Ballet Malandain Biarritz
Where: Arriaga de Bilbao Theatre
When: 20 January

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If in Bilbao there is the epicenter of the performing arts, this is the Arriaga Theatre. There are three or four days a week to see a performance. The proposals coming out of the theater models are not common, but at the end of Christmas they schedule ballet performances.

This dance is scheduled at Christmas not officially, but at the hangover time after Christmas. On Friday and Saturday night the Malandain Biarritz Ballet offers the Stations proposal. The winter atmosphere in Bilbao, Saturday night and dance. For the second consecutive day, Malandain has filled the epicenter of performing arts.

As soon as the curtain rises, the show begins. 22 dantzaris on the table. Choreography is harmonious, movements, forms worked and aesthetic images are accurate. It may not be very correct to say this, but perfection and beauty are the words that I've been stuck in my head during acting. The dancers do not wear rigid standing tips, white tubes and narrow corsets essential in classical ballet. But the truth is that nothing has been done randomly. There is no paradox for improvisation, no margin for acatsera. That's what classic has: there's only one way to get movement right. The soundtrack of the choreographer Thierry Malandain consists of the four stations of Antonio Vivaldi and the four of the Year of Giovanni Antonio Guido.

Despite being immersed in the movements, I find myself searching for something else. But what? I look for words and actions as a theatrical representation. In the works, the text leads the viewer many times (not always) and, if not, the narration of stage sequences. I've demanded dance from theater codes and narration forms. It makes no sense.

We're not used to seeing performances dressed in simple melodies of the body and classical music. Many times it seems to us that words and actions help the story, as if our thirst for understanding is satisfied like this. Many times I've heard them say what's around them that they don't see dances, because they don't understand dance. Even many say they do not like dance on the excuse of lack of understanding. But what should we understand? What is not understood? Why does it leave us out of the question to look at body language?

Today, without asking anyone, I am sure the public has understood Malandain’s proposal. The 22 Dantzaris have received the longest applause I have ever heard at the Arriaga. Perhaps, in short, understanding is not measured in words. Body movements have a lot to say.