Adriana Bilbao, choreographer and granddaughter of the soccer player, has created this work to honor her grandfather
Telmo Zarraonandia (old-good-great), top scorer in the Spanish league for seventy years, is considered a legend of our football. whatever it was player of the Athletic Bilbao and of the Spanish selection He was six times top scorer, all-time top scorer in the Copa del Rey and author of Spain’s goal against England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. With him, he ranked the national team among the four best national teams for the first time in its history. He gives his name to the trophy for the top Spanish scorer in the First and Second Division and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit.
Adriana Bilbao, choreographer and granddaughter of Zarra, has created this work of dance in tribute to his grandfather. With it, he intends to extol the emblematic figure of the soccer player through his origins and anecdotes with Zarra as the omnipresent narrator. He does it through his own company, Cía Adriana Bilbao, with which he has created three shows, even visiting abroad. Now they have made a stop at the Reina Victoria Theater in Madrid where they will be with ‘Zarra’ until August 27th.
“I wanted my grandfather’s voice to be present and guide the scenes”
The choreographer had a very close relationship with her grandfather and it was clear from the beginning of his professional career that he would do ‘something’ for him, although it took time for him to fit all the pieces of the puzzle. “Several years ago I thought that a good moment would be in the year 2021 because it was the centenary of his birth. With the arrival of the pandemic we had to postpone it for a year, so it finally premiered in November 2022 at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao.
In this very special and personal adventure, she was not alone. She had a cast of dancers with whom she shared her first professional years. It’s about her classmates Conservatory of Dance ‘María de Ávila’ in Madrid. “There was a lot of harmony between everyone. To carry out a project of this type, you need to be calm within the maelstrom that it entails. Surrounding yourself with people who support you and understand you makes everything go well.”
“I think it is an original proposal. It makes it special because of the personal history that surrounds it& rdquor;
Tatiana Cuevas and Gabriel Matías are part of the cast of the play. Total there are nine dancers, but this is not a mere coincidence. Adriana wanted to represent in this way the number that his grandfather carried on his back during his career as a footballer. They both thank Adriana for the opportunity she gave them to be part of this project that is so important to her: “Zarra has also become our grandfather because we have tried to convey all the love and admiration that Adriana feels for her ‘aitite’& rdquor;. In addition, they value teamwork, both in football and in flamenco, which have faced the prevailing ego today.
With this show they have discovered a whole range of creative possibilities by fusing two fields as disparate as football and flamenco.
preparation techniques
To bring all the ideas of the show to the stage, they have had to carry out an arduous research and preparation work. It consisted of graphic and sound views of the soccer player that helped them correct the body expression and make it as real as possible. They have done so during various residences in Bilbao in the years prior to the premiere, in which they have even visited the sports city of the Athletic Club of Bilbao, in Lezama, to see up close how the first team trains and learn from the inside about the history of the club. In addition, a person from the club’s technical team visited them during rehearsals to guide them and correct their postures and the attitudes they had to adopt to represent a footballer. “I dance flamenco and my grandfather played soccer, I believe that everything can be transmitted through the body. It has been a quite interesting process of fusion and communion& rdquor;Adriana comments.
“It has taken me a long time to carry out this project. From the time I had the idea until the editing began, four or five years passed and the editing began almost two years before the premiere”
The ultimate goal for the bailaora is to transmit what led her grandfather to be a myth, his nobility on the pitch and his values as a person. “Strength, nobility and courage, the most beloved lion”.
He does not deny the fear he had when carrying out such a personal story: “it is true that I have saved a moment for myself, there is a grandfather-granddaughter part in the show & rdquor ;. Adriana dances alone on stage under the watchful eye of Zarra while she talks about his role as a grandfather and how important the arrival of his granddaughter was. You can hear in this act, the most emotional of the show, how Zarra describes him as “better than a signing”.
Next matches: Gexto (Vizcaya) in October and Sevilla in December. “I hope that by 2024 there will be more & rdquor ;.
A myth exalted by its human and sporting values
In 1949, in a match against Málaga, Zarra and Arnau were fighting for a ball, they jumped for it, Arnau falling to the ground. Zarra was left without a rival in front of the goal, but he threw the ball wide. Something similar happened to him in La Coruña, against Deportivo, with the central defender Ponte. At that moment, close to a possible goal that would win them or even reach a tie, he decided to stop the game.