The view from
the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV.
Torrestrella Bulls for Antonio Ferrera, Iván Fandiño and Pepe Moral.
When I was growing up the Torrestrella bulls were among the most desired by the top toreros, from today’s cartel one can see that is no longer the case. However, the terna that was contracted for this corrida are among more capable toreros of the second rung. Antonio Ferrera quickly moved on from the populist terna de banderillleros with which he shot to prominence and, despite his artistic limitations and technical inconsistencies, has forged a dignified career facing tough ganaderías. Iván Fandiño is on the cusp of figura status and needs a strong feria de Sevilla in order to recover from the disappointing impression caused during encerrona in Madrid. While Pepe Moral is making his second paseillo in the feria. His opening corrida showed that he is an undervalued chip in the current taurine market and he will be looking to build on the oreja he cut on Friday.
Despite the intriguing cartel, the plaza was only about half full. Understandable. The cartel was more appealing to the aficionado than the public at large, these names and their current place in the fiesta is a mystery to most. Aside from the odd corrida de figuras, the taurine season takes place in secret. It is one of the challenges facing the fiesta to help people who are interested in los toros engage with the entire season and not just the few corridas that may take place in their town. With such engagement, this type of cartel might attract a larger crowd.
Ferrera opened the afternoon with a series of discreet veronicas, none of which, individually, moved the crowd but, taken as a whole, he had used the series to manoeuvre the bull from the boards to the very centre of the ring. This was pleasing technical cape work concluded with an attractive revolera. Throughout the opening tercios the bull had a tendency to charge with its head at mid-height, a defect partly caused by its tall make-up. Ferrera performed a clean, simple but unexciting tercio de banderillas. The bull’s charge lacked emotion and while Ferrera was able to rely on his technique to perform passes but given the bull’s condition these could not be fashioned into a pleasing faena. Ferrera could have probably saved us the last few series and headed for the sword sooner.
The fourth bull was a jabonero sucio with which Ferrera gave us an attractive tecio de banderillas. Two conventional pairs, each of which was placed in front of the horns and preceded by a recorte. The tercio was concluded with a tight quiebro by the boards and was followed by another quiebro a cuerpo limpio. An excellent tercio that was sadly the prelude for a poor faena. The bull had no vigour and despite Antonio’s technical solvency, it was impossible to create emotion. Once again, Ferrera spent too long with the muleta, he should have cut his performance off sooner and saved us all a few minutes.
Fandiño’s first bull, a striking jabonero, received two light pics. It displayed a bland nobility that was not entirely defined by the muleta third. Unfortunately, it only took Fandiño a couple of non-descript series en redondo for us notice that the bull would not develop positively. It had a complete unwillingness to charge and Iván soon opted to change swords. Despite the poor bull, we were able to enjoy an excellent volapié.
The fifth bull was the classic
Torrestrella burraco bull. It had a powerful start of the muletazo, but it
lacked the motor to finish with desire. It provided enough raw material that
the faena always teetered on the brink of emotion, but it lacked the quality to
go beyond this threshold. Fandiño’s afternoom was measured, Iván could not have
extracted anything further from his lot.
Pepe Moral’s first bull came into
the ring charging vibrantly and was met with a series of veronicas. These were
low, well timed and controlled, concluding with a couple of medias and a
revolera in the centre of the ring, giving us the first real ovation of the
afternoon. Moral saw that the bull might offer a faena and dedicated his work
to the crowd, staying in the centre of the ring to open his performance with
passes cambiados. Nevertheless, the highlight of the opening series was a
wonderfully slow closing chest pass. His slow and delicate toreo was the
characteristic of his opening two series of derechazos – slow and well timed
passes that got the music playing. The bull’s strength was waning and the next
couple of series, while continuing to be silky smooth, were marked by excellent
individual passes rather than the brilliance of the series as a whole. Despite
the full estocada, he necessitated a descabello to complete the task, and what
might have been an ear turned into a vuelta al ruedo. Truth be told, the
emotional momentum of the faena declined towards the end, which did not help Pepe’s
final result.
The closing bull of the afternoon
continued the general theme of the afternoon, another animal with little power
or emotion. It was slightly more mobile than its predecessors and therefore
allowed for a longer faena. Pepe Moral once again showcased his emphatic
concept of toreo, low, slow and dominant, but the individual passes were inconsistent.
Nevertheless, it completed another solid showing for the young Sevillano who can
look back on a couple of worthy and dignified performances. I certainly look
forward to seeing him again.
No comments:
Post a Comment