That flamenco cliché called Spain

Considered one of the bases of flamenco, the fandango is more than a type of music or dance. The power of its name also projects an an imaginary picture which has to do with the stereotypes through which Spain and all things Spanish are seen from foreign eyes. Asking themselves how we are observed outside of the country, the cantaor David Lagos and dancer David Coria come together in a powerful show which looks at life, the fiesta, food, death...

A mixture of origins and vanguard, and evolving from the recording Hodierno by David Lagos whom David Coria wanted to work with for some time, ¡Fandango! looks at the clichés that envelop all things Spanish -siesta, bullfights, and fiesta- which well travelled Spanish artists come up against abroad.

The result is a dual show just as the expression fandango implies: at once it can evoke an absurd sarao or a serious folkloric piece. With 5 eclectic dancers, David Coria taps on the influence of both Antonio Gades and Pina Bausch, along with four musicians including percussion, electronics and sax, all led by the singer from Jerez who has sung in euskera (Basque) amongst the sculptures of Richard Serra at the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Awarded the Critic’s prize at the Festival de Jerez, ¡Fandango! premiered at the Bienal de Sevilla in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic and small scale audiences. In these circumstances, this work, which won the Giraldillo for Best Show, did not receive the prominence and repercussion it should have. Now, the Teatro de la Maestranza makes amends.