Lea Vicens - In Search of the Duende, Part 1
Wild, inaccessible, Léa trains all year round, 12 hours a day and 7 days a week. She meets very few people and prefers the company of horses to that of men. Specialized in "Corrida de rejón", or bullfight on horseback (the ancestor of modern day bullfighting), she spends up to 15 hours a day on the backs of her horses, admitting that she feels more comfortable there than standing on the ground.
"I think my body is used to being on the back of a horse." Corrida de rejón is known to be particularly impressive due to the meticulous and extremely visual training of the horses. "In fact, it is quite particular because they are taught to go against their instincts, that is, to go and confront the bull rather than avoid it". A training that takes many years and for which Léa, thanks to hard work, has become known worldwide. Under her hands the horses become airy and graceful, and seem to dance with the bull.
Her life as a bullfighter requires a lot of sacrifices. If Léa's father comes to every one of her bullfights, her mother, never does, it's too hard. Lea lives alone with her animals: two dogs, cats that come and go, and a pig. She had a house built next to the finca where she trains with her 14 horses. At her house, no computer or wifi. "I work better on the back of a horse, with my phone". A small, tight-knit team supports her in her training and follows her during the bullfighting season, which runs from February to October. Together, they crisscross the roads of Spain and South of France, and compete in "races" in the arenas among the most important and essential in the bullfighting world: the Maestranza of Seville, the Ventas in Madrid, or even the arenas of Nîmes or Arles, in France.
A few hours before one of her bullfights, Léa agreed that I would accompany her to document her preparation. These intimate and solemn moments that accompany the life of a bullfighter are always very ritualized and usually kept secret. Her concentration and gestures are those of an athlete, or rather, a warrior. "Or a dancer?" says Lea with a wink. On the subject of bullfighting, and the controversy it often arouses, Lea has spoken in the past in the French media. Some people misrepresented her words, so she stopped."The best way to defend bullfighting is to bullfight. I am a horse rider, not a media woman. It is difficult for me to express myself."
Corrida has been unleashing passions for several decades. On the one hand, those who denounce a barbaric act in the service of an outdated cultural rite, on the other, those who defend a subtle and sophisticated art which makes one feel the intensity of life by staging death. Through my images, I wanted to show Léa's universe, her singularity and her strength, and to what extent she seeks the embodiment of "Duende", this Spanish concept and feeling, untranslatable in English, which designates a moment of grace, a perfect movement - precisely what a bullfighter wants to achieve when one "dances" with the bull.