← Back to the programme

Paraíso de los negrosFRESCA!
María Pagés Compañía (Region of Madrid)

Paraíso de los negros

Saturday 25 July22:00 h75 minCasa Mediterráneo24 €
DanceFlamenco

The show

PARAÍSO DE LOS NEGROS is a flamenco choreography that draws its lifeblood from the tension between the principles of freedom and authority that run through Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York, the essence of opposites distilled in the eponymous work by Carl Van Vechten, the telluric philosophy of negritude of Léopold Sédar Senghor and Nina Simone’s vindication of black desire. Here, negritude is a semantically complicit echo in which the same eternal conflicts reverberate — those that hold humanity hostage to its own asymmetrical nature.

The company

María Pagés has become one of the most significant figures in flamenco in recent decades. Over the years, her company has performed on the finest and most prestigious stages in the world. She has also amassed a host of accolades, including the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts and the 2015 Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts. El Arbi El Harti, for his part, is a writer, poet, playwright and professor of Spanish literature of Moroccan origin. Since 2011 he has worked alongside María Pagés, and together they have created productions such as Utopía, Alegría de los niños, Una oda al tiempo, Yo, Carmen, Fronteras and, indeed, Paraíso de los negros.

Credits

Direction
María Pagés and El Arbi El Harti
Choreography, musical direction and costume design
María Pagés
Dramaturgy and lyrics
El Arbi El Harti
Music
Rubén Levaniegos, David Moñiz, Sergio Menem and María Pagés
Lighting design
Pau Fullana
Set design
María Pagés and El Arbi El Harti
Dance
María Pagés
Singing
Ana Ramón and Cristina Pedrosa
Guitar
Rubén Levaniegos
Cello
Sergio Menem
Violin
Graci del Saz
Percussion
Txema Uriarte
Technical coordination
Bernat Jansá
Sound and sound design
Enrique Cabañas
Stage management
Álex Pintado

Video