Dance Listings > Performances & Events

Noche Flamenca's Winter Season

Company:
Noche Flamenca

Founded in 1993 by Artistic Director Martín Santangelo and his Bessie award­winning wife, Soledad Barrio Noche Flamenca is recognized today as one of the world’s leading flamenco touring companies. The Company has been hailed for its authentic performances of one of the world's most complex and mysterious art forms. The company performs to live music, propelling the dancers to an incredible height of drama that “goes straight for the expressive tension that seems to be at flamenco’s very heart” (The New York Times).

From December 26–January 28, Noche Flamenca presents a five­week showcase of their signature spellbinding flamenco. The series begins with La Ronde (Dec 26 – Jan 7), inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 play, La Ronde moves between a series of duets that explores issues of desire, humiliation and loneliness. Sharing the stage with La Ronde is Creación, which follows the life­journey of two female dancers coming together from their alternate disciplines in a fusion of Flamenco and hip­hop. Starring Noche Flamenca principal dancer Soledad Barrio, select performances of Creación will feature hip­hop legend TweetBoogie (Jay­Z, Fergie, Mary J Blige) who alternates the role with Nubian Néné.

The critically acclaimed dance drama Antigona (January 10 – 28) returns to New York for its third multi­week run ahead of an eight­week international tour with stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Calgary, Vancouver, and Abu Dhabi. This visually arresting adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone was declared a New York Times critics’ pick by Laura Collins­ Hughes, who wrote that “a haunting, distant classicism coexists with sweaty, unmediated corporeality in this dance drama.” Adapted and directed by Noche Flamenca Artistic Director Martín Santangelo, Antigona features a cast of 14 performers and four musicians lead by Barrio who brings her usual fire to the role of Antigone, the classical Greek heroine.

All performances will take place at the West Park Presbyterian Church, located at 539 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. Tickets range from $25 ­ $60 and are available at nocheflamenca.com or by calling 212.352.3101.

 

Additional Programming Details

December 26–31 and January 2–7

Monday–Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 5pm & 8pm

 

La Ronde

Adapted and Directed by Martín Santangelo

Choreography by Soledad Barrio & Martín Santangelo

Music by Salva de María, Eugenio Iglesias, Hamed Traore, David "Chupete" Rodriguez, Martín Santangelo

Vocal Composition: Manuel Gago, Emilio Florido, Martín Santangelo

75 minutes with no intermission, including opening performance of Creación

This new work from Noche Flamenca, is loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler’s play. Written in 1890s Vienna, the original play is structured as a series of interlocking scenes between couples. Choreographed by Artistic Director Martín Santangelo and principal dancer Soledad Barrio, with musical composition by long­time Noche Flamenca guitarists Eugenio Iglesias and Salva de María, La Ronde moves between a series of duets; pairings to include various combinations of dancers, singers and guitarists, all given equal weight as they are in traditional flamenco. Exploring issues of desire, humiliation and loneliness, at its core, La Ronde is about our subconscious desires; our yearning to express our true nature too often made taboo because of society's norms.

The cast of La Ronde includes Soledad Barrio, Juan Ogalla, Manuel Gago, Salva de María, Eugenio Iglesias, Emilio

Florido, David “Chupete” Rodriguez, Marina Elana, Hamed Traore.

 

Creación

Created by Martín Santangelo

Principal dancers Soledad Barrio, TweetBoogie and Nubian Néné

Music by Salva de María, Eugenio Iglesias, Hamed Traore, Martín Santangelo|

Vocal Composition: Vocal Composition: Lila Blue, Manuel Gago, Emilio Florido, Martín Santangelo

Special guest singer Lila Blue

Commissioned by Lincoln Center Out of Doors.

Creación revolves around the coming together of two mature female dancers from two distinct disciplines and dance genres; Noche Flamenca principal dancer Soledad Barrio and hip­hop legend TweetBoogie (Dec 26­31). In this piece, Artistic Director Martín Santangelo explored the possibilities of how this unique collaboration would evolve. Ultimately, he took his inspiration from the strength, depth of emotion and resilience of these two women. What emerged was their life journey, how they matured, became mothers and fought to stay true to themselves, independent of both society’s norms and the expectations of men, maintaining their spirit and conviction throughout. For the second week of performances, TweetBoogie’s role will be performed by hip­hop dancer, Nubian Néné (Jan 2­7). The piece also includes two young hip­ hop dancers, Samantha Peña and Stella Lil’g; flamenca Marina Elana and singer songwriter Lila Blue. All of these young women reflect and celebrate the journey and destiny of their more mature counterparts, Soledad Barrio and TweetBoogie.

The cast of Creación includes Soledad Barrio, TweetBoogie, Nubian Néné, Manuel Gago, Salva de María, Eugenio Iglesias, Emilio Florido, David “Chupete” Rodriguez, Marina Elana, Hamed Traore, Samantha Peña, Stella Lil’g, Lila Blue

 

January 10-­14, 17-­21, and 24-­28

Tuesday – Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 5pm & 8pm

 

Antigona

Adapted and Directed by Martín Santangelo

Choreography by Soledad Barrio

Additional Choreography by Isabel Bayón

Music by Eugenio Iglesias, Salva de María & Martín Santangelo

Lyrics adapted and written by Martín Santangelo

Consulting Director: Lee Breue

Mask Design based on the work of Mary Frank

90 minutes with no intermission; performed in Spanish with English surtitles

Antigona is Noche Flamenca’s visually arresting adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. Declared a New York Times critics’ pick by Laura Collins­Hughes, who wrote that “a haunting, distant classicism coexists with sweaty, unmediated corporeality in this dance drama,” Antigona returns to New York for a third multi­week run. In The Village Voice, Miriam Felton­Dansky called it “raucously eloquent,” while Apollinaire Scherr in the Financial Times wrote that Noche Flamenca “has created a powerful marriage of Greek tragedy and flamenco.” The New Yorker’s Joan Acocella declared: “Never, until I saw Santangelo’s ensemble, their heels stamping, their arms cutting through the air, had I seen a chorus whose physical force could support the fate­heavy songs that Sophocles wrote for his plays.”

Noche Flamenca’s dance drama Antigona merges spoken text, live music, theatrical spectacle, and dance to create a production that propels the classic Greek play to new heights. The company brings the inherent theatricality of Flamenco to bear on this classical tragedy, reigniting the theatrical potential of the Greek chorus as the lyrical and rhythmic heart of the drama.

Adapted and directed by Noche Flamenca Artistic Director Martín Santangelo from an English translation by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, Antigona features a cast of 14 performers and four musicians, who in a quick­paced 15 scenes, bring forth a full­bodied level of catharsis not often seen in more traditional adaptations. Lee Breuer, founding co­artistic director of Mabou Mines, serves as consulting director. Soledad Barrio, Noche Flamenca’s celebrated lead dancer and choreographer, brings her usual fire to the role of Antigone, the classical Greek heroine. Daughter of Oedipus and sister of the shunned Polyneices, Antigone follows her heart and defies Creon by burying her brother. Sentenced to death,

Antigone then kills herself.

The cast of Antigona includes Soledad Barrio as Antigone, Juan Ogalla as Haemon, Manuel Gago as Creon, Pepe el Bocadillo as Tiresias, Emilio Florido as Master of Ceremonies, Marina Elana as Ismene/Chorus, Angelina Ramirez as Eurydice/Chorus, Xianix Barrera as Jocasta/Chorus, Carlos Perez Vega as Oedipus, Robert "Short Sircuit" Wilson as Eteocles/Chorus and Carlos Menchaca as Polyneices/Chorus. Live musicians include Eugenio Iglesias (guitar), Salva de María (guitar), David "Chupete" Rodriguez (percussion) and Hamed Traore (electric guitar & bass). The creative team includes S. Benjamin Farrar (lights), Soledad Barrio (costumes) and Sydney Moffat (mask artisan).