"Gracias, José Barrios": friends and colleagues unite to honor the legacy of the Cordoban dancer
Flamenco remembers one of the most acclaimed late artists through a show that recovers his best choreographies. Coming soon in ALL FLAMENCO.
"Gracias, José Barrios": friends and colleagues united in Córdoba to honor the bailaor's legacy.
Flamenco remembers one of the most acclaimed late artists through a show that recovers his best choreographies.
Last Saturday, October 15, 2022, friends and colleagues filled the Gran Teatro de Córdoba to fulfill José Barrios' last promise: to bring his choreographies to the stage of his homeland. Sadly, his death in 2020 meant that this illusion remained in the air. But thanks to this gathering, which packed the theater's stands, the creators of the tribute were able to bid farewell to José Barrios as he would have wanted: dancing.
His fans and followers were able to enjoy his emblematic works by twenty artists who got to know the legendary bailaor up close and personal. The choreographies that the Cordovan created for his shows "Reditum" and "CLÁSICO" were brought to the stage by artists such as Ana González, Carmen "La Talegona", Eva Varela -dance director of the show- José Antonio Jurado, Manuela López, Paco Berbel, Rafa Ramírez, Rubén Puertas and Virginia Muñoz. They were accompanied on vocals by Sara Corea, Ana María Ramón and Caridad Vega, whose voices were accompanied by Isaac Muñoz (guitar and musical director), Juan José Piedra (piano) and the musicians Luis Dorado, Víctor Guadiana and Diego Vilegas (percussion, violin and winds, respectively).
With this tribute, friends and artists remembered José Barrios and his unrepeatable contribution to the world of flamenco: "We want to thank you as you would like, with your most significant creations, with your people, with your friends, remembering the great legacy you left and showing it to your Córdoba, to flamenco and to the whole world".
As some of the attendees affirmed, both for the atmosphere of union among the companions and for the chair from which Barrios' belongings were hanging, the atmosphere and the spirit of the event seemed to have been orchestrated by the bailaor himself.
JOSÉ BARRIOS AND HIS TACONEO AROUND THE WORLD
José Barrios (1975-2020) was born in Córdoba and soon began to shine in Andalusian festivals. He studied in Seville and Madrid with leading figures such as Manolo Marín, Domingo Ortega and La China.
His international career began at the Boston Flamenco Ballet, and later continued in Japan, where she taught at schools in Kyoto and Osaka, and participated with Belén Maya in the Jal Kyoto Festival. His relationship with Japan will always be latent through projects such as the choreography of the flamenco show at Parque España, with which he collaborated for more than ten years. The same goes for the United States, where he was a guest artist at the Miami Flamenco Festival and the Ensemble Español from Chicago.
During his stay in Madrid he worked in various companies such as Blanca del Rey, Suite Española, Rafael Amargo, Domingo Ortega and José Porcel. In 2002 he joined the María Pagés Company as a dancer and coordinator. Barrios prepared the choreographies of "Canciones antes de una guerra", "Sevilla", "Autorretrato", "Utopía" or "Yo, Carmen", as well as performing, together with Pagés, a choreographic experiment at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.
In Madrid he worked at the Casa Patas Foundation and created his show "Básicamente Flamenco", which took him on tour to the United States, Morocco and Egypt. Later, with his show "Por si acaso amanece", he was in charge of closing the Spanish Presidency of the EU in Agadir (Morocco). This show also represented the Casa Patas Foundation in its tour of the USA, a center with which he returned to repeat as a protagonist in his international tour in 2011, this time with his new proposal: "Flamenco Algarabía".
These choreographies were followed by "Vino Amargo" (2012), presented at the Madrid Festival, "A solas con él" (2014), with which he represented Spain at the VI Algiers Contemporary Dance Festival, and "Reditum" (2017), acclaimed at the prestigious Jerez Festival and with which he inaugurated a new tour departing from Cuba to the United States. With his latest work, "CLÁSICO" (2019) he paid tribute to the great classics of different modalities. Now, the tribute is for José Barrios.
OUR TRIBUTE FROM ALL FLAMENCO
ALL FLAMENCO witnessed this tribute by fully recording the show in honor of the bailaor, which will soon be available on our TV channel available on Orange, other operators, and Prime Video Channels, as well as on our online platform ALLFLAMENCO.NET.
Also, if you want to revisit the work of José Barrios, don't miss the show "Reditum", available on ALL FLAMENCO.