The view from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I
have watched on TV.
El Ventorillo Bulls for Juan
José Padilla, El Cid & Alejandro
Talavante.
This felt like a strange cartel. I do not think that it is unfair to say that Padilla and El Cid are past their peaks. Padilla can still give a good show, especially in less demanding plazas, but gone are the days when he used to face the least desirable ranches and impose his toreo on them. Now he is more likely to face gentler bulls and gentler audiences. El Cid is sadly a shadow of his former self, gone is the torero that would tame wild Victorino bulls with his profound left hand; 2015 Cid is full of doubt. It is impossible to watch El Cid and not think of his forthcoming encerrona with Victorinos - each afternoon feels like a referendum on his prospect of triumphing. So far this season, the no vote has prevailed. Among these somewhat weary veterans we find Alejandro Talavante. Absent from Sevilla, he is arguably the member of the G4 whose career is at its most precarious stage. A good performance during San Isidro will help him preserve his cartel ahead of the summer ferias.
The opening bull of the afternoon was noble, but
tardy and weak. It began to display its reticent nature during the tercio de
banderillas, Padilla managing three sober and acceptable pairs, overcoming the
bull’s unwillingness to charge. By the muleta, its charge was finished, lacking emotion and movement. Padilla spent too long with the muleta in hand,
exhausting the bull and the crowd’s patience.
Juan José welcomed his second bull to the sand with
two largas cambiadas de rodillas, each of which was greeted with more
enthusiasm than the veronicas that Padilla gave once on his feet. Never mind,
the crowd had been drawn by the largas. Padilla continued his active
involvement in the lidia with an attractive galleo por chicuelinas. Juan José
placed his own banderillas, the first two pairs were clean and dominant, but
the crowd preferred the pair al violin – each to their own, I am here to judge
the torero, not the crowd’s preferences. The faena began with Padilla on his
knees, in the middle of the ring, waiting for the bull to charge from the
boards. It was not an orthodox beginning, but it takes calm head and great
confidence to greet the bull in this way. Once on his feet, Padilla had the
technical wherewithal to link a couple of acceptable series en redondo, but the
end result was unsatisfactory. Given that he was in Madrid, Padilla supressed
his populist edge and gave a correct, sober but sombre performance. The crowd
had previously accepted his largas de rodillas and pair a violin, it seems
strange that he did not try to appeal to them with the jovial aspects of his
tauromaquia.
El Cid’s first bull displayed little
interest in charging at lures. It spent the first two tercios showing its
mansedumbre and making the task of the lidiadores difficult. Once El Cid took the muleta, the bull
continued to exhibit its lackadaisical attitude to charging. Manuel Jesus tried
to extract toreo of note, but it was impossible. The animal was so poor that it
did not even allow El Cid to show
whether his form had improved following his worrying performances in Sevilla.
Sword in hand, El Cid needed a number
of unsightly pinchazos to finish his work.
The fifth bull might have offered El Cid is his prime enough mobility to be able to craft a faena. However, our present Cid was only able to show the doubts that currently afflict his toreo. Unfortunately, El Cid seems to be a rut that will be difficult to break. Certainly, an encerrona with Victorinos is far from the ideal antidote to his current form.
Talavante's afternoon began brightly, with a
delicate series of low veronicas a pies juntos, capped with a media and a
creative larga with the reverse of the cape. Trujillo, new signing to
Talavante’s cuadrilla, shone during banderillas. Alejandro started his faena in
the centre of the ring with naturales. The bull’s charge was noble and repetitive,
and Talavante used this to craft a faena around its left horn. Although Talavante
has recently sought to incorporate remates and creative notes into his toreo,
his forte remains toreo en redondo with the left hand. Today was an excellent
example. Alejandro’s naturales were low, slow and effortlessly linked, pure
toreo, shorn of distractions and there to be enjoyed. The bull’s intensity
waned when he took the right hand, but Talavante was still able to perform one
series of note. As he returned to the left hand Talavante saw that the bull
might not be able to accept whole series and therefore gave individual passes,
each excellently executed. The estocada was beautifully executed, straight and
slow, which gave way to a petition for an ear that the president granted.
The final bull of the afternoon was weak and offered little raw material for Talavante to craft into a faena. It did not matter. Alejandro had left us the best faena of the afternoon, and of the feria this far. Talavante's performance served to remind us that he has the silkiest left hand in toreo.
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