation, who doesn't abandon her class even if she finds herself in the highest spheres" (Antonio Gades)

The figure of Carmen For Gades, the play represents the struggle of women to achieve freedom against the established order. In his opinion, it was misunderstood, since when the play was written in 1837, it was a scandal for a time when women's emancipation could not yet be considered. «I made Carmen "I didn't like that stereotypical and false image of her, of being a woman who gives herself without reservation when she loves, who doesn't abandon her class even if she finds herself in the highest spheres," explained the choreographer. It is therefore no coincidence that the main character of the ballet reflects two of Gades' most characteristic attitudes towards life: his class consciousness and his love of freedom.

The Antonio Gades Company is, since its creation, one of the great pillars of Spanish and flamenco dance. Based on the repertoire of the legendary choreographer, who died in 2004, it shows off a particular style defined by the maestro that sets it apart from other Spanish groups. Currently, under the direction of Stella Arauzo, it mixes several generations of artists that make possible the direct transmission of the lines that characterize the Gadesian school: an aesthetic and refined language, at the same time rooted in the traditions and culture of the Spanish people.

The Malaga dancer Rafael Ramírez set his sights on this peculiar style of Gades when he was a child. He fixed his gaze on "his aesthetics, his clean movements, his masculine dance and his technique, in addition to his dance notions," said the artist who will present at the Blas Infante Social Center Chronicle of an event, a proposal inspired by the Alicante choreographer and the dimension of his work.

Rafael Ramírez's new show arrives in Jerez after its premiere at the Nimes Festival. He defines it as "a tribute to Gades, his career, his legacy, from the respect and admiration that I have for him." However, he has clarified that it is not an imitation nor is it his intention to use his repertoire. "It will be his dance and his concept brought to the 21st century," he has assured.

The idea had been in his head for a long time, but respect for Gades and his own insecurity about tackling this project led him to postpone it until now. "It changed the dance and the flamenco. It was the present and had a vision for the future," explained the Malaga dancer. His proposal includes, among other things, flashes of Fuenteovejuna, the relationship with Carlos Saura and his devotion to Cuba. On stage he will be accompanied by the guitar of Isaac Munoz, cante de Maria Mix and the percussion of Javier Rabadan.