“’Ephemeral Shadow II’ is a powerful and contemporary proposal”

Those who saw him three years ago with “Guerrero”, a show that paid tribute to the women who filled his life with learning, witnessed the passion and dedication of the Spanish dancer in each movement. Three years after that presentation, Eduardo Guerrero returns with a powerful staging that arrives twice in Peru as part of the Cádiz-born South American tour. Shortly before the theaters closed in the world, the prodigious artist concluded his then last piece on stage. “Sombra ephemeral II” was born from a first presentation made at the Seville Flamenco Festival in 2018, but it evolved so much that today it marks a noticeable distance from its predecessor. This emotional creation reaffirms that with Guerrero’s tireless heel tapping, the body is also capable of raising its voice to question and carry a message full of current affairs and tolerance. He is accompanied by the voices of Samara Montañez and Manuel Soto, along with Javier Ibáñez on guitar. The performances will take place at the Grand National Theater.

Ephemeral Shadow II is part of a show created several years ago, what would you say are the most substantial differences between them?

Now there is a whole creative work that we have taken to the theater. The first ephemeral shadow was made in the street, without scenery or lighting. When we decided to take it to the Jerez festival in 2019, the growth of this powerful and contemporary proposal began. A special set design, a lighting design is commissioned. There is a search for the aesthetic with the costumes and a whole research work, we created all the flamenco lyrics to make them more consistent with the conceptual line of the piece.

Two themes that are repeated in your shows are the role of women in society and the need for freedom. What other additional topics are you addressing now?

It seems that we do not realize the value that women have in life. The empowerment of women is represented in this piece with her climbing a mountain with a branch in her hand and nailing it to the top of the top. There is also the relationship with the earth, the destruction, the abuse we do with the material, individualism.

In addition to your strength and vitality when it comes to dancing, how do you make this show connect with the public?

We try to launch some questions so that it is able to dialogue with the show. For example, the singers come on stage and the first thing they do is launch a questioning cry: “Who closes? who opens? who asks?”. That is the first message that is heard in the piece and what is tried is to show who launches into the world and who is capable of staying with himself.

Is it because of these existential questions that it was decided to include Sufi poetry in this piece?

It’s something we’ve been looking for since a new discovery we made. There came a time when we asked ourselves why we have to sing lyrics that other singers have previously suffered and we are not capable of channeling. It seemed to us that it was more beautiful and better to build from Sufi poetry the lyrics that moved us and dialogued from what was happening in the work. They are poems that tell a lot and talk about what is happening now even though they have been written for a long time.

Is the pandemic part of the inspiration for this show? “Sombra ephemeral II” was created without having any idea that this was going to happen, but it is true that the message it has is very social and it was necessary to be brought to the stage. That is why I think it has become a very current show because all those questions that we asked ourselves before the pandemic had no answer until we have experienced the situation that has touched us. Then, in the midst of the pandemic, we have created “Underneath the feet”, which closes a trilogy made up of these pieces, the two ephemeral shadows, which are a reflection of the world situation we are going through.

Personally, how have you lived these last two years?

They helped me a lot, it was like a necessary break to create, to have time for myself, to listen to what my body needed. I was able to read what I wanted to present, it helped me to do the table work for my next show.

Were you one of those who turned to the virtual world to continue transmitting their art?

He organized some performances at home. For a few months, every day I made a one-hour connection with the people who followed me. We talked a little, I danced to them, I taught them to do some step. Also, once a month, we show complete presentations of some piece on our website for free. But for me it was only until the strange situation we were experiencing lasted.

When do you resume your face-to-face activities?

It didn’t take long for me to return to the stage, it was in 2020 itself. If I had to perform in the street it didn’t matter, the important thing was to keep the soul and spirit of art and culture alive. We made an effort to respect capacity to show the public that we were more alive than ever. It was necessary for people to be able to return to the theater to consume art live and in coexistence with the artist and the emotion.

MORE INFORMATION

“Ephemeral Shadow II” is on Monday, March 28 at 8:30 pm and Tuesday, March 29 at 9 pm at the Gran Teatro Nacional. Tickets in Teleticket from S/40.