Rosalía has not been the primary: pop stars who learn about dance | Culture | EUROtoday

The on the spot success of every little thing that Rosalía touches has positioned dance within the highlight lately. The artist began the world tour of her work on March 16 in Lyon Luxwhich stops in Madrid and Barcelona these weeks, the place classical ballet and up to date dance are the aesthetic epicenter of a number of themes. So opinions, and even exhaustive analyzes of its execution, haven’t taken lengthy to occupy social networks, which have been crammed with a whole bunch of movies, for and towards, the singer’s use of dance.

The artist Dimitris Papaioannou (Athens, 61 years previous) reaps the very best reactions on his Instagram account. The Greek creator indicators the creative idea and motion of the theme The Pearlby which Rosalía seems surrounded by mysterious arms. In black and white, with Papaioannou’s traditional class, the picture manages to generate a type of optical phantasm that has captivated followers of the singer and colleagues of the Greek. “It has been like an experiment in my career,” the artist tells EL PAÍS from Greece by way of video name.

“Two years ago I stopped touring because I was exhausted and that was when Rosalía proposed doing this collaboration. It came at a good time, we had a connection and I said yes,” he says. He explains that there have been three rehearsals in whole, one in all them with Rosalía. “For me it was essential to give the dancers the importance that they always have in my work, they are never something decorative, and I hope that has been achieved.” He praises the professionalism of the artist, who “has the success she deserves,” and anticipates that she’s going to premiere a brand new present together with her collective in October 2027 on the Teatro de la Bastille. Papaioannou can also be the creator of the profitable route of the opening and shutting ceremonies of the Athens Olympic Games.

The French collective (LA)HORDE has additionally labored on the Lux of Rosalía, however with out convincing as a lot as Papaiannou. The group, main the National Ballet of Marseille since 2019, indicators the singer’s look in a tutu and pointe sneakers, making an attempt to craft complicated ballet phrases. “It takes eight years to perform those movements well,” commented choreographer Nacho Duato in a video revealed on his Instagram account a few days in the past, which he deleted after a number of hours. “And that’s not a tutu, it’s a stretcher table.” We have no idea if the thought of ​​​​the classical dancer was the singer’s or the choreographers’, and (LA)HORDE has declined by electronic mail to interview EL PAÍS, “because it is not on promotion at the moment.”

The reality is that dance and pop stars have a profitable journey collectively that goes again a good distance and yields memorable collaborations. The one which occurred between Louise Lecavalier (Montreal, 67 years previous) and David Bowie is uncommon and dazzling as seen within the video clip of Fame. “When I saw him in his red suit, I was speechless for a moment,” Lecavalier herself, a famend Canadian dancer and choreographer, tells this newspaper, in the course of a busy tour. “It was 1988 and I was with Édouard Lock [director de la compañía La La La Human Steps, en la que bailaba Lecavalier] enjoying The Glass Spider Tourby Bowie, at the Montreal Olympic Stadium. Then his agent arrived and told us that the singer wanted to meet us,” he explains. And he remembers the enormous capacity of the artist, who admired the work of Pina Bausch, for dance: “He was a complete artist, not only did he learn the steps, but he was able to take them further.” Lecavalier collaborated with him on the tour. Sound + Vision (1990), with the artistic direction of Eduard Lock. “It was like a party, I enjoyed it and then I went back to dancing my thing without dreams of glory, just with a beautiful story.”

Madonna has also had famous collaborations. “She is not a singer who dances; she is a dancer who sings.” These are the words of the famous and acclaimed Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet (Uccle, Belgium, 49 years old), who reports to EL PAÍS from New York, where he is these days collaborating with the singer FKA Twigs. “The identical factor occurs to Twigs. You can shortly see that motion is one thing pure for them,” she says. A collaborator on Madonna’s tours and videos since 2019, Jalet confesses that he started dancing to the singer’s music as a child. “Imagine what it’s like to now belong to their inner circle,” he says. “She is a tireless worker and a visceral dancer, I try to amplify that power that she has.” The artist, also the author of the choreography performed by the singer Thom Yorke in Animasigns numerous and exquisite works on and off stage. Take the opportunity to tell for the first time that his work Miragescheduled at the Matadero Dance Center in Madrid for September 2025 and postponed due to technical difficulties, will finally be seen in January 2027. “I’d like to work with Rosalía. Because I additionally adore Spain and its present positioning in worldwide politics,” he ventures.

Her colleague Blanca Li (Granada, 62 years old), a Spanish dancer and choreographer living in France, also has a career that stands out for famous collaborations in fashion, film and music. “When you work for another artist it is important to keep your ego to yourself and try to give movement to the universe that is presented to you,” he explains on the phone. The group Daft Punk, for whom he created the choreography of Around the world, and Beyoncé, with whom he has worked on several occasions, are just two of his most popular musical collaborations. “Watching Beyoncé work is superb. Not solely due to her potential to bop, however due to the way in which she integrates all of the actions and the eye she places in. She’s like an ideal machine that does not miss something.” Li, author of the choreography of Bitter Christmasthe new film by Pedro Almodóvar, is on tour with three shows and next year she will embark on a new and ambitious project that will bring her back to Spain, “a large flamenco production,” she anticipates. She was director of the Teatros del Canal and the Madrid International Dance Festival between 2019 and 2023.

As with Rosalía, it is also common for certain controversies to arise, and in Spain there was one not long ago. “I was eating and watching the news with my parents in Ubrique and I almost choked,” explains Adrián Manzano (Cádiz, 31 years old) via video call. It refers to the controversy sparked by the dance that the Spanish singer Aitana performed in the Alpha Tour from three years ago and that he signs. “That hip movement on the floor had already been done by singers like Shakira, I took it a little further,” explains Manzano about the gesture of discord, with hip bouncing, which some mother described on the networks as “pornographic.” “Aitana dances more than she thinks and has a deep respect for dance,” adds choreographer Iker Karrera (Hondarribia, 41 years old), who worked alongside Manzano for the singer in the concerts she gave in several stadiums last summer. TV program director Fame, let’s danceand choreographer of his own company, with which he premiered the renowned work A Room where it happens in 2024, believes in the opening of dance and the possibility it offers to create new audiences: “Everything that’s performed properly, with professionalism, but in addition love and respect, can open doorways to bop. Whether on the ground with Aitana or within the Conde Duque theater.”

Blanca Li ventures to give her opinion on Rosalía’s work: “If you ask me how I see Rosalía on pointe, I’d let you know that, technically, I see her as horrible. It’s all incorrect. But it would not be honest as a result of the context is necessary and Rosalía isn’t providing a dance present, however fairly a live performance to which she brings, for a couple of minutes, a particular ballet imagery.” “I already know that she doesn’t want to be a dancer,” Duato mentioned in her Instagram video, “but what do you want me to tell you, it hurts me.”