This Thursday, November 24, a work by the choreographer will premiere at the Teatro San Martín Paul Rotemberg with a cast of six malambi players and two contemporary dancers. Your title is the age of the skin and has music from Alberto Ginastera and Axel Krigier.
The malambitists, phenomenal and very flexible in the face of the singular needs of this work are Alejandro Desanti, Maximiliano Díaz, Nickytuns, Marcos Olivera, Ezequiel and Facundo Posse. The dancers, highly qualified in the Rotemberg language, Carla Rímola and Carla Di Grazia.
The mambo In its traditional form, it has its truest heart in the Festival de Laborde, province of Córdoba, an almost unknown event for the city of Buenos Aires for many decades; Only this medium, it must be said, has been dealing with it for more than fifteen years. But in recent times, at least two creators of contemporary dance have taken up this beautiful original dance of the Argentine peasant, approaching it from their own perspectives.
brutally sexual ways
What exactly is Rotemberg’s perspective, a choreographer who usually shows crudely sexual forms on stage, bodies exposed in the most extensive nudity and barely simulated intercourse?
Nothing better than asking the choreographer himself, even if the interview began with a question he asked himself: “what do you think of the work?” (note: there was a preview function on Saturday the 19th).
The answer – “baffling” – starts the conversation.
Says Rotemberg: “In 2018 I brought the idea of the age of the skin Jorge Telerman, who then directed the Teatro San Martín. But, somewhat superficially, I had already inserted malambo into my work for the Ballet Contemporáneo, with three dancers from the company who came from folklore”.
-What was or is your proximity to folklore?
-Actually very little, but for this job I studied a lot. I was mainly interested in his kinetics, his movements, but I also understood that he would work with a highly codified language, codified like that of classical ballet. There is something very good about this, but it is also limited and not easy to break. I felt a little scared.
-About what?
– Not to understand me with the malambisti. I originally thought about including eight, but eventually settled on six and added two contemporary dancers to establish a kind of bridge. With the boys it was a flash; They are jugglers, but they can dance anything and have an incredible command of rhythm, even the most complex ones like in Ginastera’s score.
-What did you study?
-In principle, I wanted to include something from Argentine history, its somewhat fictional aspect: the Founding Fathers, the Generation of the 80s. I see these themes in many plays with a parodistic point of view, but that was not what I was interested in doing.
-However, in your work the names of Sarmiento, Mariano Moreno, Facundo Quiroga, appear only shouted in English and nothing more. As a sort of irony. How come?
-It is true that it is an idea barely sketched out in the work, but it seemed sufficient to me. I didn’t want to go over a line. And as for English, I found it amusing that in this age of fragile national identities, folk dancers use English. Folklore in general, like flamenco, are great places, but sometimes very reactionary and conservative.
-What do you mean?
-I say this in relation to folklore in general and perhaps the word “reactionary” is too much. I think malambo is more open: queer malambo, export malambo.
-Going back to the previous question, how did you investigate?
-I read a lot: by Carlos Vega, also by Héctor Aricó, quite descriptive of the dances. A new universe has opened up for me. Eugenia Cadús helped me with the drama and suggested books and films. The truth is, I was pecking. I wanted something to do something simple and popular and fun and I think it’s done.
-A young spectator, upon leaving, said that he liked the work because it was totally absurd. Was this your intention?
-I always work intuitively and trust my intuition. The work is made of cartoons. For example, asking about the Founding Fathers today, even if it’s just a statement, gives the viewer possible associations. In any case, it is difficult for me to talk about the recently released work. It takes some time before you are able to formulate concepts.
-What did you learn in relation to folklore?
-In rehearsals we tried other dances: chamamé, pala-pala, carnavalito. And the boys started dancing like possessed, happy. I was thrilled to see that love of dance and music and all that surrounds it; it is a deep connection. In contemporary dance we are taken by other issues.
-Which would demonstrate that it is not a rigid and conservative genre, but that it has great vitality?
-Yup; he is very much alive
-Although malambo is presented as the focus of the work, there is a lot of your language that is very present: the emphasis on sexual spice, violence. There is a lot of yelling and hitting each other a lot too. Do you agree that it is part of your world?
-My idea was not to do a work for the Ballet Folklorico but to take that language and cross it with my own. Although maybe I don’t have a tongue but, at least, tics. I wanted it to be a work for all audiences and there is a less obvious sexuality than in my other choreographies. As for the violence, I see it more naive, more choreographed. And the screams, I associate them with trampling.
-Among the many innovations that appear, there is the concept of “cultural appropriation”. The world’s major audiovisual production companies are very careful about being sued because a character in a series wears dreadlocks, or another character, a pebble on his forehead. Do you think there has been an appropriation by you of a culture that is foreign to you?
-That he is a stranger to me does not mean that I cannot approach him. In fact, I started working with folk dancers, including Carla Rímola, who has been doing a lot of folk dancing since childhood. I’m not taking anything lightly. Admittedly, I don’t know as much about folklore as they do, but I’ve tried to go as in-depth as possible.
And note that until a few years ago the idea of ”cultural appropriation” had a positive charge. Political correctness, to me, is a fine line between hypocrisy and progressivism.
INFORMATION Shows Thursday to Sunday at 8.30pm, until Sunday 18 December. San Martín Theater, Casacuberta hall. Currents 1530.
POS
Source: Clarin
