"Iguaya," the charm of primitive dance

(story to be published in tomorrow’s issue, March 16)

Around 1450, when Spain was occupying the Canaries, the local populace was just exiting the dark times and entering the Renaissance. A true leap forward. From this point on, the history of the “Iguaya” ballet begins. Choreographer and director Gelu Barbu will present the ballet tonight at the Romanian Opera at 18.30. “I have always been a passionate admirer of legends and their rediscovery. I have researched, I tried to find their meaning as passage rites.” – the director says. “Iguaya” is a mating ritual: groups of men and women observe and stalk each other. Everything is basic, primitive, brutal, translated into dance through sensual, free motions but not vulgar, that I imagined,” Gelu Barbu says. He made this show a postmodern one. The music belongs to J.J Falco Sanabria who reconstructed the Canary rhythms that were kept for generations. . “Iguaya” along with “Tajaraste” and “The Atlantic Poem” is part of the “Pre Hispanic Legends” trilogy mounted at the Romanian Opera in September 1997. Initiator of the renowned Ballet School in Las Palmas, Gelu Barbu trained ballet dancers that perform in the greatest opera halls around the world. He is the creator of many great shows among which: “Tiempo de Gran Canaria,” dedicated to Canary writer and composer Nestor Alamo, a series of dance shows inspired by Garcia Lorca – “Tristram and Isolde,” “Romeo and Juliet” etc. He also signed the choreography for “Jesus Christ Superstar” in 1975 in Madrid. The scenography for the show is signed by Jose Damaso, Mario Utrera, Frank Artiga and Carmen Hernandez (Spain). Soloists: Rodica Fiastru, Marius Iorgulescu, Remus Campianu. The second part of the ballet night, “Japanese Stamps” by Ioan Tugearu, includes dances inspired from the traditional Japanese music, interpreted by Corina Dumitrescu, Mihai Babuska, Cristian Craciun, Razvan Mazilu, Mirela Simniceanu, Vlad Toader, Razvan Marinescu, Mircea Craciun. The premiere of this ballet was in February this year during the “Images from Land of the Rising Sun” show.