The view from the sofa - my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV
El Parralejo novillos for Borja Jiménez, Francisco José Espada &
Posada de Maravillas.
Borja
Jiménez rose to prominence after his spectacular triumph in Sevilla a few weeks
ago. I was unable to watch that corrida, but gobbled up the online video
offered by the Maestranza website. Although it was difficult to formulate an
accurate view of the faenas that led to the triumph, Jiménez struck me as
having a similar aesthetic and technical concept to El Juli. That is, all of
his toreo is subordinated to the desire of taking the bulls as low, long and
templado as possible.
He
opened his first faena with a series of test passe, before taking his novillo
to the centre of the ring to impose his long, low toreo on it via derechazos.
The bull’s charge was informal, but Borja was able to link his toreo en
Redondo. It is pleasing, although lacking in emotion due to the bull’s charge.
After three series switched to the left hand. The bull’s charge is less
repetitive, but, despite this, Borja is able to extract a series, which is
again characterised by its smoothness. He fundamental toreo formed the backbone
of the faena, but he engaged the crowd with some varied remates to give the
faena some extra vitality. A straight volapíe was the last ingredient needed to
for the faena to serve up an ear. The faena itself was reasonable, in toreo, we
must always judge a torero by his raw material; therefore, given the bull’s
questionable quality, Borja had performed very well, and certainly deserved an
ear as recognition.
Francisco
José Espada also gave a good account of himself with his first novillo. Its
charge was once again informal and lacking focus. However, Espada tried, and at
times succeeded, in imposing his stylish toreo enredondo on the bull. He is an
elegant torero, who likes to lower his hand to the bull. Unfortunately, the
bull lacked vigour and often lost its footing. Perhaps Espada ought to have
forsaken his concept of low muletazos and sought to perform a faena a media
altura, but, even so, it is unlikely the performance would have amounted to
more than the ovation (and minority petition for an ear) he received. A just
recognition to the positive impression Espada gave.
Posada
de Maravillas soon spotted that his novillo was a different proposition to its
two predecessors and began to torear in redondo immediately. The series were
well linked and accompanied by Posada’s striking aesthetic concept. The chest
passes were especially long, rounded and profound. The faena kept its momentum
when he took the left hand, his toreo al natural was beautifully exected.
Perhaps the faena lacked an element of repose that would have allowed the crowd
to savour his toreo. However, after the disconcerting performances Posada had
given in Valencia and Madrird, this was a faena worthy of a leading novillero.
Some circulares gave an exciting end to the faena, and only two pinchazos
prevented him from cutting an ear or (if the Pamplona crowd was feeling
charitable) two. Sadly, while giving the second pinchazo Posada cut his hand
and his afternoon was over.
The
fourth novillo was perfect for Jiménez – it had a long, smooth and classy
charge, with just enough drive to prevent it from being bland. Once again, it
was striking how long and low Borja takes the bull – I see many toreros who
focus more on their aesthetic expression than in torear. Borja is the opposite,
his aim is engaging the bull with the cloth and controlling its long and low
path during the pass. His derechazos were nicely linked, using the bull’s own
momentum to construct the series. The naturales were even longer, with the
young novillero using the flaps of the muleta to take the bull that extra foot
with his left hand – as it should be. Borja Jimenéz also has a sense of how to
structure a faena to a crescendo, the crescendo being a couple of well-timed
circular passes. He sprinkled his performance with some attractive remates; the
molinetes added variety, and his emphatic desdén underlined his superiority.
Another straight sword thrust allowed him to cut two well-deserved ears. The
novillo earned a vuelta al ruedo.
Francisco
José Espada was determined not to be entirely outshone by his fellow novillero
and managed to cut an ear from the fifth novillo. This novillo did allow Espada to fully explore his
concept of toreo; it had the vitality to support his low, demanding toreo. What
I have most enjoyed about Espada is his class. Like Jiménez, he does seek to
torear before posing; but his elegant manner pleasantly underscores his toreo.
Perhaps his vertical, encajado style prevents his passes from being as long as
they could be. But this is a question of style rather than a fault.
Unfortunately, the novillo lacked stamina, and only lasted a few series. Espada
also overstayed his welcome before the bull and the last couple of minutes was
the novillero extracting uni-passes before a leaden bull. Sure sword use confirmed the ear that his
faena, and afternoon as a whole, deserved.
The
corrida concluded with another solid faena from Borja Jiménez. The bull lacked
class and mobility, but Borja was able to extract some worthwhile passes from
it. The faena was scrappy, due to the bull’s condition, but animated given the
novillero’s disposition to please. It was not a novillo that could lead to a
triumph, rather, like Espada’s first novillo, it helped show a novillero that
was able to overcome a problematic opponent.
Thus
concluded a thoroughly entertaining afternoon that gave us good toreo, and,
more importantly, allowed us to enjoy three promising novilleros. There seems
to be a promising crop of young novilleros, it’s a pity that, at this critical
time, the fiesta seems to be neglecting such an important part of its own
development.
No comments:
Post a Comment