Eva Yerbabuena - Sadlers' Wells - review

Eva Yerbabuena, one of the best flamenco dancer in the world, opened the Flamenco festival this week end, with an interesting show, if a bit weird at times. She won the Flamenco Today prize three years in a row and the Spanish national dance prize too.

Yerbabuena is at her best when she is alone, dancing away, filling the stage of her great presence. Her footwork is amazing, so quick, so precise. The last scene, a solo of over 10 minutes, was brilliant.

There was a recurring scene of this contemporary ballet dancer, with a big white dress, dancing about to the singing of a solea. I failed to get the point, and it was the same in Eva's duet with guest choreographer Patrick de Bana. It was quite contemporary, a lot of arms, and stretching, and leaning but worked well. In a sense, that duet wasn't long enough, and I felt that he was underused. The same with one of her lead male dancers, who got a solo of about 2 minutes, wowed us, and then nothing else.

Oh I am sounding very negative, but these are really little remarks. Overall, a very good show!

Gute Nacht

From Schubert's cycle of songs Winterreise.
why did we never study such things when I was taking music lessons?

Claire Danes dancing

Claire Danes is my favourite actress, I've loved her since My so-called life. I knew she had studied ballet before taking acting, but I didn't know she has recently been performing dance in New York.

She seems to be into contemporary ballet. A family friend of hers is the choreographer Tamar Rogoff (no clue who she was until now) who created a barefoot solo for Danes last year, and now put together this duo for the actress and her friend Ariel Rogoff Flavin (the daughter of Tamar!)

The piece was actually choreographed 17 years ago by their teacher, Tamar Rogoff (Ariel's mother), and has been adapted into a work called Edith and Jenny, in which the two friends interact with each other and with old images of themselves on screens, acting in their first-ever film roles.

It all sounds very post modern, I'll let you read a full review here. I am just happy my favourite actress has passion and character and is able to do exactly what she likes. There's an interview of her here.

The blind woman who discovered the sea

Sweet feature in El Pais today about Maria Basilia, the mother of the Ecuatorian Carlos Alonso Palate, one of the 2 victims of ETA's bombing of the 30th of December (30-D).

It's been quite a month for her: her son died in a terrorist attack, then she had surgery to her eyes, and, after 30 years thinking she was blind, her cataract was sorted ad she could see again. She flew for the first time, to Spain, to be reunited with her 3 other children. She took an escalator for the first time. She took a train for the first time. And, in Valencia, she saw the sea for the first time.

The sea! The sea! What a feeling it must be to see the sea for the first time at the age of 60!

"Where does all this water go?" she wondered. She also pointed that "the water smells weird". :-) and, the most beautiful of all: "My husband had told me the sea was very sad".

A nice piece, if a bit cheesy sometimes, but nice. I am moved.