CORTES JOAQUIN LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

CORTES JOAQUIN LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

Average Customer Review: ( 17 customer reviews )
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If all you are after is a taste of Flamenco, then you will enjoy this. Unfortunately, Flamenco dancers, like myself, will be disappointed. Just when the dancing becomes intense, they will cut to a singer. Or when very technical footwork is being done, all you will see is a closeup of Joaquin's face. You never really get to see the complete step combinations.

Though, I do miss the fabulous energy of the female members of his company, it is a very good "one man show", which has just been subjected to too much editing.

13 of 15 found the following review helpful:

Suppressed BrillianceJul 09, 2004
By Anna Ryklina
Joaquin Cortes is one of the most brilliant, charismatic and influential flamenco dancers of our time. His energy is powerful, mesmerizing, unparalel. After watching the first 10 minutes of the show, i felt a growing knot in my stomach stemming from incredible disappointment. It's very difficult to spoil something as powerful as Joaquin Cortes to an admirer, and yet, it has been achieved in this version of his breathtaking performance.

I've read all the reviews of this DVD on amazon, and yet, i thought it was worth purchasing it, because my admiration and fascination with this performer is so great. His performance is undermined through the editing not worthy of Cortes' caliber. You really don't see much of his dancing, and you can't appreciate his form to the full extent. It is my understanding that the camera should focus on the performer, instead of going from the strumming of guitar, to the cantaor and his microphone, to the red and yellow lights, back to the strumming of guitar, the overview of the stage and the close up of Joaquin's face all the time while Joaquin is dancing!!!! You would think that since the intention of this show was to have a solo performance, the focus would be on its only dancer. Not quite, not quite.

To make the long story short, if you're a devoted flamenco fan as myself, you'll buy this anyway, no matter what anyone tells you, because you just have to have it. If you're a nutcase like me, prepare to be greatly disappointed.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Fantastico !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Oct 31, 2004
By Gypsy Guitars
this DVD is a well-produced overview of a fantastic performance of a tremendous flamenco ensemble !!! all the performances blend into one power-full flow of Flamenco "Duende" !!! maestro Cortes' dancing definately benefits from an incredible group of musicians & is the best high energy male flamenco dancing you could ever wish to see on a big stage [although Flamenco, for my tastes,is best experienced in small Juergas as opposed to the concert stage]... what impresses me most is the cohesive energy of the entire group more than Cortes' individual dancing & that's what the producer of the film focused on when filming... i can see where Flamenco dancers would be deeply disappointed by the production's constant variety of views BUT the overall effect of the video is one of the best modern Flamenco stage performances i have ever seen captured for viewers to deeply experience anytime they are in the mood to be blown away by a "locomotive-like" flamenco troupe... definitely an incredible experience thru a good sound/video system but not a great dance instruction video... perhaps next time, Cortes will take such constructive criticism to heart & spend more time having the camera focusing on his dance routines on film & less on the other aspects of the show... still, this is a "must have" to any gypsy lovers' DVD collection... FANTASTICO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Great Artist, Not So Great VideoApr 08, 2010
By Corsair Dipthong "cinema fan"
Joaquin Cortes is a super star in the world of flamenco. It's because he is such a good dancer that this video is so bad. As other reviewers have pointed out, the fault is amateurish editing.

Joaquin's dances are presented the same way regardless of the song or choreography. We are assaulted with a series of quick cuts of Cortes' isolated body parts- an outstretched hand, stamping feet, a disembodied head, and so on. We don't get a chance to see him dance for more than a second without another irritating cut.

There are some shots of Joaquin's entire body, but they are from a distance or using artificially arty angles, and the images only appear briefly. You never have a chance to relax, sit back and enjoy his dancing. It's like watching a TV promo for a Cortes appearance at your local civic center, but instead of 30 seconds, it goes on and on and on. The result is maddening.

As an artist, Cortes deserves better. So do we as fans.

Anyone interested in masterful flamenco shot by a director who can capture a dancer on film should watch Carlos Saura's early films with Antonio Gades, or his later work with Joaquin Cortes and other contemporary dancers of flamenco.

6 of 8 found the following review helpful:

An excellent dancing project gone sourMay 12, 2003
By Irwin Paniagua
I love the way Joaquin Cortez dances. He not only dances, he erupts with passion in every pass and move he makes. Joaquin, keep dancing like this and thou shalt be called the new Lord of the Dance. I would buy any disc or video featuring Joaquin just for his talent alone. He needs no music to express his ways. If to such a big talent you add an excellent group of flamenco musicians, also giving their best on each act, and an excellent audio mixing and recording, you should be getting a thrilling video to share with you dear ones. Right?
Wrong... I'm telling you why.
I thought I bought a video featuring Joaquin Cortes, but I actually bought a series of short-lenght scenes, from which I hardly could put together the evolution of Joaquin's work. The video editor, Mr Fernandez, made a good work of synchronizing the changing of the scenes with the changes in rithm, but that done with flamenco renders an endless string of scenes, blended in an unrecognisable flow, each scene lasting less than 5 seconds. I understand that during the performance, some scenes of the musicians, the crew, and the cuorum have to be inserted so we are given a broader view of the atmosphere created by the artists. This should be done in a proportion of 75% for the main artist and 25% for the rest. However, in this case, we are fed images in the reverse proportion - 25% Joaquin, 75% of the rest. [...] Unfortunately, the 25% of Joaquin's images, are also an erratic scan of his dancing. While he is performing a series of spins and evolutions, the cameramen are giving us an extreme close-up of his face, his hands, even his [...], and not of his feet, which are the main dish in this banquet. And when we are given a (very short) full take of him, the lower section of the screen does not shows his feet, or they are blocked by the head of the first row attendants. Very frustrating.
Joaquin outshines other dancing performances like the shows featured by Michael Flatley, or the stiff dancers of Riverdance. Even other sound-focused shows as Stomp!, but with such a poor quality of edition, his talent is greatly diminished. [...] BR>This is my lowest-value DVD purchase of my whole collection. BR>Cheers!

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