![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Billy-jean.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn \u201cLa Curva\u201d (The Curve, 2011), seen March 16 at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, Galv\u00e1n transforms flamenco dancing\u2019s noble male image. The experience is like watching a painter create a cubist portrait. Except in this case what Galv\u00e1n presents is not a fractured face, but a full-blooded person, with his androgynous, grotesque, buffoonish, and madman characteristics, as well as his regal, virile side.<\/p>\n
On the wide stage reminiscent of a factory removed of its objects, Galv\u00e1n sallies between stage right, where the young, avant-garde pianist Sylvie Courvoisier plays prepared piano, and stage left, where the middle age musician El Bobote and singer In\u00e9s Bac\u00e1n are seated at a table. El Bobote comes to represent the father as he raps his hands in counterpoint to Galv\u00e1n\u2019s rhythms while shouting salvos of approval. Meanwhile Bac\u00e1n could be understood as the mother figure: her voice is as all encompassing as her Venus of Willemdorf body.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Photo by Kevin Yatarola<\/p><\/div>\n
In the middle of the 80-minute work, Galv\u00e1n hammers his feet atop the rickety table in front of his \u201cparents\u201d while Courvoiser plays the opening bars of Igor Stravinsky\u2019s \u201cRite of Spring.\u201d Undoubtedly, Galv\u00e1n is thinking of the dancer-choreographer (and rebel) Vaslav Nijinsky. He refused to employ ballets steps in his dance work to Stravinsky\u2019s music. A kindred spirit for Galv\u00e1n, Nijinsky distorted the ballet dancers\u2019 bodies into totem-esque shapes in \u201cRite\u201d and critics railed at this grotesquery. \u201cRite\u201d also caused a riot. In \u201cLa Curva,\u201d the only real violence occurs when Galv\u00e1n topples, on four separate occasions, a stack of chairs. They crash to the ground, but none present seem to care. It\u2019s hard to cause a scandal in the theater these days.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Photo by Kevin Yatarola<\/p><\/div>\n
In the program notes, the great flamenco dancer Vicente Escudero (1892-1980) is mentioned as a source of inspiration for \u201cLa Curva.\u201d Of particular interest to Galv\u00e1n, it says, was Escudero\u2019s 1924 Paris performance, where the performer played a part of a banjo as if it was a caj\u00f3n (the Afro-Peruvian instrument currently used in most flamenco performances). In a similar fashion, Galv\u00e1n hangs a folded chair over his chest and raps out a rhythm. The result is all too Duchamp. But the mention of Escudero in the program notes appears to have a far greater significance than this one lost 1924 performance. Most flamenco fans associate Escudero with his ten principles on male flamenco dancing<\/a>. They are worth quoting:<\/p>\n Dance in a masculine style.<\/p>\n Sobriety.<\/p>\n Turn the wrist with the fingers closed.<\/p>\n Limited movement of the hips.<\/p>\n Dance in a calm manner, without vanity.<\/p>\n Harmony of feet, arms and head.<\/p>\n Be beautiful, flexible and honest.<\/p>\n Develop an individual style and emphasis.<\/p>\n Dance in traditional costume.<\/p>\n Keep a range of sounds in the mind, don’t put nails in the boots, dance on a simple stage and don’t use accessories.<\/p>\n In \u201cLa Curva,\u201d Galv\u00e1n flouts every single principle of Escudero\u2019s except the call to develop an individual style. Galv\u00e1n repeatedly juts his hips forward \u00e0 la Michael Jackson. He dances in black stretch pants and a t-shirt. He is never calm. Instead his dancing is like a cyclone, where the most inner curve resembles warp speed. Rather than striving for harmony, Galv\u00e1n employs physical distortion and isolation.<\/p>\n An iconoclast, Galv\u00e1n is one that thankfully has a cause. He refuses to be imprisoned by the noble, male, flamenco dancing image. While it was carefully erected to celebrate the dignity of the gypsy, he sees no reason for keeping it. Those awkwardly stacked chairs, which crash to the floor with a swift pull in \u201cLa Curva,\u201d symbolize Galv\u00e1n\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n