collaboration
with
Dlaz),
La Cafiaa dc Mdkga /
/ La Pirula about the three flamenco singers in the ride came litde more than- a
Josd Salazar
year after the economic crisis in Spain forced him to close Flamenka. Fighting disillusionment, Roji remained con-
fident
in his mission
tcr
chronicle and present famenco in Mdlaga. He regularly leads flamenco presentations at local schools,
participates in documentary film projects, produces performances in a diverse array of locafrom restaurants tions
to
theatres
and
takes
groups on- a famenco tour of Malaga. His latest nyone who's anyone in the flamenco scene in Mdlaga, Spain, knows Paco Roji. In 2003, Roji embarked on an ambitious journey to create an ur-
cultural space
compds dc
k
uida. is
about dancer Jos6 Losada Santiago -as known by the stage name Qil1ds mld in his own words through a series of selected vignettes collected in interviews conducted by Roji and journalist Francis Marmol. The next, La Repornpa dr Mnkga a biography of singer Enriqueta Reyes -Poras, whose tragic death at the age of
21
in
1959 cut short a promising career garnered Roji and parmers Ram6n -Soler Dlaz and Paco Ferniindez rhe 2072 Flamenco Hoy Prize. The publication of Rojit most recent book t\ 2013 (a second ,epita Du15n post(ard )hoto: Courtesy of Paro Roji
lived during the proto-famenco period. It is between the mid- to late-19dr century that flamenco begins to develop into its own genre of Spanish dance, and as we can see in Durdnt postcards and some of
the photographs of her contemporaries, neither the costumes nor the movement and positioning were quite what we've ultimately come to consider flamenco.
dancing dressed as a man and being the first to dance soleares, a sryle of famenco with the rhythmic footwork that is now
building moving in May to the
Pepa
for historical material, scanning all the photogaphs he could find. He also
The first book, Al
The exhibition opens with postcards of Pepita Durdn, tlre first famenco dancer from M:ilaga forwhom Roji has found any historical widence. Born in 1830, Durdn
in@, ammssioned by the 2015 Milaga Flamenco Biennial. The exhibition opened last March at the provincial government
it
hometown.
mark all the same.
fwo beautifrrl studio shots introduce Tiinidad Huertas, la Cuenca. By the 1880s, she was famous for two drings:
Flores Professional Conservatory of Dance. Roji spent years scouring public archives
flamenco clothing, shoes, jewelry, music, boola and instruments. Between 20ll and 2013, Roji also researched and co-authored duee books about a handful of the most iconic flamenco artists from Mdlaga, his
La Lupi - appear. Mdkga al baib is not through the faces to see about searching who you recognize, but about discovering dancers you dorit know but who left their
project has been to curate the archival photography exhibition Mdkga al baib (Mdkga Danc-
dedicated entireh to famenco and dance. He called
Flamenka, and within its walls Roji organized famenco-themed shows and art exhibitions, and stocked a small store with
and ability to cleanly catch dancers in motion is nothing like what we would expect from contemporary dance photography. Second, none of Mdlrg?. dancers whove become world famous throughout the 21st people like Rocio Molina or century
knocked on the doors of many local famiIies who had artists in their lineage. His efforts have produced a valuable personal archive that served as the exhibitiont primary source. The exhibition's varied mix of perfor-
mance, studio and candid photos give an excellent idea of famencot duality: a traditional art form that can be spontaneously performed in a patio or on the street amongst friends even in a bathing suit
- at a beach in Torremostanding in the surf Iinos, as in one photo from the 1960s and as a professional art form that reaches its maximum potential on a stage. Although movement is implied in many of the photos, it is only in a select few that we see action. This is likely due to the timeframe covered by the exhibition 1830 to 1960, which suggests two significant restrictions. First, the photo q"dity
emblematic of all flamenco dance. One posed photo from the 1940s is par-
ticularly striking. \7e see aspects of cosruming t}at have become commonplace the polka dot print fabrics, the vest and -Cordovan hat and the subject of the - older than nine or 10, is photo, a boy no smoking a cigarette. The photot caption reveals that this precocious young man is Pepito Vargas, a Malaga legend, who
March 1,2015, the morning after celebrating his 76th birthday passed away on
just six days before the exhibition opened. Vargas danced with the great Carmen Amaya and passed on his knowledge to his nephew, the phenomenal young dancer Adrian Santana, but before all that, he performed in his teens as a member of the neighbourhood group Los Vargas, which included La Repompa and Carrete, among others.
Mdkga al baile is a lovingly crafted exhi-
bition that reminds viewers of how Mdlaga and its people have changed, and also about what remains the same and merits preservation. v
Fall
2015
| ,u.*
Internatlonal
45