JERUSALEM POST
27.1.1984

DANCE

by Dora Sowden

SILVIA DURAN IN JERUSALEM

How welcome it was to see Silvia Duran back in Jerusalem once again.,
and in such dazzling form as in her performance at the Israel Museum
on January 21, with guitarist Baldi Olier to share the programme.

Her achievement was all the greater because there was so little in the
setting to aid her.  True, two beautiful Spanish shawls hung at the sides
of the small stage, but the backdrop was a dead-white wall, no doubt
admirable for film showing but doing nothing for the dancer.
Also, the stage was lit only with the glaring ceiling lights.  Has the
Israel Museum not one single spotlight (not to speak of a spot bar) to
vary illumination.

That Duran overcame this harshness with her good looks, her costuming,
her stage sense and her mastery was in itself a triumph.

Basically, she demonstrated four aspects of Spanish dance: the elegance
of classical traditions, the charm of regional styles, the specially choreographed
works - and flamenco.  In them all she combined, with a brilliant instinct for
timing, an ability to coordinate hands and feet, hips and heels, so that the
dance came from the body and the limbs and was never imposed on them.,

This is Duran's special talent: the capacity to make each solo glow in its own
element.

The fine footwork, the lyrical grace, the dramatic punctuaction - they
were all integral parts of her technique.  The twitch of a shoulder or a
side step or back kick at the right instant was as important as a series
of turns or a display of heeltapping.

Yet, it was in the flamenco, with its call of "Silvia" and the sound of
gypsy singing and excitement, and especially in the long cadenza with
only her heel rhythms for "music", that she climaxed the performance
witih virtuoso dancing beyond the excellence of what had gone before.

Baldi Olier in his guitar solos, showed his technical agility with more
subtlety and sensuousness than I remember from other performances
of his.
Olier's partnership with Duran in a castanet and guitar duet and in the
final rumba, where he sang and played, was for me the most enjoyable
part of his contribution.