Antonio Najarro rescues Spanish dance * Show review by Manuel Martín Martín, El Mundo

The choreographer pays tribute to Argentina recovering two of its 1928 ballets.

In the twenties of the last century, Paris was a city with no creative limits or moral brakes. It is the capital that Antonia Mercé and Luque knew, alias La Argentina (Buseno Aire, Argentina, 1890 – Bayonne, 1936), but also the one that changed the stage of artistic life, so much so that it determined that it would form ‘Les Ballets Espagnols’ (1927-1929), from which Argentina marked the definitive take-off of Spanish stage dance.

If in the last quarter of last year Argentina starred in the advisable book of José Rabasco Aguilar, ‘Bailando en Plata’, it is now Jerez that, thanks to the Antonio Najarro Company, reaffirms that we are before the immortal cord of the dance, as confirmed by the critic André Levinson, who in 1928 came to compare it with the great Russian diva Ana Pavlova.

COMPANY ANTONIO NAJARRO

Entertainment: ‘La Argentina in Paris: El Contrabandista – Sonatina’, by the Antonio Najarro Company / Artistic direction and choreography: Antonio Najarro / Scenic Address: Carolina África / Company: Ethan Soriano, Celia Eacle, Daniel Ramos, Alejandra de Castro, Cristina Carnero, Lidia Gómez, Álvaro Brito and Álvaro Madrid / Guitar: Jose Luis Montón / Violonchelo: Sergio Menem / Piano y cajón: Constanza Lechner / Costume Design: Yaiza Pinillos / Video design screenings: Néstor L. Arauzo and Davitxun / Lighting design: Sergio Torres / Choreography assistant and ballet teacher: África Paniagua / Production direction: Rubén Carreño / Scientific advice: Idoia Murga Castro and Alejandro Coel / Place and date: Villamarta Theatre. February 25, 2025.

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Photo: La Compañía Antonio Najarro, en una escena del ballet ‘El Contrabandista’. ESTEBAN ABIÓN