Encore Magazine
http://encoremag.com/?q=article&id=378
Rhythm, passion and dexterity at City Center, Skirball Center and Carnegie Hall
by Mary Staub
Flamenco is best experienced in intimate surroundings, in dimly lit Andalusian bodegas with wood tables and chairs, hidden away in narrow side streets, tapas and red wine flowing until morning. Here, the duende (soul force) of flamenco is inescapable and permeates an audience fully. Here, the rhythm of the bailaores (flamenco dancers) sends your heart racing, the passion of the cantaores (singers) takes your breath away, the dexterity of the tocaores (flamenco guitarists) sends chills down your spine.
But not everyone can go to Spain.
Thus the Flamenco Festival is bringing Andalusian artists to large-scale New York theaters, including to City Center and NYU’s Skirball Center, for the ninth year in a row this February. Although flamenco often appears more distant, deliberate and orderly in the proscenium theater, this year’s artists—who hail from rich flamenco backgrounds and include the flamenco dynasty of
Los Farruco—promise to transcend the barrier the stage setting often creates.
Antonio Montoya Flores (El Farruco), the patriarch of Los Farruco until his death, came from a traditional Spanish gypsy background and began performing gypsy dances at markets as a child.
Later, when performing flamenco from his gypsy tradition in more typical theater settings, he was disinterested in ostentatious showmanship, and together with his family focused fully on embodying the passion the art form demands. Farruquito, El Farruco’s grandson, conceived and directed this year’s program, which features multiple family members who are well-known in their own right.
Antonio Gades, also from a flamenco family, is a flamenco legend of a different sort. He created and brought popular shows to major theaters worldwide, and is said to have made flamenco palatable to a wider audience. His “Carmen,” which began as Carlos Saura’s award-winning film by the same name (in which Gades collaborated and starred), is here being re-staged by the Antonio Gades Company, a company established shortly after Gades’s death to continue his legacy.
Smaller festival productions include “La Puerta Abierta,” in which dancer Isabel Bayón, born in Seville, Spain, responds to the cantaor Terremoto. And in the concert “Noche de Sevilla” the cantaor Arcángel represents a new generation of flamenco masters and incorporates jazz and international elements in his music. He’s appearing alongside the dancer Rosario Toledo and pianist Dorantes.
For each of these artists, flamenco is a deep-seated family tradition, and what they bring to the stage is nourished by those who came before them. And, as with most family traditions, flamenco takes on a unique flavor—and duende—dependent upon what lineage an artist is from. Enjoy sampling them all this month!
http://encoremag.com/?q=article&id=378
Rhythm, passion and dexterity at City Center, Skirball Center and Carnegie Hall
by Mary Staub
Flamenco is best experienced in intimate surroundings, in dimly lit Andalusian bodegas with wood tables and chairs, hidden away in narrow side streets, tapas and red wine flowing until morning. Here, the duende (soul force) of flamenco is inescapable and permeates an audience fully. Here, the rhythm of the bailaores (flamenco dancers) sends your heart racing, the passion of the cantaores (singers) takes your breath away, the dexterity of the tocaores (flamenco guitarists) sends chills down your spine.
But not everyone can go to Spain.
Thus the Flamenco Festival is bringing Andalusian artists to large-scale New York theaters, including to City Center and NYU’s Skirball Center, for the ninth year in a row this February. Although flamenco often appears more distant, deliberate and orderly in the proscenium theater, this year’s artists—who hail from rich flamenco backgrounds and include the flamenco dynasty of
Los Farruco—promise to transcend the barrier the stage setting often creates.
Antonio Montoya Flores (El Farruco), the patriarch of Los Farruco until his death, came from a traditional Spanish gypsy background and began performing gypsy dances at markets as a child.
Later, when performing flamenco from his gypsy tradition in more typical theater settings, he was disinterested in ostentatious showmanship, and together with his family focused fully on embodying the passion the art form demands. Farruquito, El Farruco’s grandson, conceived and directed this year’s program, which features multiple family members who are well-known in their own right.
Antonio Gades, also from a flamenco family, is a flamenco legend of a different sort. He created and brought popular shows to major theaters worldwide, and is said to have made flamenco palatable to a wider audience. His “Carmen,” which began as Carlos Saura’s award-winning film by the same name (in which Gades collaborated and starred), is here being re-staged by the Antonio Gades Company, a company established shortly after Gades’s death to continue his legacy.
Smaller festival productions include “La Puerta Abierta,” in which dancer Isabel Bayón, born in Seville, Spain, responds to the cantaor Terremoto. And in the concert “Noche de Sevilla” the cantaor Arcángel represents a new generation of flamenco masters and incorporates jazz and international elements in his music. He’s appearing alongside the dancer Rosario Toledo and pianist Dorantes.
For each of these artists, flamenco is a deep-seated family tradition, and what they bring to the stage is nourished by those who came before them. And, as with most family traditions, flamenco takes on a unique flavor—and duende—dependent upon what lineage an artist is from. Enjoy sampling them all this month!
