La Bella Otero arrives in Albacete on the 20th anniversary of the reopening of Teatro Circo

Rubén Olmo has placed dance at the service of storytelling in order to achieve a fusion of styles — from folklore to flamenco and stylized dance — to tell, through dance, the story of a woman who reinvented herself after a tragic event in her childhood, triumphed as an artist and courtesan, and ended up ruined by gambling.

“Many years ago, before I had even begun my career as a choreographer, I found some postcards of La Bella Otero in a second-hand shop. When I discovered that one of the most famous women of her time came from a village in Pontevedra, I knew I had to create a ballet about her life. But I knew I needed the support of a major company in order to stage it as I imagined it, as a large-scale production; directing the Ballet Nacional de España has allowed me to make it a reality,” explains Rubén Olmo about the origin of his choreography.

“It is a very emotional and also dramatic show, because it tells the story of a woman who reaches the very top and ends up alone and forgotten,” adds the director. The plot, dramatized by Gregor Acuña-Pohl, has selected some of the most significant moments in the artist’s biography that could be expressed through dance, without attempting to be exhaustive. “I have tried to stay close to the historical figure and turn it into a ballet that moves the audience, without judging her. The most important thing for me was to show a person with great magnetism, charisma and strength.”

For Aitana Rousseau, former dancer of the Ballet Nacional de España, La Bella Otero is “the most important professional challenge I have ever faced. She is a very complete character who evolves as the work progresses and connects with many emotions.” For her, “having been present throughout the entire creative process with Rubén, Gregor and Patricia has been extremely enriching, both professionally and personally. Having Patricia as a reference has been a tremendous help in taking on this role.” In the young dancer’s words, for the audience La Bella Otero is “like a film; there is a powerful staging and an aesthetic very much rooted in the period.”

To embody the protagonist in her later years, Rubén Olmo has counted on the special collaboration of Maribel Gallardo, répétiteur of the Ballet Nacional de España. “Taking up the character of Madame Otero again, beyond what it means to step into the shoes of such a fascinating woman despite her tragic life, means reliving the emotion of feeling the stage and the warmth of the audience. Unfortunately, the artistic life of a dancer is very short, and only rarely does life give you an opportunity like the one I am fortunately experiencing, intensely and gratefully,” says the Cádiz-born dancer.

Music, costumes, set design and lighting

Composer and conductor Manuel Busto, originally from the Sevillian town of Los Palacios y Villafranca, has coordinated the musicians from different styles who composed the music for this ballet, integrating them into the symphonic score he created.

The remaining compositions in the work were created by Alejandro Cruz Benavides, Agustín Diassera, the group Rarefolk, and flamenco guitarists Diego Losada, Víctor Márquez, Enrique Bermúdez and Pau Vallet.

Alongside the creation of such a complex and varied score, another of the challenges of this dramatic ballet has been the design of the nearly 200 costumes needed to dress the dancers in such diverse periods and settings as a Galician village, Belle Époque Paris, or a café cantante. Canary Islands designer Yaiza Pinillos is especially proud of her personal reworking of the Byzantine-inspired, jewel-embroidered costume that La Bella Otero wears in one of her most iconic portraits. In addition to the difficulty of designing costumes that reflect a period while allowing the dancers to move and change easily between scenes, there is also the use of wigs, beards, moustaches and hats required to characterize the characters.

For set designer Eduardo Moreno, the challenge was to design a single architectural element that would help identify the time and place of each scene with only a few simple additions. The lighting designed by Juan Gómez-Cornejo, for its part, envelops the dancers, adding an emotional element to each setting.

Since its premiere at Madrid’s Teatro de la Zarzuela in 2021, La Bella Otero also toured last season to Seville. This week it will premiere at Teatro Circo in Albacete, and at the end of October it will be presented at Teatro Cervantes in Málaga.

Program:

LA BELLA OTERO

Teatro Circo Albacete

Friday, September 30^th, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 1^st, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 2^nd, 2022, 6:00 p.m.