The view from
the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV.
Jandilla Bulls for
Juan José Padilla, Miguel Abellán and El
Fandi.
Juan José Padilla rolled
back the years and headed to the chiqueros to open the afternoon with a larga
cambiada a porta gayola, followed by a couple more in the tercio. Once on his
feet Padilla suffered a dramatic tossing while giving a delantal, he was caught
by the groin, but miraculously not gored. Abellán intervened with a closely
worked and controlled series of chicuelinas, capped with a neat larga. Padilla,
undeterred after his brush with tragedy, took the banderillas and performed an
acceptable tercio with three pairs a poder a poder, changing terrains for
variety, and concluded with the crowd pleasing pair al violín.
The faena began
promisingly with a series of well linked doblones. The bull was better on the
right side, tending to chop inwards on the left. Padilla therefore opted to
base his tore fundamental on eh derechazos. The bull was repetitive, but lacked
class, nevertheless Padilla timed him well and linked a couple of series that
excited the crowd and got the band playing.
Despite the difficulty on the left, Padilla was able to build a series
on the basis of a heavy toque outwards. Back on the right, the bull had run out
of gas and all that was left was an untidy arrimón. The estocada was spectacular,
with Padilla going in straight and getting a horn to the chest for his trouble,
but the sword was tendido and necessitated a few descabellos to finish. This
might have cost him an ear, but this was Padilla back to his blood and thunder
best – it is not the prettiest toreo but I cannot help but think how difficult
this type of performance must be for the forty year old Padilla.
Padilla’s capote greeting
to his fourth bull was altogether more subdued, a series of clean veronicas
that starkly contrasted the spectacular opening to the corrida. The tercio de
banderillas, two pairs poder a poder and a coda al violin, was acceptable, but
below the level of his previous effort. The fireworks began with the muelta, an
opening series on his knees that excited the crowd but left the aficionado
unmoved. The bull had an acceptable charge, it lacked verve but was noble.
Padilla has the wherewithal to make up for the bull’s deficiencies constructing
a clean faena on either hand, the highlight of which were a couple of slow and
profound naturales. It was not moving toreo, but a technically proficient and
entertaining outing; for better or for worse we saw Padilla be Padilla. He
concluded with a full and effective estocada and earned an ear that his
afternoon deserved.
Abellán also opened his
afternoon a porta gayola. It was shaping up to be that type of corrida. Good.
Toreo is about of emotion and all types of emotions, from yesterday’s classy
and artistic toreo with Cuvillos, through the tough power of Thursday’s
Victorinos and everything in between, including of course, today’s initial
excitement. El Fandi left his calling
card with a discreet and controlled quite by tafalleras. The bull was nervy
with a profound charge if it was dominated low. However, it was also
intermittent, it would readily accept the first couple of passes in a series,
but became tardy thereafter. It took Abellán a couple of series to get the
measure of him, once he did, however, the result was an emotive series of
profound derechazos. This was the bull’s only series, once it felt dominated,
the bull gave up the ghost with its previously nervy charge becoming slow and
bland. He concluded with a wonderful volapié that in other circumstances might
have been worth an ear.
The fifth bull of the
afternoon was a big and burly fella whose construction did not augur a good
charge. It was well picced by Jabato
– it is good to remind ourselves that the suerte de varas can convey emotion
and is an integral part of the lidia. By the muleta third, the animal displayed
mansedumbre and was looking to escape the muleta and head for the boards.
Abellán faced up to these diffifulties and managed a few series of well linked
derechazos – for a moment it seemed as if the faena would take flight, but it
was not to be. All in all a professional display by Abellán who continues to
show a level of maturity that makes him a welcome addition to any cartel.
El
Fandi was the jovial antidote to Padilla and Abellán’s epic
concept. His variety with the capote is always welcome. On this occasion he
opted for a galleo by chicuelinas to take the bull to the horse, capped with a
creative recorte, and a quite by zapopinas. El
Fandi placed banderillas with his customary ease, playfully displaying his
atheleticism through the long cuarteos. El
Fandi performed a sober and dominant tercio which was purer and more
orthodox than his usual outings, without appealing to the public any less. The
bull was noble and repetitive and El
Fandi began the faena with no tester passes and clean derechazos. He gave
the bull distance for the next couple of series of derechazos and although the
toreo was clean and linked, they lacked emotion. A professional display by El Fandi which was above the level that
we would usually expect from his muleta, but falling short of the level
required by the bull. The couple of series of naturales intermingled into the
faena were untidy. El Fandi finished
with a well-placed an effective media, the type of estocada which is becoming
undervalued, that gave way to an insufficient petition.
The greeting to the sixth
bull was, uniquely, a series of zapopinas. An imaginative novelty. Once again, El Fandi was involved and varied with
the capote – a welcome facet of his tauromaquia given the paucity of capote wok
in today’s toreo. The tercio de banderillas was classic Fandi. David may lack purity, but one cannot doubt his supreme
athleticism and astounding consistency to cleanly place banderillas on each
bull and in every terrain. He even gave us some variety with this two in one
(two pairs linked, the first al violin and the second de poder a poder). The
bull did not offer much in the muleta and El
Fandi’s weakness is precisely the muleta – there is nothing, therefore, to
report from this tercio.
This corrida lived up to
its billing. It was never going to be an afternoon of profound artistic toreo.
However, the Jandilla bulls offered enough raw material to allow each torero to
showcase his communicative toreo. The crowd lapped it all up and enjoyed
themselves, which is, ultimately, the point of an afternoon at the bulls.
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