Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana at BAM
Company:
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana
Founded in 1983, Flamenco Vivo is one of this country’s longest-established flamenco companies, dedicated to promoting flamenco as a living, evolving art form. During the weeklong season, the company will present the world premieres of three new dance works by contemporary Spanish choreographers, along with other repertory and showcase solos, all accompanied by live music.
The program features new choreography by three distinctive voices in contemporary Spanish dance. In the first world premiere, El Pintor, Flamenco Vivo’s Associate Artistic Director Antonio Hidalgo creates a series of vignettes inspired by the Córdoba-based modernist/symbolist painter Julio Romero de Torres (1874–1930), known for his expressionistic depictions of women, flamenco, and the traditional fiestas of his city.
The second premiere, Pa’ Triana Voy, provides a slice of life from Triana, the Sevilla barrio that was traditionally home to the city’s large Gypsy population. Flamenco Vivo commissioned this dance by choreographer José Maldonado, a prize-winner at Madrid’s El Certamen de Coreografía de Danza Española y Flamenco, one of Spain’s most prestigious dance competitions. Maldonado’s work is an outgrowth of a transatlantic collaboration between Flamenco Vivo and the Certamen, through which the company awards a yearly creative residency in its New York studios to one of the competition’s winners.
The third world premiere on the program is A Solos (working title), choreographed by Angel Muñoz. A 2015 nominee for Britain’s National Dance Awards, Muñoz is known for reframing flamenco with bold experimental movement drawn from other forms of contemporary dance. His 2012 Flamenco Vivo commission A Solas, created for five women, modernized flamenco’s traditional “solea por bulerias” style with intricate floor patterns. The New York Times praised A Solas as “impressive for its compositional finesse.” This season’s A Solos is conceived as a men’s companion piece and will showcase the individual expression of four male dancers.
The program also includes a special showcase solo by Muñoz, another by fellow National Dance Award nominee Charo Espino, and an instrumental interlude highlighting the company’s musical ensemble, under the leadership of Musical Director Gaspar Rodriguez.
Flamenco Vivo’s BAM Fisher season features a cast of 14 renowned dancers and musicians from Spain and the U.S., including company dancers Elisabet Torras, Eliza Llewellyn, Leslie Roybal, Laura Peralta, Antonio Hidalgo, Isaac Tovar and Pablo Fraile; featured artists Ángel Muñoz and Charo Espino; guitarists Gaspar Rodriguez and Pedro Medina; singer/percussionists Francisco “Yiyi” Orozco and Juan Suarez; and flutist Diego Villegas.
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