Festival Dance
Yo, Carmen
Playhouse, Edinburgh
Mary Brennan
four stars
First there was a novel, then there was an opera and thereafter a succession of classical ballets and contemporary dance-works, all reinforcing the image of Carmen as a gypsy femme fatale. Flamenco dancer Maria Pages not only takes issue with this fiction, she’s created a pungently vivid riposte with Yo, Carmen (I, Carmen) in which she conjures up truths about women and the everyday lives they lead. Lives where fluttering fans are put to one side, and hands are instead wielding feather dusters and brooms while hearts and minds are meanwhile reaching out to a wider world, craving the freedoms and personal fulfilment that access to education can make possible.
Her Everywoman comes centre-stage in some wonderfully impassioned sequences of dance where traditional flamenco moves – some of them usually assigned to male dancers – are opened up to contemporary influences. An additional pliancy extends into tendrilling arm movements, accentuating the graceful womanliness of Pages and her seven (all-female) dancers, even as the staccato percussion of their driving footwork speaks of an innate, insistent strength. Although Pages is challenging the fantasy-cipher of Carmen as a male-devised character, she doesn’t exclude Bizet’s familiar, much-loved melodies from her soundscore. However his music gains a fine flamenco accent when sung or played by her live on-stage musicians, who further underpin the shifting moods of her choreography with strands of mournful cello, cascades of bravura guitar-work and visceral vocals.
Her assertion that all women are Carmen is given fierce physicality by her ensemble dancers, who are like amplifying echoes of her themes, but it is Pages herself who cuts through the Carmen-cliches with charismatic solos that are akin to anthems of free will and self-determination.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here