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I'm pleased to share this interview with Yaelisa, award winning dancer,
Artistic Director of Yaelisa y Caminos Flamencos and Artistic Director
of The New World Flamenco Festival, presented each year at the Irvine
Barclay Theater in Irvine, California. While it would have been great
to have gotten together with Yaelisa to have a dialogue over a cup of
coffee, ...or rioja... we were just too busy and couldn't do that. The
interview was a set of questions sent through email and her reply.
Jason
Engelund
Hi Yaelisa. Thanks for taking the time to tell our readers about Shotgun
Player's new production of "Blood Wedding".
Yaelisa
Thank you for the opportunity, Jason. And for supporting flamenco
in this community.
Jason
Frederico Garcia-Lorca was an activist, a poet and more and he also had
a role in supporting and working with flamenco. In 1922 Lorca along
with Manuel de Falla worked with the Granada Deep Song Flamenco Contest,
a historic event bringing both awarness to flamenco and a collection of
legendary performances. Lorca also wrote about the illusive concept of
"duende" available in the great little book "In Search
of Duende", and to all our readers I highly recommend buying this
book. I use it for my lectures as well as inspiration for my artwork.
Lorca wrote his play "Blood Wedding" in 1932, the first play
of a trilogy. Yaelisa, can you tell us a bit about the play?
Yaelisa
I first saw Saura's "Blood Wedding" film in the early nineties
and became more interested in Lorca after that. The play itself
is very brilliant and intense, with the themes of class distinction, societal
repression, sexual repression woven into a story that is very primitive:
the struggle between what the heart and soul wants, the passion and intensity
humans' desire, against what our family and societal obligations sometimes
inflict upon us. We know something is bad for us, but we want it
anyway!
Jason
What is flamenco's role in this particular production?
Yaelisa
Evren came to an ODC show and then called me to discuss working together;
when we talked I realized he truly wanted to add some authentic elements
of flamenco movement and music to the play to advance the story. He
saw me perform my Tarantos and wanted something like that in the play;
Evren is very musical and though he doesn't know flamenco well, he knew
what he wanted. We began to discuss how to incorporate flamenco elements
into the production. I knew that in 8 weeks of rehearsals we could not
train actors to perform choreographies but I could work along the
lines of stylizing these elements. I also felt the challenge because the
play is basically almost a musical theater piece, and Evren wanted music
and melodies set to the poetry and textual "songs" already in
the play. Because of my experience and also because I sing a little,
I worked with him and David McLean on deciding on song styles that would
work with the poetry....it was quite challenging because many of them
do not have the normal cadence or structure of flamenco songs. I
even composed a few melodies for the songs, which I really enjoyed doing.
Many of the cast are trained singers and they learned the "songs"
in a less flamenco style, but following the compas of a certain style.
For example, the entire cast sings the salida for Alegrias during the
Wedding scene, and they sing it in compas! We taught two singers
to sing a Cana, there's even a Peteneras in the play.
Jason
What drew you to working on the project?
Yaelisa
Lorca drew me to it! I love a challenge and Evren convinced
me I could actually fit this into my schedule. He actually wanted
me to read for the part of the Moon, but I could not have done based on
the fact that I'm not an actress nor could I have done 6 straight weeks
of shows!
Jason
Can you tell us about your approach to choreographing the production?
Were there certain themes that you focused on?
Yaelisa
My choreographic contribution to the production lies mostly as a flamenco
movement specialist. There is no large choreography persay, but my work
consisted of working closely to create a movement style for the Moon,
using the dance movement to interpret her character during a very intense
monologue. I worked on various scenes with the actors on gesture, authenticity
and character interpretation: for example, simply helping a character
use a given movement to assist in interpretation. It was really alot of
fun to work with actors, though it was not the first time I had done it.
I also did choreograph the fight sequence between the two principal characters,
and that was really fun....it was designed more as a dance fight and I
like how it turned out. Evren and I worked sometimes hand in hand on many
scenes, and he was very generous and open to ideas and really worked in
tandem very well. Having run a dance company and major flamenco festival
for years, I have alot of ideas and Evren really used my input and we
discussed ideas together alot....my other important role was to work with
David closely on some musical ideas and on composition decisions. My knowledge
of cante came in very handy, because this production is quite complex
and the play really requires a bonifide composer. I think we did a good
job. David actually plays throughout the entire production and really
had his work cut out for him.
Jason
Flamenco over the years has become an art form that's used in a variety
of ways. From traditional fiestas, to tablaos, large stage productions,
and as with this an element of theater. Any thoughts?
Yaelisa
If flamenco is produced in all of the above ways, its because its such
a rich, noble art form that deserves the grandest of productions on the
biggest (or smallest) of stages. I think we need more flamenco presented
with integrity and respect, and wth a deep understanding of its roots
and culture.
Jason
What do you find about the play that makes it stand the test of time?
Yaelisa
Well, the universal themes found in this and other works by Lorca. Eighty
years after his death, Lorca's writings are still being interpreted and
incorporated into flamenco by major artists. In fact, he has become part
of the flamenco lexicon and I think always will be, because he was the
most flamenco of poets, and because he tried to elevate flamenco as an
art form at a time when Gypsies were being persecuted or hunted down. So
Lorca himself may be a hero to flamencos.
Jason
The play has been produced all over the world and was first translated
into film in 1932 and again in the dance film by Carlos Saura in 1981.
For those of us who haven't seen the Shotgun Player's production yet,
can you give us some clues as to what we'll see in this version and what
you think flamenco aficionados will enjoy about it?
Yaelisa
I think those interested or studying flamenco should expose themselves
to anything that has to do with the culture of flamenco: literature, travel,
poetry, especially the cante. I think this production does a very honorable
job, without an enormous budget, of representing Lorca's work. Alot of
my students have seen it and really liked it....you'll enjoy it and its
an exposure to one of the most important Spanish poets of all time.
Jason
Thanks again Yaelisa and we'll all look forward to seeing the production.
Yaelisa
Thanks to you, Jason.
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