The dancers Paula Comitre, Florencia Oz y Carmen Angulo open their new creation to the public on 1 June at Matadero Madrid, as part of the first Biennial Flamenco Madrid. Reflections on the Fates, the provisional title of a work that began to take shape thanks to the Canal Baila program of the Teatros del Canal in Madrid, and which will premiere in September, is a proposal that explores the symbolic power of the female triad through the flamenco. The Work in progress –perhaps more accurately it could be called a rehearsal open to the public or first exhibition– will be shown this Sunday for free, just one day after doing so in London, where the artists are currently finalizing the details of this collective creation driven by the Flamenco Festival from the British capital.
The work delves into the archetypes of the Triple Goddess, the Three Fates and the Three Graces, and allows the creators to reflect on the interconnectedness of life's cycles from youth to old age. A project born from the shared desire of these three artists to work together after almost ten years of friendship, and featuring the music of Rocío Luna, Pablo Martín Jone e Isidora O'Ryan, as well as the lighting by David Picazo.
We spoke by phone with Paula Comitre and Florencia Oz from London a few days before the exhibition, where they spent two intense weeks of creation following a residency in Torrox, to learn more about this project, which officially premieres in September at the Teatro del Canal.
How are these intense days of creation going?
Paula Comitre: Very productive and creative. We spent a whole week in Torrox and flew directly from there to London. In total, it's going to be about 14 days together, 24 hours a day thinking about the project. After this long immersion, we're going to make two public presentations, the first one here at the Flamenco London Festival and the following day at the Slaughterhouse of the Biennial Flamenco Madrid.
You don't even have a day off; you travel the same day you perform. How do you cope with this additional physical effort?
PC: Yes, it has indeed happened to us and it is not the best, but well, it is part of this intense process.
After 15 days of intense work, where do you see the project? Do you see a clear path or does it still need further development?
PC: It still needs a lot of development, of course. We're at a stage where we've already started creating more images and trying to follow a dramaturgy, but it's still at a very early stage because we also wanted to give ourselves the space to research, to play, not simply look for results. That's the positive point of the Work in progress: which in an early phase of the project allows you to play and show that game also on a musical level.
Florencia Oz: We're quite happy because the hardest part is recognizing the essence and identity of the project. We've been meeting since February because we're resident artists at Teatro del Canal, and we believe we've achieved that identity and essence of what this project is all about during this intense time.
"In London, we go to a more traditional theater, but audiences here are very accustomed to it and understand that it's not a closed show. I'm not sure this is the case in Spain, but the advantage of this case is that there's no admission fee and the space isn't a theater. I think that might resonate with audiences in a different way."
This is a format that not all artists like. How do you experience the format of work in progresss? Do you like this possibility of showing the process?
PC: It's true that this point is a bit of a double-edged sword. In London, they're very used to seeing them as an open rehearsal and research project, but I don't feel that way as much in Spain. In London, we go to a more traditional theater, but audiences here are very accustomed to it and understand that it's not a closed play. I'm not sure this is the case in Spain, but the advantage of this case is that there's no admission fee and the space isn't a theater, so I think that might already place the audience in a different way.
FO: In Madrid, we're going to an unconventional space, a room in Matadero that's going to be built for this exhibition. We're super happy and grateful that they're giving us this opportunity to show the process, but it's true that in Spain, there's still that awareness of separating when you're going to see a show and when you're going to see a movie. work in progress.
PC: Anyway, with four days left, you put the pressure on yourself as if you were going to premiere, because we're not aware of that yet. We think it should be emphasized more, that it's a rehearsal, for everyone. But anyway, in general, we're calm, because we're figuring out, above all, where we don't want to go, and that helps a lot.
Let's talk about the theme of the work. What are these about? Reflections on the Fates?
PC: We met thanks to Rafaela Carrasco almost ten years ago, when we did the show Born ShadowIt was an immediate connection. From that moment on, we've always felt the need to do something together, but we hadn't found the time until now. We decided to submit a project to Canal Baila, it was accepted, and this is allowing us to develop it.
FO: This was born from the impulse of necessity and the desire to create together. We began to see what we could do, and we were very intrigued by this figure of the female triad, as in all civilizations the female goddess appeared tripartite, in three parts. We arrived at the mythology of the Fates.
PC: It was inevitable to come up with this mythology, which is about three sisters, each with a role, each with a different age. It was very easy to come up with three women who were also ten years apart in age, which also interested us. These three sisters from Roman mythology, the Fates, are the same as the Moirai in Greek mythology or the Norns in Norse mythology.
What specifically interests you about these mythological figures?
PC: They are goddesses who weave people's destinies. One is young, one is mature in her prime, and one represents old age. In mythology, the young woman produces the thread of life, passes it to the Grim Reaper, who is in her prime, who measures the life span people will have, and the Grim Reaper, who represents old age, is the one who cuts that thread. We like the image of them as creators of life, doers, not just as a passive image. They are the ones who decide destiny. Obviously, there are all the reflections on life and death that this brings, but above all, we like the idea of generating life, not going to the dark side. People, with the title, immediately go to death, so we want to give it that twist.
FO: Reflect on life, on those three stages, and on the weaknesses you encounter at each stage: in youth, maturity, and old age. Not everything is so literal and simple, but each stage has its own complexity and setbacks.
"We're looking forward to having you on this journey with us, because in the end, it's going to be a journey. It's true that during the process, we'll go into much more depth about each stage, about everything, but we believe we've found the essence of these three women—how they move, who they are, where they come from."
It's very interesting that the desire to be together came first, and then the subject itself came up. What attracted you to working together?
FO: I feel absolute admiration for both of them, as well as a lot of affection. Basically, I admire them, and for me, it's a gift I'm giving myself to share this with them, because I admire them both personally and artistically. I find both women very creative with an incredible capacity for interpretation. It's a discovery of this collective creation that I hadn't experienced until now. Discovering that side of them I didn't know about and seeing that everything is still in balance, that we're still just as good friends. Seeing those sides I didn't know about and seeing that everything is going so well adds to the admiration I already had before.
PC: It's like Flor says. It's like a treat we wanted to give ourselves right now. We've been working on a thousand things nonstop for a long time, and it was like, "Our collective creation, when's it going to be?" It's already been like, "Come on, girls, this year." I'm super happy with that decision because I think it's enriching me a lot personally.
It's a very beautiful way of approaching art, but also this collective, horizontal creation that addresses the issue it addresses is also very political, don't you think? In a sense that has to do with the way we are in the world, the way we relate...
PC: Absolutely, yes. We're both delighted right now with this expression of giving ourselves the gift of working like this. We hadn't thought about it that way, and yes, it's like another enrichment throughout our careers as creators, a facet to discover that we're enjoying.
How are you combining this project with your other ongoing projects? Florencia premiered at the Seville Biennial. On this day, in this world and keeps Antipodes on tour. And Paula Comitre also has several live works, including the exceptional After you, madam...
FO: We're coping. The three of us go to rehearsals with the computers in charge, producing, one of us arrives on a trip, leaves the next day... We're coping pretty well because we can continue to make our own proposals.
Finally, what do you expect from this? Work in progress Sunday?
PC: We're looking forward to having you on this journey with us, because in the end, it's going to be a journey. It's true that during the process, we'll go into much more depth about each stage, about everything, but we believe we've found the essence of these three women—how they move, who they are, where they come from.
→ 'Reflections on the Fates' will be presented on Sunday, June 1st at 19 p.m. at Matadero Madrid (Nave 1) as part of the program of the Biennial of Flamenco from Madrid. Free admission until capacity is reached.
