Afanador
Marcos Morau vender tilbage til København Danser - for første gang med Ballet Nacional de España.
Following the success of SONOMA in the spring of 2025, Marcos Morau returns to Copenhagen Dances—this time with AFANADOR, his first collaboration with Ballet Nacional de España.
With Afanador, Marcos Morau and Ballet Nacional de España have managed to conjure the essence of Spain, featuring flamenco, castanets, and bullfighting in a completely contemporary masterpiece.
Morau drew inspiration for the work from two photobooks by Colombian photographer Ruvén Afanador, titled Ángel Gitano and Mil Besos. Afanador's theatrical style fits perfectly with Morau's elegant and dramatic universe, and the two artists share a surreal and cinematic quality in their work that makes them a true dream pair.
Afanador's photographs of flamenco dancers, taken during photo sessions in Andalusian Spain, are translated into movement by Morau—a blend of traditional Spanish dance and his own characteristic style. The black-and-white images have also inspired the scenography (by Max Glaenzel), lighting (by Bernat Jansà), and costumes (by Silvia Delagneau). Composer Juan Cristóbal Saavedra's electronic and impactful music utilizes bells, Easter drums and songs, as well as flamenco guitars and voices to evoke the spirit of Andalusia.
Dramaturgically, Afanador stands as another example of Marcos Morau's exceptional and unique artistic voice. In an accompanying text to the work, he writes: “If the elements of tradition by definition create security, what happens then when they become strange and unrecognizable? (...) I would like people to come and see us with that mindset – as in certain dreams where we recognize places, people, and landscapes – and without understanding the concrete events, we know that it is really about ourselves.”
As an audience, we may not be able to answer Morau's question about what happens when the elements of tradition become anything but traditional. But we can certainly enjoy the fruit of his brilliant investigations—as in this work: a dreamy escape into the simultaneously foreign and familiar landscape that is Afanador.
“Breaking molds with a sensational, hypnotic, and visually exquisite show” - Ara.cat, Mar 2024
“The performance is a sensory experience that transcends the limits of traditional dance” - Cinemagavia.es, Feb 2024
“… Afanador, a work that will surely go down in the BNE’s history. As arresting as it is striking, the show demonstrates an entirely novel vision of Spanish dance that lacks for nothing” - Marta Carrasco, ABC
The performance is presented by: Copenhagen Dances
Translated using AI