The view from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV.
Cayetano Muñoz Bulls for Joselito Adame, Oliva Soto & Esaú Fernández.
Sevilla and spring, a magical combination that means one thing to the aficionado: toros. Although today felt more like a gloomy autumnal afternoon, the rain and cloud could not entirely temper the gusanillo’s energetic wriggle. The cartel is arguably the feria’s weakest combination, but I always try to focus on the positive. I therefore remembered Joselito Adame’s promising early steps as a matador, Oliva’s excellent afternoon five years ago with a string of Conde de la Maza bulls in this very ring and the numerous ears Esaú has cut in Sevilla over previous years. I of course chose to ignore that the reason why they find themselves in this opening corrida is that, notwithstanding those, their careers have been marked by inconsistency. Would they be able to rekindle past triumphs this afternoon or would we be reminded why they occupy their middling to low status in the escalafón?
Adame’s first bull was mobile, but lacked the desire that would give its charge emotion. Adame tried to focus the bull and lower its head with some initial doblones which, although cleanly executed, were bland. As Adame began to torear en redondo the bull was already looking to rajarse. What followed was a pointless faena; there were a couple of series en redondo but, due to the bull’s condition, these lacked any interest or emotion. A disappointing start to the feria.
The fourth bull was a beautiful jabonero sucio that had the same classy charge as the third, but was blessed with more strength. Its good charge allowed Adame to cut a solid ear. Adame took a while to understand the bull’s rhythm and find the right height and distance at which to torear. The faena de muleta was therefore divided in two parts, an initial few series marked by inconsistency and enganchones before Adam managed to finally unlock the bull’s emotive charges to perform a couple of emotive series en redondo, one on each hand. He spiced his toreo fundamental with some pretty remates, the highlight of which was a cambio de mano to conclude a round of naturales. The music played, the estocada was full and even the descabello did not prevent the plaza from petitioning for an ear. It was a prize to a professional and well worked faena.
Oliva Soto met his first bull with an acceptable string of veronicas, better on the left side than the right, they were cleanly executed and marked by Soto’s aesthetic edge. The bull lacked class and had a short charge, however, it was vivacious and carried the emotion a problematic bull offers. The end result was ultimately disappointing, the bull’s problems prevented a faena, but at least the crowd could experience that there was a wild beast on the sand that needed taming.
The fifth bull was another tricky opponent, that nonetheless offered certain possibilities for toreo. In the opening series the animal displayed mobility and a desire to follow the lures, however, it required a dominant and decisive torero to dominate its charge. Unfortunately, one of Oliva Soto’s shortcomings is his lack of calm valour – he is brave enough to stand up to the bull, present the lure and risk life and limb. However, during the pass he lacks the conviction to stay entirely still and keep the lure close to the bull. This animal was tricky and would not forgive such errors, therefore, all it took was one slight shift of his feet and inexact placing of the muleta at the end of the first series for the bull of see him and toss him. From this stage on the bull was difficult, it had seen the torero and kept half an eye on him during the rest of the faena. Soto tried to torear en redondo with either hand, but was unable to find the calmness and dominance to do so. He also earned anoter tossing for his trouble.
Esaú took it upon himself to inject some emotion to the afternoon and headed to the bull pen to begin the lidia a porta gayola – the bull had his own ideas and ignored him, opting instead to wander around the ring before heading to the centre to be greeted by a farol de rodillas. The bull reahed the muleta with a pleasing charge, without being exceptional it had the mobility and desire to allow Esaú to perform some low and linked series en redondo. However, just when it seemed as we might be able to enjoy emotive toreo the bull’s strength failed him. As soon as Esaú lowered his hand too much the bull would fall and the momentum of the faena would collapse, perhaps mid-height toreo would have helped him maintain the bull on its feet. As it was, the bull run out of gas before the faena was complete and Esaú’s only option was an arrimón that served to show his desire to please.
The afternoon closed with a non-entity of a faena. The bull displayed an inconsistent charge and Esaú lacked the wherewithal to impose order to the charge. His desire to please and to create a spectacle is beyond doubt, however whether he is able to develop the technical ability to be able to do so on a regular basis is.
Before signing off, a quick word on the bulls. I was not familiar with the ranch, but it provided a respectable string. None of the animals will live in the memory, but most offered a level of spectacle and might have been better served by more experienced toreros. I hope we will see better strings during the course of the feria, but I am certain we will see worse. The cuadrillas were on good form today. Jarocho, Curro Robles and Alcalaren~o placed some excellent pairs of banderillas, the latter was at his rangy and dominant best.
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