PREVIEW OF THE NEW PRODUCTION
Considered the new star of flamenco, Patricia Guerrero, not yet thirty, has captivated European stages with the charisma of her baile, blending interpretative maturity with astonishing virtuosity. Winner of the 2016 Seville Flamenco Biennale with Catedral, Guerrero is a prodigious bailaora and a daughter of flamenco heritage. Born in Granada in 1990, she began studying dance at three under her mother, Carmen, a flamenco teacher. Her first stage performance came at eight, and at seventeen, she won her first prize, El Desplante, at the Festival de Cante de las Minas (La Unión). At twenty, director Carlos Saura chose her as a soloist for the television show Flamenco Today and later for the film Flamenco, Flamenco. Soon after, Rubén Olmo invited her to join as Principal Dancer with the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, the emblematic company of Andalusian culture.
Guerrero performed with the ensemble while also developing her own artistic projects, resulting in solos like Desde el Albayzín, Latidos del agua, and Touché with her own company. Rising to prominence between 2012 and 2016, she won two Giraldillo awards, flamenco's highest accolade: the first as "Breakthrough Artist" and the second in 2016 for Catedral, awarded "Best Production" with a concurrent nomination as Best Performer. Now, for the upcoming Biennale of Flamenco scheduled for September in Seville, Guerrero’s brand-new Distopía is highly anticipated, with Oriente Occidente presenting its world premiere. For the second time, as with Catedral, she entrusts her vision to the experienced director Juan Dolores Caballero.
The new production combines strong dramaturgy and flamenco tradition, "betrayed" by innovative elements such as operatic singing and percussion added to the classic guitar, along with neoclassical dance alongside flamenco baile. The title, Distopía, suggests an idealized vision of a perfect society while highlighting its imperfections, alienation, and suffering. Loosely inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's grandiose painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, Guerrero brings some of its imagery into the performance. Undoubtedly, Guerrero will once again infuse this work with her signature style: the explosive force of rebellion, a challenge to harmony, unveiling hidden violence and silent reactions to societal pain through the varying compás of flamenco.
patricia-guerrero.es
Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) supports the participation of Compañia Patricia Guerrero at the 2018 Oriente Occidente Festival through the Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE), as part of the Mobility grant.
