The chaos, bustle and movement of the city of San Francisco becomes beauty for some outsiders. And home. Like Antonio Castilla, the associate artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet. Although he is not really a stranger. He arrived in the city two years ago, but spent several years as a principal dancer in the company. He has spent more time in London, 25 years, but it never felt like home. San Francisco yes. «I don’t know if it’s because my father’s name is Francisco or because the first building that was built in the city is in Mission Dolores and my mother’s name is that. Or because my daughter was born here. “I don’t know,” he says with a laugh as he prepares for the class he has to give during the ballet’s tour at the Teatro Real. He is not interested in interviews or photographs. Don’t even talk about him. «Leave me with the dancers. “That’s how I’m happy,” he says as he enters the classroom to start class. The dancers begin to enter the classroom in silence. Some are wearing helmets, others are crestfallen, tired from yesterday’s day: the premiere of ‘Swan Lake’. Antonio Castilla marks the exercise and the dancers exemplify it with their hands before the master pianist begins to play. There are signs of fatigue, of pain in the muscles. Some force and others not too much. Some of the dancers during the class they do every morning before starting the day Tania Sieira The dancers speak a language that only they understand. «Four tendus, front, back, side, side, the same ‘en dedans’. One, two, tendu, tendu, head, head, chac, chac,” says Castilla while the dancers nod convinced. The mental agility of the dancers is amazing. With four gestures and two words, the dancers internalize the exercise and execute it in unison. The secret? They have lived like this all their lives, ever since they first entered a ballet classroom. «The dancer must be motivated. Everything is a bit sunken, boring. You have to work in a different way with them. Times have changed. “You have to look for the artist within him,” he whispers as he immediately corrects a dancer and asks him to swing his hips more. The work environment shows a good atmosphere. On one of the bars there is a dancer with a band and colorful balloons around her. He celebrates his birthday while on an international tour. Class is essential for dancers. It is a lesson they learn from the first day they enter a dance classroom. On the right, Antonio Castilla teaching the Tania Sieira class. There is barely enough room in the classroom and the dancers are strategically positioned so as not to disturb the rest of their classmates. The bar ends and the men move the mobile bars to the sides. The dancers put on their pointe shoes and the center begins. The dancers dance like the city of San Francisco. Fresh, avant-garde, agile, with noise and at a frenetic pace. The teacher plays the ‘grand allegro’ to the tune of Britney Spears, and two dancers sing ‘Baby One More Time’ while laughing while they watch their classmates jump. And they tune. Wow, they do tune up. The extra turns are applauded and to finish, the pianist plays and the dancers sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the young apprentice. The mirrors start to fog up. Good sign. After a good job, some dancers leave the classroom, Sasha de Sola and Aaron Robinson stay, and Antonio Castilla goes to his dressing room. She met Tamara Rojo at the English National Ballet, when she arrived as director, and after her jump to the San Francisco Ballet, she decided to follow her there. Open the computer and start doing business. Right now he must finish the evaluations that they do every year on all the dancers. They meet with them to talk about their season, their achievements, their progress, their progress. It is not easy to find two people who have such a clear view of the future of dance and the steps to follow. Listening to Antonio Castilla is listening to Rojo. «Ballet has to evolve in all terms. “You have to innovate, not only make new works, but also transform the classic,” he says while opening different files on the computer. He is taking off his shoes when a voice rings out in all the rooms of the royal theater: «In five minutes the technical rehearsal begins. “Everyone warned.” Related News standard Yes Tamara Rojo: “We must put distance between politics and culture” Julio Bravo The artist returns to the Teatro Real, this time at the head of the San Francisco Ballet, the American company currently directed by Antonio Castilla moves to the stage, Tamara Rojo awaits him there to supervise another technical rehearsal. Every day they do one. They cannot allow even the slightest error in production. A complex production that has four acts and many set changes. «When I arrived at the company I found very good dancers, with very good conditions, but they are not used to being in the center of things. They are not used to feeling competition. In London you have four big dance companies. In New York too. Not here. San Francisco is surrounded by coastline. There is no one to compare yourself to,” he whispers in the change from the first to the second act. Antonio Castilla grew up in a golden age for dance in Spain, being principal dancer at the Zaragoza Ballet, the National Classical Ballet of Spain and the San Francisco Ballet.Antonio Castilla, associate artistic director Tania SieiraThe journey for him is over, but He doesn’t want to leave the company. The stage is a meeting point as is the Teatro Real canteen. There they eat together. «We offer nutritionists to the dancers, something that until recently was not done. It is necessary to have a better relationship between the body and everything you eat. It is a theme that has always been there in dance. And from the canteen to the dressing room again. Right now they are closing contracts with choreographers for 2028. In large theaters, forecasting is basic and seasons are prepared well in advance. When he talks about the company, the conviction he shows about the project they have in mind is overwhelming. Castilla experienced the rise of the great most modern choreographers, Balanchine, Forsythe, Kylian, Kenneth McMillan, who opened a new stage in classical dance. «We have to go back and we have to go forward. In the ballets of these people, the artist resonated, not the dancer. We must return to the essence of what it meant to dance. There was a movement in terms of the character of the character and what was happening. “We have to rescue that,” he admits excitedly as he closes his computer. The technique has evolved a lot, but the essence of what it was to dance like before has been left behind. «The dancer’s energy has to be on the earth. An artist presents himself with the utmost honesty. Only that reaches the public. You need to return to that character. You dance for that, right? “I danced for that reason at least.” While the hustle and bustle takes over the halls of the Real with dancers coming and going, some come in to take the class, others warm up on their own. And Antonio Castilla goes to the seats to watch the show. Sasha De Sola and Aaron Robinson shine on stage and the audience applauds them. Antonio Castilla discreetly applauds. Several details may cross your mind that can be improved. Maybe there is some responsibility, but also pride, satisfaction. A job well done. Antonio Castilla works in the shadows, in the hidden, he does perhaps the most sacrificial work, but at the same time the most important. He surely learned it from his first teacher, María de Ávila, of whom he is a direct disciple. After speaking with the dancers he heads to the exit, where an old friend from the Zaragoza Ballet is waiting for him. Maybe Madrid is not his city of origin, his house, his home, but it is the place where his companions can meet again in the place where he has been happiest. The theater. Place. Home. Home.
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