45th Anniversary Gala

A choreography inspired by a group of sonatas by Fray Antonio Soler, a monk at the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, selected by Mariemma and framed by two compositions by Luigi Boccherini as an opening and a finale. The first is taken from La Música nocturna de Madrid and the last is his celebrated Fandango.

The work evokes the atmosphere of Madrid in the final third of the 18^th century, when its light-hearted, carefree and bustling spirit had not yet given way to the unrestrained upheaval and bloody dawn of the following century.

Performance of Danza y tronío (1985)

El jaleo de las tres picadas (1992)

...Y dale con el fandango (Danza y tronío, Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, 2010)

During the years in which the duo Rosario and Antonio lived and performed in the United States in the 1940s, they also appeared in several musical films made in Hollywood. One of these was Hollywood Canteen (1944), an ensemble production created to entertain soldiers fighting in the Second World War. The number set to an orchestral version of the traditional Andalusian piece known as El vito, included in the film, offers a glimpse of the kind of shows with which the pair toured throughout the Americas: a rapid interweaving of turns and heelwork in which spectacle took precedence over technique. Rubén Olmo chose this dance as a nod to Antonio Ruiz Soler’s work in cinema, a facet of his career that he would later continue in Spain, not only as a dancer but also as a leading actor.

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Antonio Ruiz Soler’s interpretation of Pablo Sarasate’s music enhanced his reputation as both dancer and choreographer and became one of the jewels of his repertoire following its premiere in 1946 at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. The influence of tap dance evident in the technique of this zapateado makes it a virtuosic example of stylised flamenco. In 1959, Antonio performed a version of this solo while walking along a country road in the film Honeymoon, a Spanish-British co-production directed by Michael Powell whose visual imagery recalls Gene Kelly in An American in Paris. Over the years, it has been performed by countless principal dancers from different companies, all of them seeking to follow Antonio’s maxim: “To dance it is to caress the floor; you have to speak to the floor, not kick it.”

Zapateado performed by Francisco Velasco at the Teatro de la Zarzuela (Madrid, 2020) and at the Centenario de Antonio Ruiz Soler

Zapateado performed by Mariano Bernal

Premiered in 1975, this jota is undoubtedly the most widely performed work in Spain’s entire jota repertoire. Salvador Ruiz de Luna composed the music drawing on traditional Aragonese themes, working in close collaboration with choreographer Pedro Azorín. This partnership was fundamental to the work’s powerful stage presence and has contributed greatly to its popularity. The Jota Aragón was premiered by the Ballet Nacional de España on 21^st December 2023, during the Gala celebrating its 45^th Anniversary and on the occasion of the declaration of the Jota as a Representative Manifestation of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Jota Aragon workshop