National Opera and Dance companies pay tribute to Manuel de Falla

In what is considered “a historical milestone” in the Mexican cultural environment, the national Opera (CNO) and Dance (CND) companies join forces to pay tribute to one of the greatest Spanish composers of the 20th century: Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), on the 150th anniversary of his birth and the 80th of his death.

The groups will stage, in the same program, witchy love y The short lifetwo of the most emblematic works of the Cádiz musician, as part of a collaboration that has not occurred for more than 45 years. “This production is historic, since the two companies are working on the same project,” highlighted Erick Rodríguez, director of the CND.

“One of the ideas of this administration is that the companies of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature collaborate, work together, and not only among themselves, but with other state or parastatal entities,” said Marcelo Lombardero, director of the CNO.

The most recent news of a similar initiative between both bodies dates back to 1980. However, over the course of these years members of each of these groups have participated in proposals from the other. For example with the cantata Carmina Buranaby Carl Orff, which brings together symphonic music, choir and dancers; the opera Aidaby Verdi, which includes dance passages, or the ballet Dafnis y Cloeby Maurice Ravel, which requires the participation of a mixed choir.

“There have been many collaborations, but co-productions with these characteristics, not for a long time,” Rodríguez clarified at the press conference, where the six performances that will take place from April 23 to May 7 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes were announced.

“This is a different fact because, what it is trying to do, in addition to bringing the two companies together, is to establish a single language between the two genres, between the two disciplines, and to tell a story from two works in a single dramaturgy,” Lombardero added.

He recalled that one of the main axes of his management at the head of the CNO has to do, in discursive terms, with the intersection of art and politics. He highlighted that in the case of Manuel de Falla, although “he was not a politician, he was a man crossed by politics: an exile from the Spanish revolution who died in exile. That is why it was also important to remember him.”

These pieces are two of the most powerful in the Spanish repertoire of the 20th century. They are works that deal with love, tradition, obsession, liberation, and in which their author combines flamenco, cante jondo and concert music, an unequivocal hallmark of his musical writing.

For Abdiel Vázquez, the concert director, bringing them together in the same program is not only a “very original” proposal, but “a great opportunity” for the public.

The first work can generally only be heard in concert halls and is very difficult to see in ballet, while the second, being a very short opera, is rarely performed on stage, he explained.

The stage direction is in charge of the Spanish choreographer Nuria Castejón, who fulfills “a dream” from her years as a dancer: to articulate both works in the same proposal.

“When I performed them, I said: ‘How can no one think of doing just one play when there is so much in common!’ Not only musically, but in terms of plot they have many parallels.”

His proposal is a unified montage that explores themes such as class conflict, individual freedom and the weight of social traditions, placing the actions “in a dreamlike reality” of the 30s and 40s.

According to the stage creator, in these two pieces the machismo can be seen very clearly, embodied in each of the women who star in them.

“In one, she is victorious; in the other, not so much. We all know the weight that women have carried for many years, the pressure of what society expects of us and the struggle to choose our future. Here it is very clear, as well as classism and racism. Those are three topics that interest me a lot,” stressed Castejón, who clarified that in dance she is committed to a fusion of genres.

“It’s a mix. I can’t say it’s a contemporary, classical or flamenco line. We’re not being purists, but doing everything in favor of telling a story.”

The performances will be on Thursdays, April 23 and 30 at 8 p.m.; on Sundays, April 26 and May 3 at 5 p.m.; on Tuesday, April 28 at 8 p.m., and on Thursday, May 7 at 8 p.m.