El Pilar bulls for: Enrique Ponce (silence
and a strong ovation), Jose María Manzanares
(ear and two ears) & David Galván (two ears and silence).
Undaunted by his
appearance alongside two figuras, David Galván gave the Algeciras an assured
display that reinforced his credentials as a young promising torero. His faena
to the third bull would have been enough to fill one afternoon of toreo, but
thankfully, we also enjoyed a couple of very good faenas from Manzanares and Enrique Ponce’s pleasing
interventions. A good, but not great, string of El Pilar bulls enabled the
spectacle. The bulls were a modern lot, the best ones of them charged on rails,
the poorer ones just stopped; they needed good toreros to face them or we would
have all been bored to tears.
Enrique Ponce faced the
worst lot, but had he been on form with the sword might have earned an ear or
two for his trouble. The first bull of the afternoon was the worst example of
the modern bull; it was noble, but did not charge, its problems caused by a
lack of casta, rather than by the excess of it. However, Ponce did as Ponce
does; use his muleta to coax and tease every ounce of bravura from the bull.
The faena was technically pleasing, but lacked any emotion. Even so, the
benevolent Algeciras crowd might have petitioned for an ear had Ponce not
needed numerous sword thrusts to secure an estocada.
The valencian torero’s
poor sword work also cost him an ear from his second bull. This animal was
altogether a different proposition. Its animated charge even prompted Ponce to
intervene with a pleasantly executed quite of delantales. He dedicated the bull
to the crowd, we all thought we were in for a Ponce treat. The first couple of
series of derechazos were superb, well timed, seamlessly linked and underscored
by Ponce’s elegant manner. However, just as he sought to pepper the faenas with
some adornos and use his left hand to take the faena to the next level, the
bull fizzled out – those first two series had seemingly exhausted it of worthy
charges. Just as it seemed that the faena would come to nothing, Ponce took the
muleta in his right hand once again to perform one last emotive series of
derechazos. When faced with a poor bull, Ponce’s technique is magnetic, there
is nobody like him at taking a poor bull and forcing it to follow his muleta. A
pity that his tinfoil sword reduced his recognition to a heartfelt ovation from
the Algeciras public.
Manzanares had an
excellent afternoon. He enjoyed the best lot, however, his elegant toreo served
to properly take advantage of their noble charges. Both faenas were similar in
approach and structure, with the second one standing out because of the bull’s
greater vibrancy. It is no secret that Manzanares’ forte is the right hand,
therefore, the two faenas were built around majestic toreo en redondo by
derechazos. Each pass accompanied by José Mari’s emphatic aesthetic concept.
The first toro tended towards being sweet and noble, so the toreo lacked some brio,
it was, however, clean, smooth and emotive. His second bull was excellent
(along with the fifth Fuente Ymbro, the bull of the feria), vigorous, yet
noble, it allowed the vibrant toreo by derechazos that formed the foundation of
an excellent faena. Manzanares’ sword is one of the surest in the escalafón, on
this occasion it secured the three ears that allowed him to open the puerta
grande.
There were two
potential criticisms for Manzanares’ work: firstly, that his toreo lacks closeness
and secondly, poor use of the left hand. The first of these is not, in my mind,
entirely justified. It would be incorrect to suggest that Manzanares bases his
toreo on proximity to the bull, however, on today’s evidence, he did not pass
the bull excessively far away from his body. Besides, proximity to the bull
should not be subordinated to clean smooth toreo. The second comment, however,
is reasonable. Manzanares’ left hand is weaker than his right, today was no
different. It is a pity, therefore, that José Mari was unable to perform a
couple of real, emphatic series with the left hand to complement the sublime
derechazos.
The afternoon’s last
torero was David Galván showed the desire and wherewithal to triumph and cut
two ears from the third bull. Despite having created certain expectation as a
novillero, since taking the alternative a couple of years ago, Galván has found
opportunities hard to come by. This afternoon great intelligence to mould his
toreo to the bull’s needs throughout the faena, and complimenting this with a
sense of spectacle to ensure that the crowd enjoyed and understood his work.
Therefore, although the faenas main substance was good toreo en redondo.
However, he supplemented this with toreo de rodillas that engaged the crowd and
some excellent ojedismo to conclude
in a way that would please the aficionado. A good estocada proved the final
catalyst to the two ears and the triumph.
Unfortunately, the
final bull of the corrida was its worst. It was strong, but lacked the commitment
to give a full charge to the muleta. He would reach the torero’s jurisdiction,
stop charging and look for the torero. Galván was able to stay superior to the
bull with the muleta in his hand, but failed to kill the bull expeditiously.
Nevertheless, I left
the plaza very pleased with Galván’s performance; he is another young torero that
deserves opportunities to prove himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment