Nîmes grape harvest fair: with Gilles Raoux, Entre 2 paseos deciphers bullfighting: “The wind is the third horn of the bull”

Gilles Raoux, ancien torero, décrypte la corrida. Midi Libre – K. H.

Led by Gilles Raoux, a moment of discussion to explain bullfighting to neophytes at the Museum of Bullfighting Cultures

Who better than a bullfighter to decipher the codes of a bullfight, to give the keys to the uninitiated? For eight years, Gilles Raoux, who was a bullfighter from 1995 to 1998, has generously complied with the exercise imagined by Frédéric Pastor, the assistant for bullfighting, eight years ago. And, at each meeting, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., in the courtyard of the Museum of Bullfighting Cultures, 30 to 40 people come to ask him questions about the morning and afternoon bullfights, between two paseos!

This Saturday afternoon, it's the wind that animates the debates. “The wind is the third horn of the bull. Bullfighters always prefer rain to unpredictable wind", says Gilles Raoux who analyzes the morning bullfight. "Where there is the least wind, it is near the toril. But if he stays there, the bull does not invest himself. He has to be in the center of the ring". This Saturday morning, Castella had therefore positioned himself opposite the toril.

"Being in front of a bull, the  most beautiful thing in the world"

Through the questions, we learn more about the costumes of light (“Between 3,000 euros and 7,000 euros. Each bullfighter has ten made at the start of the season”), on the swords, their size, their price, on the role of the picadors who test the bull's bravery. “As soon as he is pricked, he has less fire but he is more precise in his attacks. If it is not stung enough, it is too complicated with the muleta afterwards.

The public also questions Clemente's alternative this Saturday morning, “one of the most important moments in the life of a novillero. Now he's going to fight with experienced matadors, it's much more difficult.” The killing also intrigues the audience a lot.   “The most dangerous thing is losing the bull's gaze, the horns, we don't care,” smiles Gilles Raoux. You have to plant the sword on a point no bigger than a 2 euro coin!"

"Being in front of a bull is the most beautiful thing in the world and the most dangerous", he concluded before going to watch Luque fight against six bulls. "It's exceptional to do that. He's going to have to vary his style with each bull." And deal with that damn wind!