From language to dance / Response to a tribute

Philologist-academician Humberto Lopez Morales, who lectured at the Instituto Cervantes on Spanish, its future and its sociolinguistic evolution, has written more than 50 books, and his scientific work covers more than 250 titles. In 1992, hispanistas honored him with a monograph homage. His credentials, as cited by IC director Jose Rodriguez, are indeed most impressive.

Sr. Morales heads prestigious language academies in Spain, SA, Mexico and Honduras – in which places he has familiarized himself with their written and spoken Spanish, as well as its variations. “Car”, for instance, has different names.

Each country has its own lexicon, although grammatical rules remain the same. How is this language problem solved? Members of the various academies can discuss it and eventually arrive at a solution, agreeing to call objects by the same names.

Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world. The Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and Thais are assiduously studying it. I wonder how Spanish fares in Russia; millions of Americans are becoming fluent in it. Sr. Rodriguez proudly claimed that enrollment in IC has more than trebled. Sr. Morales predicted that after four or five generations, a tenth of the world will be speaking in Spanish.

After the lecture, IC presented at the RCBC auditorium “A Flamenco Concert” featuring Albeniz’s masterwork “Iberia Suite” as played on the piano by Rosa Torres Pardo, as danced to by Lola Greco, and interspersed with a recorded reading of Miguel Torga’s poetry titled “Iberia”.

The program was not a “Flamenco Concert” as announced, but a highly emotive, original classic choreography by dancer Greco. In the opening “Evocacion”, Greco ascended an elevated platform, and lying prone, rested her head on her arm while conveying pain, sorrow and anguish. She would ascend the platform two more times to express the same emotions.

There is no castanet-playing in flamenco but zapateados and taconeos abound. In one brief number, Greco dazzled the audience with her castanets and rapid footwork. Her dancing was characterized by fluid, graceful, supple, sensuous arm and body movements in constant unison with Pardo’s music.

Albeniz’s lberia Suite, the peak of his creations, is one of the most daunting in piano literature, and in Pardo’s solos, particularly the familiar Triana, her performance was awesome: clear, precise, rich in tonal colors and nuances, powerful in depicting the paso doble (two step) and marcha torero (march for the bullring), overwhelming in its throbbing, pulsating, infectious rhythms.

Amidst certain pieces, Greco would quietly appear, “a phantom of delight” (to quote a poet), wraith-like and ethereal. Nearing the end, Greco awed viewers with her deft, expert manipulation of an over-sized shawl or manton, twirling, winding or weaving it around her with lightning speed.

Albeniz’s lberia, the soul of Spain, was vividly and eloquently bared by pianist Pardo, ballerina Greco and poet Torga. Rodriguez, in his welcome remarks, acknowledged the presence of Ambassador Luis and Soledad Arias Romero.

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Besides the many who called or complimented me on my Mother’s Day tribute, a reader sends me the following letter:

Dear Ms. R.L. Orosa/ I am 85, still in the prime of life. Saludo ako, Ma’am, sa inyong ina, Severina Luna Orosa. I must say she had a large dose of compassion in her vein. Her one-act play “Almost within Grasp”, struck my fancy. Ang ganda ng title. It makes me yearn to read what must be the thing worth the grasp. Tama kaya ang “Halos kayang abutin,” “Halos maa-abot mo,” “Malapit ng Maabot”. Saan ko kaya matatagpuan ang “Almost within Grasp”? Thanks. Sumasainyo. Honorata R. Vicencio, Sta. Ana, Manila.

Dear Ms. Vicencio: The play, which is on the evils of social diseases, appears in Severina’s book “Rizal’s Challenge and Appeal”, now regrettably out of print. The play, written upon the request of Severina’s colleague, a physician in Zamboanga, was for graduating nurses to stage in 1923. Thank you indeed for your sincere interest. RLO