What the man from Almería proposes Julius ruiz It belongs to the In-Progress 2025 program and had its world premiere on June 3rd at the biennial of Flamenco Madrid, placing the viewer before an interdisciplinary project in which there is more non-verbal communication – that is, mime – than first-rate dance in the strict sense, combining with different approaches such as writing and a very tangential performance, but without managing to place the critic fully in the context of family heritage and the intergenerational connection that the proposal intended.
Thus defined according to our interpretation, which is not easy due to the complexity of the cognitive attitude and given that the text projected on the proscenium was hardly visible if not impossible, Ruiz deposits his agitations, actions and relationships, but I have for you that he does not manage emotions well to channel and guide them effectively.
And I say the above because the impact is sought by appealing to the cockroach, the swan, the fox and the spider, with scenic walks, excessive lying on the ground and futile attitudes, that is, a fauna that makes it difficult to plan the family context and that invisible inheritance that passes more through the heart than through the will.
In the proposed interaction, the Almerian relates to a confusing dance, even to the point of Tchaikovsky for the personal search, which converges in what we could call philosophical anthropology, the exploration between the human and the animal, since what it examines is precisely that, with a behavior that could be made more precise from the female wardrobe, but as someone who goes from comedy to tragedy from the impetus, a recurring theme in the theater.
Family It is, therefore, a fable—cockroach, swan, or fox—that apparently corresponds to Ruiz's mother, aunt, and grandmother, an allegory that is most notably justified in Swan Lake that the guitarist performed David of Anna, with the protagonist dressed as a swan and scattering feathers across the stage.
"Ruiz uses language that moves between the flamenco —more tap dancing than anything else—, the modern and the contemporary, with diagonals, off-axis turns and impulses that do not bring new life, nor even renewed energy, with movements that reveal technical skill and personal mimicry.”
Ruiz also appeals to the manifestly improvable levantica of Pepe de Pura and to the taranto danced with a tango ending, for which he appears wrapped in a fur coat and moves in therianthropy, the transformation from human to animal, the myth of the man who transforms into another animal, a character whose images history portrays – remember, for example, the Egyptian gods – and who shares human traits and others taken from other animals.
In his approach to dance, Ruiz uses a language that moves between the flamenco –more tap dancing than anything else–, the modern and the contemporary, with diagonals, off-axis turns and impulses that do not bring new sap, nor even renewed energy, with movements that reveal technical skill and mimicry in the personal, in the very way of assuming each step, displacement or turn, from which we infer that the final structure is complex from the understanding, since a fabric is formed where the dialogue with the intentions seems abstruse.
I do not question that Julio Ruiz wanted to leave his attempt at life on the stage as a legacy or family transmission, but not the technical strength, much less the depth, however much he strives to give us new subtleties in his movements, in which there is no feeling of taste, although there is physical homogeneity, that which gives him otherness as a possibility of creation, particularity as a reason for inspiration.
The Family, a story by Julio Ruiz It is, as its name indicates, a somewhat vague narrative that addresses the idea of identity in all its facets, at least from three familiar angles, with the systematization of a creative process in pursuit of a new perception and apprehension of reality to be captured in his work.
The problem is that the dance trend doesn't resonate because of its essence as a living organism. Not even because of what we might call structured improvisation. Nor does it convey the underlying idea of prioritizing animal interaction to construct compositions that, rather than highlighting the importance of the body and movement, acknowledge that we are part of something, but the art of selling, or of speaking freely, has nothing to do with the essence of short stories.
Of course, if the fable of The donkey and the well, in which the equine's attitude towards adversity teaches us that we have the ability to shake off any dirt thrown at us, The It is an artificial fable, too bland to teach moral lessons.
Credits
The Family, a story by Julio Ruiz, from the Julio Ruiz Company
XXX Jerez Festival
Blas Infante Social Center
February 25th 2026
Original idea, direction, choreography and performer: Julio Ruiz
Musical creation and guitar: David de Ana
Guest artist: Pepe de Pura (cante)
