Adolfo
Martín Bulls for Diego Urdiales, Manuel Escribano & Alberto Aguilar
After four days of Domecq bulls
(with mixed, but generally positive, results), I was looking forward to the
variety afforded by these saltillos.
The afternoon opened with a bull
that, after banderillas, presented itself as mansito, reservón with a reticent
charge. To top it all off he stayed short after each pass. Urdiales did his
best to try and extract something out of the bull, but it was not to be. He was
unable to keep the muleta in the bull’s face between each pass and the faena
came to nothing. It would have been tough to stay still, not rectify one’s
footing and try to link the passes. Such a plan would have probably ended in
failure. Ultimately, Urdiales did well to stay out of harm’s way, but the lack
of faena and uncertain sword work turned the crowd against him and he hear
jeers.
Escribano went to the toriles to
greet his first bull with a larga cambiada a porta gayola. This was another
difficult bull, as it showed during the tercio banderillas, cutting Escribano
during his cuarteo. The banderillas were pleasing and placed square to the
bull. Escribano added a hint of variety performing a quiebro al violín to
conclude the tercio. The faena began with some passes cambiados – it was
perhaps not the best choice given the difficulty posed by the bull, but they
were emotive. Losing steps between each pass Escribano began constructing a
faena on the right horn. The second series was performed al natural; the bull’s
charge was very short and Escribano was unable to complete the pass, he also
readjusted his positioning between each natural giving the faena a staccato
feel. When the bull does not charge, it is nigh on impossible to perform
meaningful toreo. Escribano tried to complete the faena with an arrimón, but
this was barely possible. He thus structure the faena’s climax around a
desplante de rodillas holding the bull’s horn. A succession of pinchazos
annoyed the crowd.
The third was another poor bull;
its charge lacked commitment and class. Aguilar resorted to perform brisk, but
continued, passes with the left hand. Some were al natural, but the majority
were a dos manos, with the sword supporting the flaps of the muleta. Another
meritorious effort that, necessarily, because of the bull’s inherent problems,
lacked a hook.
The feeling at the half way point
was pitiful; the bull’s lack of quality had made toreo impossible. The trio of
toreros performed admirably enough, but the afternoon lacked emotion due to the
disinterested bulls.
Unfortunately, the fourth bull was
cut from the same cloth as its predecessors. Rather than charge at the muleta
it would stare at it and not follow. Every now and again the muleta would peek
the bull’s curiosity and he would follow it, but without conveying any emotion.
Urdiales did well in stealing the odd moment of interest in the bull, and as
the faena progressed he also managed to construct some meaningful series. I
thought Urdiales did well. He persisted, built on the bull’s strong points (it
was noble), ignoring its failing (its patent lack of casta and emotion), and
gave us a faena at least worthy of the name. His work was undone as he took too
long to focus the bull for the estocada, this tested the crowd’s patience and
led to the pinchazo that preceded a crafty estocada.
Escribano strode out to meet the
fifth bull aiming to please, and once again headed to the puerta de chiqueros for
another larga cambiada de rodillas. His spectacle continued with a well-executed
tercio de banderillas. Escribano is by no means a purist or an artist with the
sticks, but his work is neater than many others who have based their career
around their brilliance with the banderillas. The third par al quiebro citing
the bull while sat on the boards was especially striking. However, the
performance collapsed along with the bull’s charge in the tercio de muleta. The
bull reached the muleta with a problematic charge, it was never fixed on the lure
and on the odd occasions that it charged, it would leave the torero’s
jurisdiction with his head held high. This disinterested manner conveyed, for
the fifth time this afternoon, a manifest lack of casta.
The last bull of this
disappointing corrida was perhaps the worst, combining all the negative traits
of its brothers. Its initial vigour was based on anger rather than bravery,
but, betraying the absence of casta, he would finish the charge looking disinterested,
his head pointing in every direction that was not the muleta. Aguilar tried to
extract passes with the muleta from the bull, but it was impossible.
This was a tough corrida, with
testing bulls. However, their difficulty was not based on bravery but rather on
a complete lack of substance. Disappointing as this corrida was, I like to
promote a fiesta with a variety of encastes; I will therefore not turn my back
on the Adolfos. However, just as I abhor Domecq corridas that are populated
with weak, dumb bulls; it would be disingenuous of me to give these bovines a
pass today merely because of their grey coat.
No comments:
Post a Comment