The Year of Spain in China will conclude with “Sevilla,” a flamenco show performed by the Maria Pages Company at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on April 11 and 12.
Maria Pages is one of the most renowned flamenco artists, not only in Spain but also worldwide. She has won prestigious awards throughout her career, including the National Dance Award in 2002. In 1980, Pages created the Maria Pages Company, and since then has produced works like Sevilla, Canciones antes de una Guerra (Seville, Pre-war Songs) and Flamenco Republic, among others. She has danced at the best and most prominent venues around the world and received great recognition for her work.
People call her “the dancer with endless arms,” but it is not simply the grand curves of her long arms that are exceptional. It is the way she moves her upper body - broad, tilting, spine-drawing circles, the shoulders lifted, rolled or thrown back defiantly, and the energy radiating from her body. With this expansive sweep of her body, Pages draws in her audience.
In this show, and after much experimentation, Pages returns to her hometown, Seville. She talks about how this place shaped her into the person she is now. She uses the Sevillian School dance techniques and styles that she learned from her childhood teachers. The “Solos” are a fundamental part of the performance, and Pages devotes herself to them as never before. The rest of the programme consists of choreography that revisits various styles of flamenco with the help of 16 other dancers.
It is a performance of contrasts. Sometimes Pages’ arms swing heavily as if she is pushing back the tide, but then suddenly her body flashes sharply between poses, as if someone has edited out the frames in between.
The scenes are set indoors and outdoors in daylight and at night, with the light determining the mood of the scenes. The wide range of colours used come from the same light and colours that inspired the great master painters of Seville such as Diego Velazquez, Juan de Valdes Leal and Francisco Herrera.
The Year of Spain in China, which started in 2007, helped the Chinese to learn more about a true and modern Spain. During the event, the Chinese appreciated Spain’s modern art, design, food, fashion and sports.
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