The dance flamenco It is the particular expression of an artistic vision. But when it addresses the invisible threads that do not unite everyone, the fear of turning, the exact squareness of the compass, the uncertainty of a break or the desire to reinvent oneself in turbulent times when jondo It is something marginal, we find its meaning in the body language of Pepe Torres placeholder image, whose proposal is a personal story, an experiential narration, an attempt to reinterpret his artistic identity.
This is the offer of Pepe Torres, who has presented his credentials in Jerez de la Frontera as an invitation for each spectator to look inside themselves and recognize themselves in this man's dance and in this search for rediscovery where each contribution is full of symbolism, because with few elements he manages to create a world full of meaning.
For example, Pepe Torres uses his entire body to give strength to the accompanying group, mainly when we detect that his artistic language is directed towards two territories: the knowledge that the dancer himself has of the cante and the touch, and the imagination as weapons to develop the artistic process.
As for the accompanying group, we highlight the trio of voices and the guitar of Paco Iglesias, who demonstrated their quality when approaching the taranta with the levantica and the fandango verdial, while the instrumentalist searches for the uniqueness of Ronda, an ideal prelude for the protagonist, Pepe Torres, to evoke his own weaving between the six strings the gastoreño tones of the soleá and the bulería.
And from there, a dance that describes Torres with the skill of a gypsy expert. I am referring to the soleá, in which he takes advantage of every nuance of his expression with surprising ease, and guides them to display art in movement, which explains the creation of ideal spaces to do what he knows how to shine at with intensity.
«Pepe Torres has established the principle of equivalences in gypsy dance, where the form is different but the substance is the same. His dance is not that of the obvious, but rather that of the commitment made to Morón de la Frontera»
The dancer is, in this sense, the elegance of a different energy. An example for those young people who are starting on the path of seeing who does the acrobatic exercise better and who need to know that another dance is possible outside the official circuits, outside the so-called avant-garde ideas and not only, because from within the flamenco strict it is possible to work for the impossible in these times, that is, to make a tradition possible.
In that scenic world that Pepe Torres establishes, where movements and silences are as expressive as marking, introspection and rhythm, what the dancer does is inviting the public to “dance” in the deep territories of the jonda essence in order to rediscover the mystery of being and feeling.
And when it seems that everything is finished, when we have witnessed the creation of a language of its own that hypnotizes and moves, the closing bulería appears, in which Pepe Torres transits between ardor and delicacy, revealing a visual poetics of images that evokes the pair that seduces. Each letter of the back has the replica of astonishing visual resources, of setbacks that breathe gypsy spirit throughout the proscenium, while the dancer leaves a trail of astonishment in an audience that, grateful and enraptured from their seats, joins the party as they applaud with joy.
Pepe Torres has thus established the principle of equivalences of gypsy dance, where the form is different but the substance is the same. His dance, performed with great density but clarifying above all, is not one of obviousness, but rather of commitment to the Morón de la Frontera.
With the above I want to explain that their dance is the responsibility of maintaining individual and collective identity, as if they wanted to propose the compensation of a memory, of a piece of family memory, so that it is not lost in the crazy dispersion of this time. And in the end, complicity.
In short, it is a dance that tells a story that everyone can interpret in their own way, based on their own experience; that suggests everything and imposes nothing, but that, by leaving you breathless, captures and hypnotizes you.
Credits
The dance flamenco by Pepe Torres
29th Jerez Festival
Company Room
February 24th 2025
Dance: Pepe Torres
Cante: Manuel Tañe, Manuel de la Nina and Juan Villar Jr.
Guitar: Paco Iglesias
