News
Leonor Leal and Company
19/10/2009
The Scotsman
Dance review: Leonor Leal and Company
Published Date: 19 October 2009
By JAN FAIRLEY
LEANOR LEAL AND COMPANY
QUEENS HALL, EDINBURGH
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FLAMENCO is thriving in 21st century Spain, with cutting-edge shows leading the country's cultural life, many led by female dancer-choreographers. So it was a treat that Hispanic Arts Scotland invited Leonor Leal's up-and-coming company from Jerez, where the annual flamenco festival is the crucible of creativity.
For Leoleolé, the opening martinete-toná of singer Mercedes Jiménez established flamenco's bittersweet fusion of confessional intimacy with fiery statement. Joined by second singer Jesús Corbacho and guitarist Tino van der Sman, dancer Antonio Molina set the pace with a dynamic seguiriya, capturing the audience with his energetic zapateo foot work.
After a jazzy guajira from Sman Leal offered the first of three solo dances, starting with a tangos, which combined elegant arm work with the timbres of her pattering feet. Leal's award-wining farrucca was exciting: her interpretation of this one-time male dance powerfully adapted by women in recent times, was enhanced by her signature short, dark hair, while flowing trousers allowed intensity of movement unfettered by frills.
With an engaging milonga from singer Corbacho, the show exuded youthful vitality and the final spontaneous encore brought the audience to their feet.
Leonor Leal Flamenco Dance Company, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
18/10/2009
The Herald Scotland
Dance Review: Leonor Leal Flamenco Dance Company, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
Published on 18 Oct 2009
By ROB ADAMS
Leonor Leal Flamenco Dance Company, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
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The notion that a flamenco troupe should be able to fill each other’s roles – thus rendering them all musicians – gained some currency at the end of this, Leonor Leal’s first-ever appearance in the UK.
Her brilliant guitarist, Tino van der Sman, laid down his instrument and performed a few humorously skilful moves, while singer Jesus Corbacho first played guitar and then did some very able steps of his own.
Whether Leal and her partner in dance, Antonio Molina, play any instruments or sing doesn’t matter. They make music with their feet, to the degree that the sound of their beyond-intricate, precise-foot percussion integrating with Corbacho and Mercedes Jimenez’s voices and handclaps and Van der Sman’s profound, sonorous expression would make a gripping radio broadcast.
There’s more to Leal’s innovative flamenco than sound, of course. With her short, severely gelled black hair and her apparently elastic reflexes, Leal is an electric visual presence, her hands performing flickering roller motions and her body speaking more eloquently than mere words as she variously scrapes, glides and drums her way across the stage. In duets with the dashing Molina, the pair mirror each other’s movements with the same breathtaking exactness that Molina brings to his own pieces, with his extravagantly gifted tapping and in one case, very fetching red shoes.
The sightlines weren’t ideal for appreciating these shoes’ every move and there was much seat swapping in the interval, but even missing out on some early detail there was the raw-nerve-end quality of Jimenez and Corbacho’s singing to compensate in this triumphant display of Andalusian art.
Hispanic arts festival is an olé lot of fun
30/09/2009
The Evening News
Hispanic arts festival is an olé lot of fun
Published Date: 30 September 2009
By HAZEL MOLLISON
FLAMENCO dancers, Cuban musicians and salsa bands are preparing to bring a little sunshine into a grey Scottish autumn.
The city's biggest ever Hispanic festival will kick off next week, with a series of special events to promote Spanish and Latin American culture.
The festival, now in its fifth year, has expanded from three days to two weeks. Highlights include the UK premiere of an award-winning Spanish flamenco company at the Queen's Hall, and dance workshops for people of all ages.
Artistic director Maria Conte, who runs Hispanic Arts Scotland, came up with the idea to promote understanding between the cultures. She hopes to raise the profile of the city's 33,000-strong Spanish and Latin American community.
She said: "This has grown a lot in four years. We've now got international flamenco companies interested in coming to Scotland. There's a big Spanish and Latin American community here, but we don't often have a very high profile. The aim of the festival is to help people integrate better, and celebrate our culture."
"We're definitely aiming to get a bigger audience this year. It's a chance for people to enjoy a flavour of a different culture."
Ms Conte, who has been a dance teacher in Scotland for more than 20 years, is running the festival with her business partner, Ana Cabrera, and a team of other enthusiasts.
She said they had been disappointed not to secure a main sponsor this year, but many local businesses had chipped in to offer cash or use of their venues. "We've managed not only to survive, but to aim higher," she added.
The festival will kick off with a fundraising night at the Jazz Bar, on Chambers Street, on Thursday 8 October. This will include music and poetry from Spanish, Chilean and Scottish performers.
The world-famous Leonor Leal Flamenco Dance Company will perform at the Queen's Hall on Saturday, 17 October.
The next day there will be a series of dance workshops at Dance Base, in the Grassmarket, ranging in style from traditional Spanish to Afro-Cuban. The finale will be Noche Cubana: Ay Caramba! at the Caves, on Friday 23 October, featuring the city premiere of Lino Rocha's eight-piece band El Salsón, as well as DJs and a salsa band. Prizes will be given for the best Cuban outfits.
Steve Cardownie, the city's festivals and events champion, was pleased to see the Hispanic festival becoming an established part of the city's calendar. He said: "This is a great way to help foster understanding between different cultures in the city. It's good for young people, who might not have the opportunity to go abroad, to experience a different culture in this way.
"We've already got a well established Mela, which is primarily Asian culture, and we've now got a Polish festival as well. The fact the Spanish community are doing the same is great. I'd encourage other groups to consider if there's space in the calendar to extol the virtues of their culture."
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/latestnews/Hispanic-arts-festival-is-an.5689833.jp