After evoking Antonia Mercé, Argentina, with a costume that made her look like a living being in her show After you, madam, the Sevillian flamenco dancer and choreographer Paula Cometre It continues to make slow but steady progress on its project Female Silver Age TrilogyThe night of Thursday, June 11th, offers a preview of their new release. An empire is well worth it., where he reinterprets the choreographic legacy of Pastora Empire from a contemporary perspective, within the framework of Nightly the madrileña Casa de Velázquez, where he is currently completing a residency.
“It will only be twenty minutes, a sample of the show that we will continue to develop in the Matadero Dance Center“Where we are scheduled to premiere in November,” the artist explains. “After making After you, madamI realized that I had delved very deeply into a very important period for the construction of flamencoand I decided to continue exploring it through a triptych. After Antonia Mercé, the figure of Pastora, who made a fundamental contribution to the Sevillian school.”
Recognized with the Revelation Artist Award at the XXIV Jerez Festival, the Giraldillo Revelation Award at the 2020 Seville Biennial and the Lorca Award for Best Female Dance Performer Flamenco In 2025, this residency makes Paula Comitre the first artist, and also the first flamenco choreographer, selected in the Casa de Velázquez's annual call for resident artists within the Choreography and Dance category, which the institution has included for the first time in its call. This year-long program has 96 editions and culminates in a presentation before the Paris Academy of Fine Arts.
In addition to Casa de Velázquez and Centro Danza Matadero, the creative process has been supported by other spaces and institutions that have hosted different periods of rehearsal and artistic work, including the Centro de Creación Coreográfica de Andalucía, Factoría Cultural (Seville), the Ballet Nacional de España and the In Progress residency program of Flamenco Festival in Torrox.
"With the work on Argentina, I was completely captivated by discovering a different perspective on the legacy of that era. Contrary to the widespread idea of the past as static, I discovered that incredibly modern things had been done at the beginning of that century. These are women who inspire me greatly and who take away the feeling that the weight of the present can bind us."
This has allowed him not only to develop a creative proposal, but also to support it with an intensive research process in which he has had the advice of Peter G. Romero and the experts from the CSIC coordinated by Idoia MurgaIn addition to delving into collections such as those of the National Library or the Juan March Foundation, I continue with the desire to be inspired by that legacy, that root, and from all of this to make an interpretation from the present, from my body, to build in the present.
On the other hand, the musical proposal of An empire is well worth it. It will feature three guitarists on stage: Pedro Rojas, Francis Gómez and Jesús Rodríguezwhose diverse musical approaches engage with the different artistic stages of the dancer. The production also incorporates a significant visual and scenographic dimension thanks to the collaboration of the artistic duo Fuentesal and Arenillaswho will develop various textile pieces designed specifically for the show. The artistic team is completed by Benito Jimenez, responsible for the lighting and stage design; Angel Olalla, responsible for sound design; and Fran Perez Roman y Julio Leon Rocha, from La Ejecutora, who participate in the external advisory work.
With this approach, An empire is well worth it. It's shaping up to be a project far removed from archaeology. “With the work on La Argentina, I was completely captivated by discovering a different perspective on the legacy of that era. Contrary to the widespread idea of the past as static, I discovered that incredibly modern things had been done at the beginning of that century. These are women who inspire me greatly and who dispel the feeling that the weight of the present can bind us. Rather, they have the opposite effect on me; they make me feel very free while still keeping my roots in mind. I'm not afraid to explore other music, other costumes, other choreographies.”
Alongside this research and creation process, Paula Comitre has developed another project during her stay at Casa de Velázquez entitled Poetry of a dancing body: a performative essay on the encounter between Antonia Mercé and Paul Valéry, created in collaboration with the writer and set designer Mauro Suárez TorricoConceived for unconventional spaces such as galleries or museums, the piece proposes a performative approach to the artistic and symbolic dialogue between the dancer Antonia Mercé La Argentina and the French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry. The work was on display last May at an open house organized by Casa de Velázquez.
According to the director of the Casa de Velázquez, Nancy Berthier“This year, Paula embodies everything we hoped for: an artist who forges strong links between France and Spain, between research and creation, and who reinvents, etc.” ♦
