Carole Edrich Weblog

Mature talent at Costa Dorada

Yo Marakuni; a journalist friend who writes for the celebrated Japanese magazine “Paseo Flamenco”, suggested we go to watch Gemma de la Cruz at Costa Dorada last night. Gemma has spent the summer away from her home in Madrid teaching her regular August slot at Escuela de Baile and we wanted to see her perform before she left. I wasn’t able to take her lessons this year, but everyone who did says they were great.

Gemma has a warm, humorous pragmatism that is as evident when she performs and teaches as it is in her conversations. Her dance is expressive, beautifully executed with a grace that makes even the fastest taconeo seem a well articulated and completely natural form of expression.

Yasmine and Tito Villalobos provided the music of the consistent, professional standard I’ve come to expect and Oliver was the male dancer. When younger, Oliver’s dance was really exciting. He put so much feeling and expression into it that you couldn’t help enjoying his performance and being excited for his future.

Flamenco is danced with the whole body. Feet, legs, hands, body, arms, the position of the head and facial expressions are all an intrinsic part of the performance. More, flamenco is about feeling, passion and life experiences and it's important for the dancer to project all of this. Gemma does it really well but I wished she was with a less self-indulgent and more partner. Wearing the same slightly supercilious expression for the entire evening, the only feeling I received from Oliver’s dancing was boredom. I even found myself thinking he was too young to have enough life experiences to express in his dance. Since, this would not have crossed my mind when he younger and certainly never has when I watched Rocío Molina or Mercedes Ruiz, I can only assume that this negativity was also in response to his performance.

Gemma is a lovely person as well as a real professional. She came over for a chat and was particularly happy to see one of her recent students (Yo has taken her classes all summer) and asked me why I had not been there this year. Look out for her; she performs all over the world, and if you can, try some private classes with her in Madrid.

Escuela De Baile is based at the Latin Quarter in Euston

Posted by carole at September 3, 2005 09:35 AM