María Pagés. News

"MIRADA", opened on the 29th June 2010 in the Teatro de la Maestranza, Seville.

2010-07-09T17:44:21Z

El Correo de Andalucía, Manuel Bohórquez, Sevilla 30-6-2010

María Pagés has been for many years the great flamenco dance choreographer, that is, the great creator.
Mirada, the performance - hallmarked by Maria Pagés - that we enjoyed in the Maestranza last night, ended with the audience brought to their feet. (....) in this performance, once again, the dancer shows her great artistic sensitivity, that she uses to create dance in perfect harmony with the music, the lighting, the costumes, the almost mathematical use of stage space, the skill used to move the corps de ballet, as if she were building a work of architecture in movement.

MARIA PAGÉS WAS A WHIRLWIND OF ENERGY

2010-03-28T07:29:31Z

DIARIO NACIÓN - Costa Rica. 28/3/2010

Maria Pagés, a dancer who has become a maximum authority in the "Republic of Flamenco", conquered the audience that attended her show at the National Theater on Saturday, with her energetic turns, the intensity of her footwork and her passion for Flamenco.
An audience brought to their feet, many "bravo Pagés" and an over twenty minute ovation left not a shadow of doubt: Maria Pagés and her company's production, "Flamenco Republic" (participating in the 2010 International Arts Festival) was a thrilling performance.

MARÍA PAGÉS, SADLER'S WELLS, LONDON

2010-03-04T18:04:27Z

FINANCIAL TIMES/ 24/2/2010 /Por Clement Crisp

María Pagés then took over the stage on Monday night in irresistible fashion. The programme identified the event as a "self-portrait" and went into unlikely detail. Happily, what we saw was an archetypal flamenco show in which The Star (and Pagés is certainly that) unleashes her artistry to musicians, singers and attendant dancers, and to us. The surrounding forces were eagerly responsive to her presence; design was minimal (for which, again, hurrahs), and Pagés, when roused, is absolutely tremendous.

She is an imposing presence with serpentine arms, the dance surging through the strong outlines of her torso. She has beautiful costumes. She also has, when flamenco griefs and scheduled moping are set aside, a delightful sense of humour. When the dance seizes her, as it ultimately must with any flamenco divinity, she lets it take its irresistible course, driving her ever onward and touching our souls. And she makes castanets talk. The men in her company are especially jolly, and Pagés, amid the whirling of a vast shawl, is a tempest incarnate, and glorious.

María Pagés in New York

2010-02-11T08:02:25Z

Tour

February 11th. Autorretrato
Lisner Auditorium
Washington (EE UU)

February 13th.-14th Autorretrato
City Center
New York (EE UU)

February 16th. Flamenco Republic
Orpheum Theater
Vancouver (CANADÁ)

February 18th.-19th. Flamenco Republic
Arsh Center
Miami (EE UU)

]]>

20th Anniversary Tour, 2010.

2009-07-27T07:05:56Z

In 2010 we shall be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Company. For this occasion we are going to go on an extensive tour, performing three of our most representative creations:
"FLAMENCO REPUBLIC"
"SEVILLA"
"AUTORRETRATO" ("SELF PORTRAIT")
20 years of sharing a thousand and one adventures, emotions, difficulties and joys.
20 years of getting to know people, countries and cultures that have enriched us as human beings and as artists.
20 years on unforgettable stages.
20 years of enjoyment with our audience.

Maria Pagés

Maria Pagés: Shadows and Light

2009-03-25T12:38:43Z

EL MUNDO Monday 23/03/2009
Maria Pagés stands in front of the mirror. In the shadows and the light. The "bailaora" (Flamenco dancer) comes back to Madrid with her "Self Portrait", an intimate and emotional journey to her innermost being. With some touches of humour and a lot of poetry. "This performance flowed out of me in that moment one takes to look within oneself, that moment when one asks oneself who one is, where one is and where one is going".]]>
This was the moment when this choreography took flight - that will be filling the Teatro Español in Madrid, until the 12th April. This moment of personal coming to terms coincided with the request made by Mikhail Barysnikov (the dancer and choreographer) to María (who cites him as being "an example of coherence") to "create something that would define me as an artist, as a person. And that was the key that opened up the path to take." Four spaces: "the studio, home, the hotel and the stage". 12 scenes. Pagés at her purest.
She sits on a chair onstage, dressed in black, her shoulders covered with a red shawl. She smiles when she talks about success, her success that has taken her to perform in theatres and concert halls all round the world. "I understand success as being a happy continuity to what I am doing. I have no idea what other type of success there is, nor am I interested."
"Self Portrait" - which was premiered in Tokyo last year and has been awarded the Special Media Critics Prize and the "Giraldillo" Prize for the Best Performance in the 14th Flamenco Biennial in Seville - once again, is her own particular homage to poetry. "Flamenco singing is full of poetry, poetry surrounds us Flamencos." The words of José Saramago, Antonio Machado and Miguel Hernández are her company in this show, where she has chosen the dances she most likes "I'm giving all I've got as an artist and as a human being".
She smiles with satisfaction when she remembers that next year her company celebrates two decades of life. "The outcome has been very good. 20 years of hard work". She says she hasn't really changed much, neither on stage nor off it. "I am a simple woman, that dedicates 90% of her time to her work".
"I try to have a good time".
This dancer whose arms seem infinite only aspires to one thing at this moment of her life: to enjoy herself. "When I am creating a show I have no real proposition. I try to work only on an idea with real content, with my long-time collaborators. And I try to have a good time."
She is used to reaping applause from the audience and the critics, yet not all ovations sound the same. "Each audience is the expression of its culture. In Tokyo - where she has been 15 times to dance - it is different, in Seville, in New York." But all applause comforts her in the same way.
Maria Pagés (National Dance Prize, 2002) is a woman of short-term challenges - she would not comprehend her existence were it not for Dance. That she is a force onstage is unquestionable; her talent overflows. And her humility, a characteristic that ennobles her, never leaves her, whether inside the dressing room or onstage.
"Self Portrait" starts up with "La Soleá del Espejo" (The "soleá" at the mirror). What a start-up! Her body sways and turns with the shadows and the light. This is the "miraíta" (glance) at the essence of a woman who is what she dances.

Dancing in the Dark

2009-03-11T12:59:14Z

05.03.2009 DIARIO DE CADIZ.By Francisco Sánchez Múgica.

After a fade to black, Maria rises up towards the sky just as a rose does, or as a bird of prey with it's endless wings and a distant look in it's eyes, trying to understand the reason for being here and to discern which direction to take. Maria delves into the light and shadows of her past. She is multi-faceted and shakes up her inner core, turning her "Self Portrait" - which fascinated the audience in Villamarta last night - into an artistic prodigy of dazzling genius, with different moments of almost unbearable convulsion. The subtlety of her latest creation hurts and tears us apart, shaking our emotions and disturbing our hearts. She plays with the emptiness of the space created by Brook, yet emphasises the sacredness of Dance (in all it's forms and meanings) and of Flamenco. She uses just the elements needed to knit an inner microcosm of shadows, leaving little space around it for any element of concession to the audience at large, only granting it to them at the end of her performance. This is Pagés by Pagés.

]]> And Pagés consolidates herself as a complete artist: reciting, interpreting and overflowing with carats of charisma in the rhymes of the "tanguillos" in "El trajín de Maria" (Maria's Hustle Bustle). She clicks her castanets frenetically and melts into her shawl, which she moves like a bolt of lightning towards the end of her performance. She has total and absolute dominion of the stage and a deep knowledge of herself, the changes she has gone through and her unlimited possibilities.
Maria sketches her own outline and her surroundings under the mantle of Saramago's verses. The flooring of the stage trembles when this woman from Seville rises up as a rose, full of sensitivity, totally harmonious and displaying her sculptural body as a model of beauty. Because Maria is, above all, a visual dancer of intense expressive force - in this "Self Portrait" she shines as never before.
This is a show, in any case, that is difficult to assimilate, in which thoughts and chains of verse flow surprisingly naturally, with no desire to show off or beg easy applause. This woman from Seville dances practically everything with a maximum degree of sobriety in every detail - be they the gold frames that are used by the dancers to illustrate the family portraits that hang on the walls, or the three mirrors that she confronts herself with in her Soleá". She appears attired with a satin gown and her castanets, or sinuously wearing a narrow skirt and a black top; her hair combed back in a sleek plait, as evidence of her desire for austerity.
From her studio to her home, from the dressing rooms to the stage. These are the four seasons for Maria. The four rooms of the home where her dancer's soul abides. Here is where hardships are masticated. A place where Life's meanders and inexplicable blows reside. From the "farruca" (impudence) of Aristotle to the foot tapping that the eight dancers of her corps de ballet execute in a fluctuating manner. From the sinuous "martinete" and the "debla" to the "tientos tangos" - in the style of "La Niña", which she finishes off with a gentle and delicious "La tarara". Then she turns herself off again, to return to the darkest corners of soul, to the echoes of the voices of Ana Ramón and Ismael de la Rosa. These were the excellent voices of a synchronized background - far superior to those of most dance companies - that envelope in just the right measure each of the scenes that make up the performance created by the author of choreographies such as "Sevilla" and "La Tirana".
Pagés dances Pagés with the uncontrived simplicity that one finds in great works of art. She is not playing a character role, she is stripping down to skin level. The deepest grooves of life are vomited onto the stage. She ended her performance visibly exhausted, but ready to take up her shawl again, with rabid movements that portray a final goodbye to the audience, who gave her a standing ovation such as has never been seen before.
As the Portuguese Nobel Prize Winner said: "there is something deep inside of us that has no name - that is what we really are". Maria Pagés's rendering of "Self Portrait" cannot be named. Just as Beauty, the smaller things in life and the perfumes that evaporate just by being smelled remain unnamed. A rose is raised, finally, "and I leave behind and abandon all the sorrows and amazement that give me pain". This is why Maria Pagés closes her deep self-analysis - her intimate and integral reflections - with "cantiñas" and "bulerias" that hold the fragrances of Cadiz. She underlines that, in the end, tomorrow will be another day and thus one should not give up the celebrating Life. We are givn a brief moment of light and colour - a moment for living and dreaming - within the darkness of this dense, deep reflection and awesome dance behind closed doors.

An Immense Maria Pagés

2008-12-24T09:19:48Z

30/10/2008 By Yuris Nórido.

Maria Pagés fills the stage on her own, even when it is a big stage, as in the Mella Theatre. We have seen her dancing a deeply rooted Flamenco, powerful, yet fresh. She is tall and beautiful, enthralling, emanating a ready sense of humour. She faces the audience straight on, translucent, with confidence, as if we had known her forever. She gives herself up to her public, dances as if her life depended on her dance; but there is no tragedy in this: Maria Pagés' dance is about the joy of Life, the good fortune of being able to feel, to enjoy, to love... Maria Pagés dances Flamenco as if she were born to this dance.

]]> She is accompanied by a small group of excellent musicians and dancers: but to say "accompanied" sounds rather mean, as the truth is that each and every one of these artists is good enough to play the lead in any performance. They prove this continuously: the show is designed in such a way that all can demonstrate their worth, although the main weight of the performance leans on Maria - as is to be expected. The most brilliant moments are those of the dialogue between Maria and her company, in a "contrapunteo" that reaches high levels of virtuosity.
Maria Pagés taps her heels without respite, makes her shawl move in wave-like movements, bursts into a scream, laughs; the castanets seem to come alive in her hands, the music flows from her body. When she is lit from above, it would seem that the whole art of Flamenco lies within her. Where does her force come from? This woman is a handful of passion.

María Pagés returns to Beijing with her Flamenco show "Seville"

2008-12-10T09:02:57Z

Maria Pagés, the Spanish dancer and choreographer, is taking her Flamenco show "Seville" back to the Grand National Theatre in Beijing, following the huge success of their two shows during the past month of April, when the theatre was sold out both times. Pagés assures that each time she has put on "Seville" in big theatres, she is asked to return, as has been the case in Tokyo and Paris - and Beijing is following suit - as in April "the show was sold out".
The show puts six musicians and fourteen dancers on stage, as well as Pagés herself, who, for almost an hour and a half, contrive to "describe the soul of this city in Andalusia".
The performance holds the spirit of the Seville Fair, or that of the art of the bullfight in it's dances - although there are other elements inspired in the dancer's own life experiences, such as the "taconeo", or tapping, of high heeled white shoes (with red polka dots) on the darkened stage (Pagés wears a replica of her first dancing shoes, when she started to dance at the age of four).
She remembers that when she first visited the Grand National Theatre of Beijing, "the people who were waiting outside at the stage exit, mainly girls, all wanted to imitate our aesthetics in some way or wanted to know where to learn Flamenco dance - they all showed the same interest".
"They are a very spontaneous audience " said Pagés of the Beijing spectators, whom she knows well after having performed three times in the Chinese Capital.
]]>

Dance, Iberian Ham and Spanish in Tokyo

2008-11-11T14:35:03Z

EL PAÍS. GEORGINA HIGUERAS - TOKYO - 12/11/2008

The Cervantes Institute opens their largest headquarters in the capital of Japan.
The King and Queen of Spain officially opened the Cervantes Institute in Tokyo, the largest temple of the Spanish language abroad. When night fell, MariaPagés and her passionate dance conquered the hearts of the Emperors, Ahihito and Michiko, and those of the businessmen, artists, civil servants, politicians and bankers who had been invited by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia to a succulent dinner served by Joseph Barahona.

]]> Pagés's arms swirled across the stage with gracious temperament in a colossal rendering of the poems by Ichiro Ando "It is a Rose" and Federico Garcia Lorca "La Casida de la Rosa".Her dance was refined, bursting onstage with no background music and with such force that there were moments when the audience was breath-taken. Maria Pagés, who has been to Japan on 15 other occasions, declared herself to be proud to have a "loyal, serious and devoted following" and insisted on demonstrating that "sensitivity is what unites the two cultures".
One of the main reasons for there being at present 400,000 students of the Spanish language in Japan, is the passionate love of Flamenco the Japanese profess - according to Maria Pagés this is because "they come from a society that is diametrically opposite to ours". Although officially opened yesterday, the Cervantes Institute in Tokyo began working in September 2007, registering over 2,000 students already.
"To learn the Spanish language today is synonymous to opening up new personal horizons and professional opportunities", the King said, recalling that there are 500million people in the world who speak Spanish. The official opening act, that began with a minute's silence as homage to the twoSpanish soldiers killed in Afghanistan, was also attended by Princess Takamado, who read half of her speech in impeccable Spanish.The Princess claimed that El Quijoteis for the Japanese people "the symbol of the force that makes dreams come true".
The director of the Cervantes Institute, Carmen Cafferel, admitted that this Tokyo centre - an eight floor, 4,300sq,mt. building, holding 18 classrooms, two exhibition halls, a library, a bookstore and an auditorium for 160 people - "has been a long time coming", but - as the wise correct their mistakes - she also revealed that the Government plans to create the "Observatory of the Spanish Language in Japan". This aspires to make this country become the spearhead of the penetration of the Spanish Language into the Asian-Pacific region.
Laura Garcia Lorca, the poet's niece, also attended the ceremony, as the library of the Tokyo centre - that at present contains 8,000 books and aims to reach 40,000 - is named after Federico Garcia Lorca, one of the best admired Spanish writers in Japan.
However, although Spanish dance and language gain adepts, it is the Spanish cuisine - with the Iberian Pig as a flag - that unleashes passions.
In this megalopolis that is Tokyo, where design and technological innovation meet, Barahona has his own temple of cooking: a restaurant called L'Estudi, which only has one single table - although this does not stop him from serving Kings and Emperors when required.
The Monarchs, who began their second State visit to the centre of the Empire, will travel tomorrow, Thursday, to Kyoto (the ancient capital) where they shall be closing a seminar on Spanish in Japan, that has brought together fifty different Japanese universities where the language of Cervantes is taught.

Maria Pagés: Flamenco is born again in Havana.

2008-10-30T14:36:49Z

Anubis Galardy. Havana, 30th October (PL)

Havana, 30th Oct (PL). She stepped into the dusk of the stage in Havana like a shadow, and the light first was drawn to her upraised arms and then in a fine line, broken at times, to her Flamenco dancer silhouette.
"Ergo unarosa e tudo se ilumina"(It is a rose and all lights up... it is a rose, a body and a destiny). The written word and dance, united in the same poetical stream. Flamenco set loose in the fiery blood of the dancer.
Seville in Havana; Art erases frontiers. That Seville that Maria Pagés left over 15 years ago and to which she is forever returning, in each and every instant of her dancing, no matter where she may be in the world.

]]> It was a magical performance, created with the passion and wisdom of a master goldsmith - Maria Pagés taking on both the direction and the choreography. The Onion Lullabies, by Miguel Hernández, whose depth and heart-wrenching sentiment are shown in a different dimension.
Texts by Lorca, by the unmatchable Chabuca Grande, by Atahualpa Yupanqui and texts taken from that popular poetry that is born free, perpetuated on the streets and in our collective memory.
"I wanted to dance to the words, only the words, with their rhythm and cadence, the melody of their sound. I tried to translate and equal in expression what each one of them inspired in me", says the artist, who enhances the 21st Havana Ballet Festival with her presence.
"It does not matter what is the origin of the word or what culture it belongs to, dance will be the interpreter that translates and expresses the word". Thereby her creed, made clear from the beginning of her performance. She is on her own and her undulating movement, her infinitely eloquent arms, are all fire and flight.
But Maria Pagés did not come here alone, she brought a part of her company with her: two exceptional dancers, Emilio Herrera and José Barrios; a singer with a prodigious voice, Ana Ramón; and a guitarist, José Antonio Carrillo, who backs her up, establishing a creative link between the two.
A perfect communion between them is perceived at all times when they are together onstage, each one with his own individuality, in an artistic duel of noble richness, exempt of rivalry, giving themselves up to the pleasure of the dance.
Maria Pagés believes that Flamenco is abottomless quarry and measures it up with other forms of Art, from which she drinks with no fear, opening up new paths to go down. "Roots, memories, essences - all give us the necessary balance", she says.
There are "port de bras" that are born rounded and then open up into perfect circles, reminding us of classical ballet.
The evolution of her arms and feet - her expressive backstitching - also remind us of it. One must not forget that classical danceis deeply rooted in folklore. There is a dialogue of loans and inevitable influences.
The audience vibrated, burst into applause. The "bravos" and "olé's" filled the evening air in Havana. The performance ended in a round of percussion, with Maria Pagés and her castanets rising up like a growing rumour, in an infinite defianceof dazzling sonority, almost like the sound of an orchestra.
Barrios and Herrera, with the sound of their canes tapping an answer to the rhythms of the percussion, defying themselves, enjoying themselves, in mutual admiration. Then followed a round of "Tientos" as night fell and there was an explosion of applause.
With a display of superiority and inspired by the gratitude of the audience, Pagés danced to the rhythm of the applause. Pure Flamenco burst through again and once more the frenzy of her dance flooded the theatre.
It is not in vain that Saramago dedicated an elegy to this exceptional artiste, full of the flattery and the fire of real poetry: ..."She dances, and as she dances she transforms all that surrounds her. Neither the air or the earth are the same after Maria Pagés has danced".

SELF PORTRAIT. Media Prize awarded for the Best Performance in the 15th Flamenco Biennial.

2008-10-23T16:52:04Z

The María Pagés Company has been awarded the Media Prize for the Best Performance in the Flamenco Biennial, in it's 15th edition, in Seville. The critics were unanimous in their choice of this show above the 54 others that were competing this year.

The award is granted by the specialized press attending the Biennial (which has just finalised) within the 1st edition of the "Mario Maya" Media Prizes - named so as a tribute to the late dancer.

MARÍA PAGÉS AND THE ESSENCE OF DANCE

2008-10-13T17:04:52Z

ABC, Seville Edition 27-09-08-MARTA CARRASCO

Real artists are those strange beings that shake at the idea of going on stage, but in the end can't live without it. An artist whose Art is dancing suffers in this same way, but what makes it even worse is that they have to use their bodies to express what others do with words or music.
One day María Pagés found herself with one of the great dance myths, Mijail Baryshnikov, who asked her to create an intimate performance in which she should paint her own portrait, expressing herself just ass she feels she is - in this way, after giving it much thought, "Selfportrait" was born; last night was the début of the show in Spain, in the Teatro de la Maestranza (Seville).

Pagés's work, up till now, has made us used to the use of stage design, luminosity and elements such as paintings or videos as being important parts of each performance, but the simplicity of "Selfportrait" will surprise us. Like a minimalist painter, Maria Pagés has eliminated from the stage any element that she feels could disturb this intimate story she is telling us, her dance is telling us the story of the state of her soul.

]]> From this moment on, the feelings of this dancer are expressed with no hesitations: the many manifestations of Flamenco dance, farruca, debla, martinete, tientos, tangos, alegrías, cantinas.... thus sharing with us her home, which is this part of the world where she is now; Flamenco is Maria's way of expressing her team work and studies; by dancing "alegrias" , she expresses the joys of the stage.
María Pagés would not be what she is without making some concessions to the other important factors in her life: poetry, her son and her sense of humour. To honour the first factor, poetry, she takes the beautiful poem written by José Saramago "Ergo a Rose" (which she danced for him in Lanzarote). Here she dances to the sound of the Portuguese Nobel Prize writer's voice, reciting his poem. For the second, her son, she created "Nanas de la Cebolla" (Onion Lullabies) when he was still a child; today she dedicates this dance to the adolescent university student, although he will always be a child to her. Finally, a homage to her sense of humour: she dances to the rhythm of "tanguillos", with her castanets in her hands and reciting an amusing text describing the situations that arise when a dance company arrives at an airport and the usual ups and downs of a tour.
There has been en evolution in Maria Pagés's dance. Her scenic sensuality is evident, but there are magic moments, such as her dance with a "mantón" (Spanish shawl) that she moves in a spectacular way; her "Soleá", elegant, measured, authentically from Seville. Maria Pagés is already an icon for a generation that is reaching the summit, a generation that is logically gradually substituting those that are on the way out.
A magnificent cast, an outstanding José Barrios, beautiful costume design and a convincing backdrop are the other cards she has in her hand. This woman from Seville gave us a sincere portrait of her land.

GLINTS OF THE BEST PAGÉS

2008-10-13T17:01:55Z

Diario de Sevilla. Rosalía Gómez (20-09-2008)

As in poetry, there are some times when what is most intimate, most personal, can also be what is most universal. This is what happened last night in the Teatro Maestranza, Seville. We were expecting a one to one experience with María Pagés and this is what we got, but the experience was bountiful, full of nostalgia, music, poems..... a performance of great beauty, a pleasure for our senses and our hearts.

There are always moments in life - especially those that end certain periods of time - in which one should be selfish and do something for oneself. This moment came for María Pagés - always so busy with her dance company, her beautiful stage designs, her ideas for choreographies - when the mythical Mijail Baryshnikov, none other, invited her to his New York Dance Centre, inviting her to simply create something personal.

]]> This is how this "Selfportrait" was conceived - last night was the national début. In this performance, the dancer from Seville has taken a calm look at herself in the mirror, a sort of appraisal of her career and her personal life, for herself and for others. The show is, therefore, sober and intimate in structure, but so rich in content that, almost without being aware of it, the stage gradually and unobtrusively fills up with fifteen artists (musicians and dancers).

María presents herself before us with equal sobriety, no flowers, no ornamental hair combs. Her hair pulled back in a long plait and a marvellous wardrobe that starts off in black to go on gradually to vivid colour, showing off her stylised and sensual figure. Everything flows without obstacles within this intimacy, created especially by the lighting design, which slowly fills up with different nuances and tones. In the middle of all this, María Pagés is simply immense. With her stylised way of dancing that resembles a bird about to take flight, she dances and dances for pleasure. This is Flamenco dance, "Farrucas" - in the magnificent company of her male dancers - "Martiinetes", "Tientos", "Tangos", "Alegrias".... And pure dance with Saramago's poems as a background - one recited by the writer himself and the other by María - and "Nanas de la Cebolla" (Onion Lullabies), that she has admirably taken up again and reinvented. Then she goes on to give us a lesson in castanets and humour, dancing several hilarious "Tanguillos" (also makes a homage to the ups and downs of travels with her company). She also takes a look at her past creations, such as "La Tirana", with its play of picture frames and the enchantments of the mirror that can throw your image back at you and persecute you, or throw another image at you, of someone else. A look at "Banana Republic", her most popular performance, another at "Canciones Antes de una Guerra" (Songs Before a War)... Finally, she plays with a wonderful golden-fringed Spanish shawl, until the audience - her hometown (Seville) audience - falls at her feet, unconditionally.

A REVEALING EXERCISE SELF PORTRAIT

2008-10-13T16:52:32Z

El País, September 28, 2008

The title says it all. Her excellence in delivery and expression defies further superlatives. Maria Pagés's new creation is deep and deliberate, an introspection and inward voyage where she harvests the fruits of a bountiful career filled with stellar moments. Her Self-Portrait is in part a look at these performances while showing us the dancer from all angles, a long sequence of images in motion. When it is the moment for a "soleá" or a "tiento" we see the contained scholar dancing with a half moon stage drop behind her. The scholarly dancer in Maria is also apparent in her seemingly simple but effective choreographies, which develop with astonishing fluidity, as well as in her constant search for new forms of expression and display.

]]> Instead of the impressive stages of her previous shows where innovative scenic techniques were put to the use of the dancers, her show Self-Portrait reveals a more denuded Maria without having forfeited us of any content in the delivery. The stage has a darkened backdrop, but is illuminated by a brilliant and effective lighting design, only embellished at times with mirrors and picture frames which could well be reminiscent of her show La Tirana , which so amazed us ten years ago. The corps de ballet blends in as if they had never done anything else in their lives but do her bidding, what is behind her completely fulfills it's purpose. The strings of a violoncello along with the guitars fill the moments of greater intimacy with the artist. With these elements in play, dance and ballet evolve constantly, and what is more important this 'bailaora' or dancer, is always present, never conceals herself. She enters and exits, lines up next to her dancers, takes part in every number and takes upon herself those moments that demand greater expression and intimacy.

Along these lines, the "Nanas de la Cebolla" (Onion Lullabies) become the most emotive moments, danced captivatingly and subtlety. Then again there is one other piece, where she moves to the voice of Jose Saramago reciting his poem "Ergo a Rose" that is of profound beauty. A change of pace follows as she comes and goes through a looking glass till her own alter ego responds. The rest of Maria's show is replete with flamenco in all it's manifestations. With an initial "soleá", a "farruca" choreographed by José Barrios, the final "alegrias" where she filled the large stage with her majestic use of the Spanish shawl, the mantón. We also saw "tientos", "tangos" and had the time to enjoy the fun and camaraderie of some "tanguillos" from Cadiz, dedicated to the dance company and its avatars, as quoted by Maria with surprising self-confidence and sass.