Ballet Nacional de España closes London’s Flamenco Festival with Invocación

On this occasion, Ballet Nacional de España will present Invocación, a programme designed by Rubén Olmo, which showcases the dancers' versatility and technical mastery in three disciplines of Spanish dance: flamenco, stylised dance, and bolero. The production includes a tribute to the dancer and choreographer Mario Maya, one of the great maestros of Spanish dance.

In the words of Rubén Olmo, this is a very complete programme, "in which you can enjoy a flamenco full of life and power on stage, a ballet of the purest stylised dance, and one of the few recent choreographies of the bolero school."

The programme begins with Invocación Bolera, a piece written by Olmo himself, which brings the essence of the traditional bolero school into the modern day, paying homage to the great maestros who have set the standard in the Bolero school. This discipline is one of the most difficult in Spanish dance as it requires mastery of classical ballet, and is also one of the most spectacular due to the speed of its steps and leaps. The music is a contemporary composition, original for this piece, inspired by the young Seville-born composer and conductor Manuel Busto. The costumes, designed by Pedro Moreno, were recovered from the collections of Ballet Nacional de España and adapted for this work by the designer himself.

Next up is Jauleña, a choreography conceived by Rubén Olmo as a transitional solo, fusing stylised dance, bolero and flamenco, with special emphasis on granaína and zapateado. Again, the music is by Manuel Busto.

The first part of the programme culminates with Eterna Iberia, a choreography by Antonio Najarro, which combines the use of the castanet, the Spanish cape and the Cordoban hat, as well as the technique and interpretive power so characteristic of stylised Spanish dance. For this, the company will be dressed in tones of earth and sea, designed by Yaiza Pinillos.

The second part of the programme is dedicated to De Lo Flamenco. Homenaje a Mario Maya, with which Ballet Nacional de España honours the dancer and choreographer Mario Maya (1937-2008), a flamenco legend who until now had not figured in its repertoire.

Composed of seven movements, the piece is defined as a flamenco suite that reflects the innovative style of Mario Maya, founder of the Compañía Andaluza de Danza, now Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, in 1994.

Invocación premiered in 2020 at Teatro Villamarta in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) and since then Ballet Nacional de España has performed it in cities such as Madrid, Valencia, Santander and Granada, among others, as well as internationally in St. Petersburg, Dubai, Athens, Mexico City, Tel Aviv and New York, to name a few.

INVOCACIÓN

Ballet Nacional de España

Programme:

Invocación bolera, by Rubén Olmo
 Jauleña, by Rubén Olmo
 Eterna Iberia, by Antonio Najarro
 De lo flamenco. Homenaje a Mario Maya, by Mario Maya, Milagros Menjíbar, A. Rueda ‘Toná’, Manolo Marín, Isabel Bayón and Rafaela Carrasco

Sadler’s Wells Theatre (London)

 12^th, 13^th and 14^th June 2024, at 19:30
 15^th June 2024, at 15:00 and 19:30