Consuelo Portela, The Chelito, was a cuplé artist famous for interpreting pi lyricscanteI know how Calves, The night of the bride and groom or the most famous The flea, in which she stripped naked with the help of the public while trying to locate a specimen of said insect hidden in her clothes. The dancer Luisa Palicio He wanted to get into the skin of this figure in his new proposal, The penultimate couplet, in which she involves several colleagues to pay tribute to that generation of women who challenged the morality of the first decades of the 20th century from the stage.
Each of Palicio's companions assumes the identity of a famous figure of the genre. Thanks to an ingenious transposition, the background of the stage is the curtain that looks out onto an imaginary stalls, while the real stalls can see the dressing room that brings them together. From the beginning, we are going to see them dance, sing – whether flamenco or scat jazz which did not yet exist at the time – and to interpret. In fact, it is a highly dramatized work, with an extensive script Daniel Blanco Parra, which brings out the acting side of the cast in a quite convincing way.
"A friendly production, without excessive pretensions either in the scenic or artistic aspects, beyond telling a good story through flamenco. Palicio's dance with the train or the scene with the shawls are enough to justify the presence of this work at the Jerez Festival.
Alternating dialogues and very diverse musical numbers such as the garrotín, The Machica, the cantiñas of La Mejorana, Catapum o the violetera, all acupleted or flamenco according to the occasion, is intended to reflect How life and art were understood from those theatres “full of beasts” eager to visualize every hidden centimeter of female skin, as well as the concerns and fears of these sicaliptic, as they were called, many of whom found a way of life after the decline and closure of the singing cafés. That includes putting the very Catholic one right Unamuno, who abhorred these slums in writing, and toast instead Stravinsky, who found them simply wonderful.
A reliable direction, optimal narrative rhythm, good choreography with opportunities for everyone to shine, complicity throughout the cast and a sober but effective musical accompaniment from the percussionist. Pacifier and the guitarist Jesus Rodriguez, which also makes its mark at a given moment, define a friendly montage, without excessive pretensions either in the scenic or artistic aspects, beyond telling a good story through flamenco. The dance of Palicio with the tailcoat or the scene with the shawls, loan from the private collection of Manuel Lombo, are enough to justify the presence of this work in the Jerez Festival.
Perhaps the emblematic status of these women of feminism is overemphasized, perhaps it would have been better to outline it and trust that the respectable audience would get the message. However, these pioneers of the destape played an important role in the evolution of mentalities in our country and in Sexual liberation as opposed to the prevailing double standardsThere are things that start out as small as a flea and end up moving the masses, and are still relevant more than a century later. Perhaps because, as we heard one of the artists say, the couplet is all of us.
Credits
The penultimate couplet, by Luisa Palicio Company
29th Jerez Festival
Company Room
March 3th 2025
Consuelo Portela Audet, «La Chelito»: Luisa Palicio
Consuelo Vello Cano, «La Fornarina»: Coral Moreno
Fca. Romana Marques Lopez, «Raquel Meller»: Ana Oropesa
Amalia Molina Perez, «Amalia Molina»: Inma the Carbonera
Antonia Cachavera and Aguado, «The Cachavera»: Angeles Rusó
Guitarist: Jesus Rodriguez
Percussionist: David Chupete
