 | REPERTOIRE Arenal |
Choreography: Nacho Duato
Music: María del Mar Bonet (Tonada de Segar, Carta a L’Exili, Tonada de Collir Olives, Dansa de la Primavera, Cançó de Bressol, Des de Mallorca a L’Alguer, Den Itan Nisi, Tonada de Segar.
Sets: Walter Nobbe
Costumes: Nacho Duato
Light Desing: Edward Effron
World premiere by the Nederlands Dans Theater at the Muziektheatre, Amsterdam, January 26th, 1988. Premiere by Compañía Nacional de Danza at the Teatro Romea, Murcia, October 6th, 1990.
Arenal is choreography by Nacho
Duato, inspired by songs of María
del Mar Bonet. In this ballet,
the choreographer’s purpose
has been to show the uninhibited
cheerfulness of the Mediterranean
personality contrasting with the
everyday struggle of life.
Duato makes this contrast very
obvious. On the one hand, there
is the dancing of a groupof men
and women motivated by the pure
joyfulness of music. Its jubilation
is reflected in the clear movements
of the dancers -pas de deux,
pas de trois, pas de quatre- to
Greek songs translated into Catalonian
and Majorcan ones by María
del Mar Bonet.
On the other hand, one woman dancer stands apart, dancing alone to four songs which are performed a capella. These songs are of a realistic content and seem to arise from an agonizing outcry of the heart. The dancer’s movements are nearer to the ground than those of the others. This is to express the influence of the land. Colour, choreography, movement, everything is undeniably Mediterranean.
Nacho Duato had worked
before with María
del Mar Bonet in another
ballet: Jardí Tancat. “Her
music constitutes
an important source
of inspiration for
my work”, says
the choreographer. “Later,
while I was listening
to her record Gavines
i Dragons, the idea
of Arenal immediately
occurred to me. At
once, I began to consider
the possibility of
María del Mar
Bonet joining us to
give a live performance
of her songs”.
Duato sees Arenalas an extension of
his first work, Jardí Tancat, “though
it is more vital,
livelier, and more
faithful to the inner
rhythm of the songs
themselves, without
abandoning the worlds
of people and of work”.
I have always known
that my songs were
born with rhythm,
but I only became
really aware of it
the day Nacho Duato
danced to them. When
I saw the first choreography,
Jardí Tancat, I was really excited. He had given them another life. They were independent, and at the same time, still mine. Yet they had acquired a new palpitation. They had taken a different road.
There is something
in Arenal that has
always fascinated
me: the treatment
of the Majorcan work
songs which I sing
a capella. These are
songs which form part
of our earliest Majorcan
tradition, but which
are no longer sung
where they come from
or what they were
created for, that
is work in the fields.
There are hardly any
places in Majorca
where work in the
country is still the
same as forty or fifty
years ago. However,
when Nacho used the
songs for his choreographies he gave them back this role of unique pieces, as if they were precious stones.
While Jardí Tancat, was
so full of life, in
Arenal I have been
discovering an inner
passion each time
I sing with them.
I will never tire
of repeating that
these choreographies
of Nacho Duato are
one of the most precious
artistic gifts I have
ever received. I believe
they belong to that
type of thing which
goes hand in hand
with the most deeply
felt emotions and
is hard to explain
in words.
Thank you, Nacho. María del Mar Bonet
