Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana will perform
their potent concoction of flamenco music and dance at Brooklyn
Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College on Feb. 7,
at 8 pm.
Singers Aurora Reyes and Jose Salinas will join guitarists Calvin
Hazen and Basilio Georges to form a galvanizing, rhythmic backdrop
for the six dancers performing this special, 20th anniversary
program.
Artistic Director Carlota Santana told GO Brooklyn this week
that her company distinguishes itself from other flamenco companies,
in part, because while traditional flamenco dances are about
certain feelings or moods, "We do a lot of theme-based works,
works with a story line. The one piece we’re bringing to Brooklyn
Center that is theme-based was choreographed in 1986 by my partner
and co-founder of the company, Roberto Lorca.
"[’Luz y Sombra’] is a piece about the light side of life
and the dark side of life, which he choreographed when he was
diagnosed with AIDS," said Santana. "Initially it is
bright and fun, a couple in love, and then enters a figure in
flamenco folklore, a very sexy woman who breaks men’s hearts.
In this piece, it’s the angel of death and there is a fight between
the male dancer and the angel of death. He set this when he was
diagnosed with AIDS and was working through his own death."
Lorca died in 1987, but his legacy is evident in the first half
of the Flamenco Vivo program, which features dances from the
early ’80s, when the company started.
The program’s second half is much more modern choreography, said
Santana. It will include excerpts from "Bailes de Ida y
Vuelta," a new work choreographed last year by Flamenco
Vivo member Antonio Hidalgo, with music by Calvin Hazen and Fernando
de la Rua. The title means "Comings and Goings," she
explained.
"These dances are influenced from the migrations from Spain
to Latin America and back to Spain, that have been happening
since the time of Columbus," said Santana. This work has
lighter music and will include "Columbianas," the Argentinean-influenced
"Milonga" (featuring Santana) and the Cuban "Guajiras."
Because flamenco is a particularly emotive art form, Santana
said the audience is encouraged to applaud when they feel moved
to – they don’t have to wait until the end of a piece, and the
occasional shout of "Ole!" is appreciated, too.
The performance will take place at Brooklyn College’s Walt Whitman
Theater, one block from the junction of Flatbush and Nostrand
avenues, in Midwood. Tickets are $30. For more information, call
(718) 951-4500 or visit www.brooklyncenter.com.
