I come back to the battle of the gods that is being unfolded in Spain- a war involving Duato, Corella and in some way or the other Tamara Rojo (all the way from London, but present nonetheless). A couple of days ago I was somewhat sceptical of Duato's recent comments and decisions, and I mentioned his ruthless attack on Angel Corella's 'Ballet Castilla y León'. Corella, however, has given an interview to a local newspaper after his company performed in the Canaries, and it's now Corella's comments on contemporary dance that have me bewildered.
'My company doesn't do contemporary', he says to La Razón on the 2nd of August, 'or what I call contemporary, you know, the demi-pointe shoes and rolling around the floor as if you were a croquette...Like most of the good companies in the world, we do not have to tear our shirts whilsts screaming or roll around the floor naked, which for me is not dance.'
I am hoping that it's not only me that finds that definition of contemporary dance very offensive.
The fact that Corella has had an amazing career, not just with ABT but also as a guest artists in virtually every important stage on the world, does not allow him to demean contemporary dance like that. He too, like Duato, is full of hypocrisy then- or hasn't he recalled Duato's early anti-ballet pieces with much pain during his last interview for Dance Europe? If he wants classical dance to be respected in Spain as much as any other dance form, surely comments like that are not helping his cause?
Corella is, technique and facility aside, human, and therefore allowed his own definition of what dance is or isn't. I myself hold very strong believes on that matter, but then I'm unfortunately not as influential as my compatriot, and can afford to express them without stirring much more than a heated facebook debate. I also try to think that when I do discuss my views I tend to not put down anyone's work.
Something I've come to learn over the years is that we have to support each other in our practice. The dance world, more than many other proffesional realms, is given to bitching, and I accept this as a natural law. But when it comes to working, it should be left aside and some sort of decorum should exist between practitioners.
Which makes me think that perhaps the unexistance of respect is what keeps the dance scene in Spain from moving along. Corella has not only insulted a dance genre very popular in his own country (if Dance Theatre is what he referred to), but to a long-standing tradition of extremely capable artists. He also took a chance to hint at what he believed was Tamara Rojo's egostistical approach to developing dance in Spain. Duato was equally rude with Corella and Spanish ballet proffesionals.
And so they find themselves in a diva cat fight, name calling through different publications. It's a battle between the classical and the contemporary which is leaving its public very dubious about an already vague dance scene.
