Schedule for "Elegia - Homenaje. Cafe De Chinitas." National Ballet of Spain 2022


Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra

The Spanish National Ballet (BNE) presents two very different choreographies: "Elegia-Homenaje (tribute to Antonio Ruiz Soler) and "El Cafe de Chinitas". “They are two very different pieces with a common element: they are both tributes to dance, painting, music and poetry legends", said Jose Antonio, the company’s director.

The first part, "Elegia-Homenaje", is a tribute to the great flamenco dancer Antonio Ruiz Soler with music by Joaquin Turina.

It is devided in two blocks. The first, “Ritmos", is made up of five movements that had been presented before as a symphony but not with choreography. In "Danzas fantasticas", the aim is to "recreate the golden era of Spanish dance", with the figure of Ruiz Soler in the background.

The second part of the show, "El Cafe de Chinitas", is one of the BNE’s best creations. Premiered in 2004 to commemorate the 100 anniversary of the birth of Salvador Dali, it is a “totally flamenco” production that evokes “the reunion of Dali and Lorca beyond death”, according to Jose Antonio. Dreamlike choreography and stage design withFederico Garcia Lorca’s popular songs as a soundtrack.

"El Cafe de Chinitas" counts on two great collaborations, the pianist Chano Dominguez and the vocalist Esperanza Fernandez, who takes up much of the plot-line.

"I am a flamenco vocalist, but I love theatre and being on stage. It’s taught me a lot of things that I use in my performances", admitted the artist from Seville. "I identify a great deal with the role, I feel very beautiful in the wardrobe and I am very comfortable with Chano’s music", she adds.

The director of the BNE, Jose Antonio, made the most of the occasion to criticise “the division in modern flamenco of vocals, dance and guitar, something I think is very negative. Dance has to listen to vocals and guitar". He also said that "in the past each artist brought their own personality, now it’s all a lot more measured and structured".
Ballet Nacional de Espana
Director: Jose Antonio


Elegia-Homenaje

Choreography: Jose Antonio
Music: Joaquin Turina
Lighting Desing: Juan Gomez Cornejo (AAI)
Costume Design: Pedro Moreno
Musical Publisher: Union Musical Ediciones SL
Costume Production: Gonzalez (men) Luis Fernando Dos Santos (women)
Scenography Production: Mambo Decorados
Shoes: Arte FyL

Elegia, to words by the choreographer himself and called by him an "avowal of fidelity", forms a tribute to dancer and ballet-master Antonio Ruiz Soler, to whom Jose Antonio was extremely close at the outset of his own career. Antonio Ruiz Soler was one of the first to enrich Spanish folk dances with elements of ballet, bringing his works closer to the classical performing style.
"Through two works of Joaquin Turina (Ritmos and Danzas Fantasticas) I make a route in the 40?s and Antonio?s American period where he achieved success with his dancing partner, Rosario".
Jose Antonio

El Cafe de Chinitas

Choreography: Jose Antonio
Music: 8 popular songs by Federico Garcia Lorca
Musical arrangement: Chano Dominguez
"Seguiriyas del destino"and "Paсo del destino" (Solea): Pepe de Pura & Juan Manuel Lуpez
Scene Director, video and espacio escenico: Lluis Danes
Original Idea: Manuel Huerga
Lighting Design: Joan Teixidу
Costume Desing: Yvonne Blake
Reconstrucciуn telones, Scenography Production and Atrezzo: Jordi Castells
Costume Production: Pipa & Milagros, Talleres Gonzalez
Costume "Destino" Production: Amalia Perez
Assistant Scene Director: Anna Marin
Assistant Costume Desing: Ana Bernal
Headdress: Hortensia
Peluqueria y caracterizacion: Manolo Cortes, Enrique Gonzalez, Pepe Conde
Shoes: Arte FyL

Video: Production: David Campassol, Josep Bayo
Soul Produccions; Cast: Lila Pla, Sussana Roca, Mariona Juanias, Laia Moreno, Tania Salvado, Ester Ordas, Marcel Dou & Oriol Caba

Guest Flamenco Singer: Esperanza Fernandez
Live Music: Chano Dominguez and Group

The scenography reproduce the original designs created by Salvador Dali

The production of the ballet El Cafe de Chinitas to music from famous songs by Federico Garcia Lorca marks a return to the age of the birth of the cafes chantants, performances in which were a kind of "training school" for several generations of Spanish artistes. The most popular were El Cafe de Chinitas in Malaga, El Cafe de la Bolsa in Madrid, El Cafe de Silverio in Seville and El Cafe Villa Rosa in Barcelona, where there were performances by stars of the first magnitude. In this ballet, Jose Antonio recreates the atmosphere of the first performance of El Cafe de Chinitas, created in the early 20th century with sets by Salvador Dali and first performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1943. Jose Antonio's ballet with original sets by Dali immerses audiences in a world of passions and grief, as tiring as the intense summer sultriness and as bright as the blue skies of Spain.
"I was seduced by this production from the very start for a number of reasons, but especially because of the opportunity it afforded to explore the fascinating and endlessly creative world of Dalinian symbolism. This world of symbols, compounded with the depth and simplicity of Lorca's folk songs, are an ideal vehicle for creating on stage what is nearly an invocation of Art, Beauty and Sorrow, to re-unite Salvador and Federico in a new and timeless dimension".
Jose Antonio