Wednesday 16 March 2016

Feria de Fallas 15/03/2016 – Corrida – Zalduendo


The view from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV.

Zalduendo bulls for Iván Fandiño, Joselito Adame & Juan Del Álamo

Today's cartel is markedly second tier. Despite the relative ambitions of each torero, none has achieved figura stairs. Fandiño thought he was on the cusp of doing so and therefore programmed an encerrona for himself last year in Madrid in order to consolidate his position. Unfortunately, the corrida was utterly disappointing with the torero giving a poor account of himself. Iván struggled through the rest of the season and now faces the challenge of not slipping further down the pecking order. Joselito Adame is a figura in his homeland. His challenge now is whether he can match the figuras as their equal in Europe as he does in Mexcio. Juan Del Álamo was a leading novillero whose career with the four year old has simmered along nicely without boiling. He has enjoyed some important afternoons and has maintained excellent consistency   in his Madrid performances (often cutting an ear, but falling just short of an emphatic triumph). He has ability, now he needs a string of strong performances to push him to the forefront of the generational shift.

I hold little hole for the Bulls this afternoon. Zalduendo has shown itself to be in a rut over a number of years and El Ventorillo (who is providing the fourth and sixth bull today) has been poor ever since Paco Medina left and Fidel San Román took the reins.

Fandiño’s opening bull arrived at the muleta with adequate mobility and a positive tendency to lower its head. However it lacked the vigour and conviction to follow the lure throughout the charge on a consistent basis. Using this inconsistent charge, Fandiño’s performance began well and he managed the odd meritorious series. However, overall, the faena lacked cohesion. The bull was noble enough to allow good toreo, but lacked emotion. Despite the odd good pass or series, Fandiño was unable to control or time the bull sufficiently to create consistently good series. The frequent desarmes and enganchones did nothing to allay the sense that this was an untidy performance. Fandiño tried to salvage his work with the token circulares and kneeling passes, but it was too late. The bull had gone by this stage. The best part of his performance was a stylish volapié. Fandiño conveyed a poor impression with this bull. The animal was by no means perfect, lacking the emotive charge to elevate a faena, however it had sufficient nobility and an edge of nobility that can be used by a torero on good form to craft some toreo. Fandiño seemed to lack the wherewithal to do so.

Iván tried to brighten proceedings with a pase cambiado to begin the faena to the fourth bull. Once again, however, the animal lacked the vigour to give his work any emotion. This bull was very poor. It had no redeeming feature and its flame was entirely extinguished after only a series. Fandiño could do nothing but try and justify his attempts at a faena. On this occasion, his sword failed him leading to a litany of pinchazos and a descabello.

Fandiño’s final bull, which he faced in place of Adame, continued the poor style of the whole of the corrida. It lacked style, rhythm, vigour and any of the attributes that one would associate with a brave bull. Fandiño did the sensible thing and gave us a brief faena de aliño. To make matters worse, his sword work was poor.

Joselito Adame only faced one bull. He was gored at the end of his faena to the second of the afternoon and was being operated at the ring’s infirmary while his second animal was on the sand. The faena he was able to perform was lacklustre given the bull’s poor condition. There were a couple of bright series at the start of the faena soon dissipated along with the bull’s energy. Adame gave a full estocada, with tardy effects. It was while waiting for the bull to succumb that Joselito suffered the goring – in the bull’s final charge he succeeded in driving at Adame’s knee sending the torero to the operating theatre. A reminder that, no matter how moribund an animal might look, it always has the strength to break a man in two.

Juan Del Álamo’s first bull was an entirely non-descript animal. It was noble with sufficient movement to allow for some hope of a faena. Juan’s work was meticulously crafted. His muleta was measured, each pass had a purpose, to give the bull the incentive to follow the muleta. The faena started slowly, passes were more intermittent and Del Álamo did not complete a fully linked series. However, his toreo was timed beautifully, aimed at showing the bull how it should charge. This all culminated in three excellent series, with both hands, of profound, linked and emotive toreo en redondo. A sure sword allowed him to cut the first ear of the afternoon, and leave the puerta grande half open

Conscious that the triumph was there for the taking, Juan Del Álamo welcomed his second bull with a couple of larga cambiadas de rodillas. The rest of the saludo capotero was sullied by the bull losing its footing on a number of occasions. The bull was heavily protested due to its apparent weakness, but it was not returned to the pens. It reached the final tercio with sufficient energy to allow Juan to perform an interesting faena. Above all, the main virtue of the performance was Del Álamo’s sense of timing. The overwhelming sense of calm and his gentle handling of the muleta meant that the bull felt obliged to follow he lure. Juan constructed an acceptable faena of toreo fundamental. Well linked series with either hand, during which he was entirely in control and there was barely an enganchón. Juan intelligently crafted the faena and ended with some circulares and a molinete garnish that served to excite the crowd enough for them to petition for his second ear of the afternoon after a full estocada. Two orejas, a puerta grande and a very productive afternoon for Juan Del Álamo.

Sadly, the bulls confirmed our suspicions on the current form of each ranch. This type of spectacle do nothing for the fiesta and although the impresario may lament the poor attendance, you cannot blame people who stay home. As for the toreros, the undoubted star was Juan Del Álamo. He faced a couple of average bulls, gave them the treatment they required and triumphed. We might argue the weight and merit of each trophy, but the main take away from me is he brought the best out of each animal. That, sometimes, is more significant than a puerta grande. Fandiño continues his worrying turn of form, he is in dire need of a morale boosting faena. As for Joselito, I only hope he makes a swift recovery.



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