Federico Garcia Lorca He felt a deep admiration for the Roma people, primarily symbolic and poetic. While not an exceptional researcher of their roots, culture, and traditions, he skillfully incorporated his poetry by idolizing the Roma people, paying them homage and respect. Hence his Gypsy romance It was his crowning achievement in honor of the Roma people and has been set to music to exhaustion in a thousand possible ways.
The latest, which will soon be the penultimate one, is the reinterpretation that has been presented in the Lorca and Granada Cycle in the Generalife Gardens From Granada. The driving force behind this new production is none other than the goddess of dance. Manuela Carrasco.
Under the title The gypsy women sing and dance to Lorca has created a collection of independent, unconnected prints whose skeleton has been to rescue the Gypsy romance Lorca-esque, by including much of its content in the verses. A quick reading of the text suggests a coherent, well-constructed script with a palpable narrative thread. This is not the case with Carrasco's proposal, which was most valuable in creating individual choreographies to weave together Lorca's work and give meaning to the collection of poems.
The complete absence of set design beyond a central platform where the musicians were positioned was striking. The Generalife venue is probably one of the largest stages in the country, and a dance performance alone isn't enough to fill it, although that would certainly work. But it's true that the immense stage area feels empty, hollow, without elements to complement the main narrative, so more has to be done to make the performance stand out.
The title of the work itself suggests that there wouldn't be a common thread beyond a bold display of dances and canteconsecutive s, with transitions that are barely or not at all operational, leaving the scene dark in each one.
However, numerous flashes of art illuminated the night. To begin with, the recitation of Coco ReyesShe was fantastic, understated, yet powerfully conveying with continuous odes and praises to the poet. She invited us to let in the voices of the past: mothers, grandmothers, girls, forgers, basket weavers… while the tangos of Granada and the Romance of the Black Sorrow.
Henry the ExtremaduranThe highest authority on dance accompaniment sang a taranto to Manuela. She raised her arms to the sky. She opened her hands and time stood still. She commanded the stage without hardly moving, needing no props, justified solely by the solemnity of wisdom.
"The gardens of the Generalife trembled. Manuela danced to the..." canteWithout filters, without time, forgetting who she was to become poetry. Because this is where her work reached its peak. To say soleá is to say Manuela and vice versa. Words are superfluous because there are none to define her. She is stillness made essence. She is movement made effigy, sculpture. She is the silhouette empty of shadows. She is the dance without breaking, without making a sound. In short, she is the alchemist of the soleá.
The musical modifications of the poet's verses, far removed from the familiar, were well received, such as the What a fuss for joys, with touches of dance or the Baladilla of the three rivers who interpreted Hope Fernandez restrained in the thirds and strident at the end.
As I mentioned, the show doesn't seem to have a script, at least not in the way it has been presented each year on this stage, which suggests apparent studied improvisations, measured but disconnected from each other.
Because Esperanza was followed by a choral bulerías with the participation of the entire cast, which were nothing more than a temporary filler justified by the Romance of the moon, moon and round of little feet to bulerías and jaleos of Saray de los Reyes, Inés Rubio, Pastora Galván, Antonio Amaya PeteteManuela and even Esperanza, who had to be absent momentarily due to sound problems, something that was present all night, even leaving the singers' microphones open when they were backstage.
They saved the painting cante de The Tobala y Zamara Carrasco, the violin of Samuel Cortes and the guitars of Pedro y Antonio Santiago Ñoño –this last act wasn't on the announcement– and they managed to compensate for the lack of stagecraft with their professionalism. Furthermore, Inés Rubio, with her soleá por bulerías, and Saray de los Reyes later brought freshness and flamenco spirit with their dancing, powerful on stage and true flamenco artists.
The transitions were undeniably flawed. The lack of a stage director was noticeable; there was a lack of one to provide continuity between each piece, preventing the stage from going dark between scenes and ensuring the artists' movements were visible as they arranged their chairs according to the design of each scene.
The chords of the tarara which ended up as musical tangos of Juana del Revuelo who danced beautifully Pastora Galván, like a basket-selling woman, swaggering with grace and charm, mischievous and provocative. Pastora He dances everything, and he's outstanding. He sets the ashes alight without even blowing or mussing his hair.
If the set design was lacking, Sierra's farruca with Cortés's violin and José Carrasco's percussion was superfluous, since, despite being a beautiful composition, it added nothing to the performance beyond being a work that masterfully played with tonalities. The composition's virtuosity cannot be diminished in the slightest, because... Peter Sierra He says a lot with a little; he's a tremendous composer. But what's being criticized here isn't the work itself, but how it fits into the whole. Don't get confused.
To close, Coco Reyes recited the Poem of the Gypsy seguiriyaBelonging to Poem of the Cante JondoAnd she opened the gates to the goddess Manuela. The gardens of the Generalife trembled. She danced to the canteWithout filters, without time, forgetting who she was to become poetry. Because this is where her work reached its peak. To say soleá is to say Manuela and vice versa. Words are superfluous because there are none to define her. She is stillness made essence. She is movement made effigy, sculpture. She is the silhouette empty of shadows. She is the dance without breaking, without making a sound. In short, she is the alchemist of the soleá.
Credits
The gypsy women sing and dance to Lorca, by Manuela Carrasco
Lorca and Granada Cycle in the Generalife Gardens, Granada
July 31, 2026
Dance: Manuela Carrasco
Flamenco dancers: Pastora Galván, Saray de los Reyes, Inés Rubio
Guitars: Pedro Sierra, Ñoño Santiago
Singers: La Tobala, Zamara Carrasco
Special collaboration: Enrique el Extremeño, Esperanza Fernández
Violin: Samuel Cortes
Compass: Antonio Amaya Petete
Percussion: Jose Carrasco
Actress: Coco Reyes
