For the past few weeks, the days have been long. Borja Cortés More than twenty-four hours. From ten to four he attends his rehearsals at the Spanish Ballet of the Community of MadridFrom that moment on, he rushes to prepare what will be his first show. Center, step, which premieres this Thursday, May 21st in the Festival Flamenco of Esch (Luxembourg). “I’m afraid of putting my body under this pressure, but the fatigue is more mental than anything else. My body is responding well for now,” she says. “I try to eat well and rest, and my enthusiasm does the rest.”
And no wonder: after a long career working for different companies, since the couple of years he spent in the Andalusian Dance Center –under the guardianship of Rubén Olmo, Miguel Ángel Corbacho, Rocío Coral and Ana María Bueno–, a few months with Carmen Mota, Ballet Flamenco Andalusia –first with Estevez and Paños, then with Ursula Lopez y Jesus Carmona–, at 32 years old, the time has come for this flamenco dancer from Torremolinos to take the big leap.
“I’ve been lucky enough to work with very good people, with excellent taste, and everything they’ve taught me has seeped into me, although I’ve never had a role model to imitate,” Cortés adds. He recalls seeing a Carmen Mota show when he was nine years old, “which began with the music of Carmina Burana And with spotlights, cannons, and those guys with shawls, I told my mother, 'Mom, I want to be there.' Well, one day they were looking for a child to join an anthology of Carmen Mota herself, and there I was… Years later, in The Andalusian PalaceIn the first flamenco venue in Seville where I worked, a guitarist told me that I had done something that reminded him of Jesus CarmonaAnd I hadn't even seen it yet! Until one day the phone rang and it was Jesús: 'Hi, Borja, how was your summer? I want you to work with me.' That's how everything has happened in my life.”
Of course in Center, step The responsibility rests, more than ever, on their shoulders. “I did a small thing in the prickly pear “A few years ago, and I repeated it in Seville, but it didn’t go beyond that. Opportunities have always come my way; I haven’t sought anything out, although the drive to create has been with me from the beginning,” Cortés says. “That’s how one day he called me Miguel Betegon"From the Esch Festival, and told me they wanted me to work with them, to come up with something for the festival. From that moment my mind started working, boom, boom, boom!, and things started rolling."
“What underlies ‘Centro, paso’ is a very rare chemistry between four artists – Cortés himself, the singer and guitarist Teresa Hernández, the singer Juan Debel, and the guitarist Ángel Flores. “Even if we had tried, it couldn’t have all turned out so well,” the Malaga native celebrates. “We’ve been trying things out, discovering how we look at each other, getting emotional.”
“What do I do? What stage am I at? What do I want to say?” The questions piled up in Borja Cortés’s head.Julius ruiz It reminded me of a residency I'd done some time ago in La Gomera, about Tantalus, the gods, etc. But I didn't feel like getting into that. Then I came across a text by the playwright Paul Messiez which inspired me and gave the show its title. Messiez talks about contradictions, and we play with them too. In the end, the show is a stage space where four friends who love each other and want to enjoy themselves come together.”
The dancer insists so much on the casual and natural nature of the process that at times it seems to refer to an accident. However, what underlies it Center, step It's a very rare chemistry between four artists – Cortés himself, the singer and guitarist Theresa Hernandez, the singer Juan Debel and the guitarist Angel Flores“Even if we’d tried, it couldn’t have all turned out this well,” the man from Malaga says happily. “We’ve been trying things out, discovering how we look at each other, getting emotional. Everyone has their moment, without the pressure of everything having to be perfect. We’re not looking for a special effect, but a place where we can be at peace, where trial and error is allowed, where we can make dance from the raw, from the essential.”
One of the questions that confronts any young choreographer like Borja Cortés is whether or not to emphasize flamenco. He resolves this simply by stating that “when you are flamencoWhen you've dedicated yourself to this body and soul, the flamenco It's going to be there no matter what you do. You carry it in your body, no matter how much you want to do different things. And that takes the pressure off having to emphasize it.”
A prophet in his own land, as evidenced by the fact that he was summoned to his hometown alongside the master. José Losada, Reelfor the promotional campaign Amazing TorremolinosBorja Cortés knows that the hard part will come after the premiere of Esch, when he has to tour his show. “Many people have written to me saying that I’ve gone too far to premiere it, that they want to see it in Spain, but it’s not easy. My Ballet created a call for submissions to give young creators an opportunity, and I took advantage of it to present one of the pieces from Center, stepand it has been selected, so I will be able to do it in the Black Room of the Teatros del Canal“On the other hand, we need a lot more people to distribute shows like this. I once produced a show for…” Sara jiménez for Jerez FestivalAnd I realized how many hours of computer time that requires, while what I really want to do is dance. I think everything would be easier if the programming were more inclusive, a fifty-fifty split for new artists, or if people didn't perform at the same festival two years in a row. All of that would help.”
When assessing the current state of dance, Cortés has no doubts: “Dance flamenco I see it as being at an extraordinary moment. There are so many people dancing incredibly well, getting better all the time, and with more information readily available than ever before, although this is a double-edged sword. But the technique is at an all-time high, as is the passion for it. To those who think this is being lost, I invite you to simply visit the Amor de Dios school in Madrid, or the flamenco venues in Seville, so that you can see the level and passion that exists.”. ♦
