A true leader in contemporary Spanish dance, so much so that the Lyon Biennale of 1992, titled "Pasiòn d’Espana," chose him as the guiding figure of the entire event. It's Cesc Gelabert, a familiar name also at the Oriente Occidente Festival. With a compelling suite of solo performances, he was a key protagonist in the 1988 edition, dedicated to the cultures of the Mediterranean basin. This year, he returns to Rovereto with his latest production, created at the end of '93 as a tribute to the centenary of Joan Miró.
Gelabert's journey began in the early 1970s when what would later be termed "nueva dansa," akin to French and Italian phenomena, was still an entirely new concept. It was clear from the start that Gelabert viewed choreography closely intertwined with other arts. Notably, his collaboration with the painter Frederic Amat, which continues to this day, began in those early '70s. After refining his technique in New York under Ana Maleras, he returned to Barcelona in 1980, where he began working with Lydia Azzopardi, an English dancer and choreographer. Together, they founded the Gelabert-Azzopardi Company in 1986. Among their most celebrated creations are "Requiem de Verdi" in '87 and the successful "Belmonte," originally staged in '88 and reworked for Lyon in '92, inspired by the legendary Seville bullfighter Juan Belmonte (born in 1892 and died by suicide in 1962), a true icon of Spain. The Gelabert-Azzopardi duo mentored many emerging young artists in the '80s and '90s, blending contemporary language with cultural memory from their homeland with passion and vigor.
For Gelabert's new production dedicated to Joan Miró, both Gelabert and Lydia Azzopardi (co-authors of the choreography) collaborated with Frederic Amat for sets and costumes, Carlos Miranda for music, and the Chamber Orchestra of Teatre Lliure, conducted by debutant Josep Pons.
"Las miradas son semillas, mirar es sembrar, Miró trabaja como un jardinière" ("The gazes are seeds, to look is to sow, Miró works like a gardener"). From this image by Octavio Paz, Gelabert draws inspiration for his choreographic homage to Miró, titled "El Jardiner." "I did not want," explains Gelabert, "to reproduce a Miró painting but rather to understand Miró's way of looking and playing with reality, to then introduce it into my creative world and that of the artists collaborating with me in the search for this inner garden."
This inner garden relates Gelabert to the concept of the original paradise we all carry within. "A space," he continues, "that allows us to walk in the world and see it in a positive light, even if not always optimistically. A space connected to the naivety of art in the 1920s, without forgetting the darkness that always accompanies Miró's work." From this dreamlike and introspective approach arise the symbolic characters of Gelabert's Mediterranean garden. "It could represent," the author adds, "the decomposition of the solar spectrum into various colors and forms of energy. In the finale, these come together, creating choreographic creations."
Frederic Amat, in approaching Miró for sets and costumes, did not aim for a mimetic evocation of the painter's work. Instead, choices were motivated by the distinct characters suggested by the garden's elements: the rose, rosemary, olive tree, pomegranate, and of course, the gardener...
Finally, Carlos Miranda's score. "The music draws inspiration from a painter's creative process," writes the composer, "where a stylized reality is extracted from a model. The music follows a similar process, revealing at the end the 'model' that has been musically 'painted': a sardana" (a traditional Catalan dance).
