Repertory

Carmen: El Baile

© 2007 Lois Greenfield

The name Carmen has long been associated with insatiable desire, mysterious beauty, and vengeful and fiery tempers. This timeless story, made famous to modern audiences through opera and film, is beautifully suited to interpretation through flamenco. Carmen: El Baile gives a contemporary twist on the classic story. She is no longer the cigarette girl but the symbol of artistic perfection. Our Carmen is an accomplished, self-empowered woman. Above all, she epitomizes "the dance," showing how the artistic drive—the drive to achieve perfection—can both create and destroy.

• Premiere—March 4, 2008, The Joyce Theater, New York
• Choreography—Pilar Andujar
• Music—Calvin Hazen

Palillos y Pies

© 2006 Lois Greenfield

"Pilar Andujar does something revolutionary with flamenco: She preserves all its power, poise and passion while injecting it with some of the structure and aesthetics of both modern dance and ballet.

—Tresca Weinstein, Albany Times Union

We return to our classical roots with an exploration of the castanet, the traditional instrument of Spanish dance, Palillos y Pies, translated literally "sticks and feet," highlights the many different ways the castanets can be used through technique, accompaniment and solo capabilities.

• Premiere—March 2008, The Joyce Theater, New York
• Choreography—Pilar Andujar
• Music—Calvin Hazen

Watch an excerpt from this work.

Burlador

Many other flamenco choreographers combine diverse dance elements in their works, but few integrate them into a coherent and expressive language as seamlessly as Ms. Carrasco does.

—Valerie Gladstone, The New York Times

Don Juan, the legendary philanderer, is the subject of our contemporary, experimental dance drama Burlador. Pushing the boundaries of flamenco, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana teamed up with innovative choreographer Rafaela Carrasco. Ms. Carrasco is part of a new generation of flamenco artists trained in and inspired by a wide range of dance and stage disciplines. It is a story of tension and contrast: male to female; modern dance to flamenco; traditional music to contemporary sounds.

• Premiere—June 13, 2006, The Joyce Theater, New York
• Choreography—Rafaela Carrasco
• Music—Pablo Suarez and Jesus Torres
• Conceptual Framework and Stage Direction—Manuel Duque

Bailes de Ida y Vuelta

Bailes de Ida y Vuelta… tours Colombia, Argentina and Cuba before ending with a blow-out salsa party.

—Sylviane Gold, New York Newsday

Since the first migrations from Spain to America, the music of the two continents has blended to infuse flamenco with Caribbean, Latino and Afro-Latino sounds. Over the years, Flamenco has continued to be highly influenced by these styles and other American forms such as jazz, blues and rock. Bailes de Ida y Vuelta, literally "round trip" is a tightly connected series of dances showing the transition of Flamenco from the elegant and poised dance of the early 1900s to today's bold and energetic Latino-influenced style that is permeated by the new rhythms, use of flute and percussion, informal costume styles, and bold music and dance elements of salsa, tango, rumba, guajira, merengue and other Caribbean, Latino and Afro-Latino music and dance styles. Bailes de Ida y Vuelta was created in celebration of Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana's 20th Anniversary.

• Premiere—June 10, 2003, The Joyce Theater, New York
• Choreography—Antonio Hidalgo
• Music—Calvin Hazen and Fernando de la Rua

Bailaor/Bailaora

The work…brought down the house… the men began slowly but progressively packed more steps into each phrase… Mr. Hidalgo's fine emphatic style brought out the staccato rhythms of his footwork.

—Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times

The passionate evolution of flamenco danced with elegance and exuberance. It is an original and deeply expressive portrayal of the evolution of the male and female flamenco dance from the early gypsy forms of the 19th century, through the dramatic stylistic developments of the early and mid 20th century, to the electrifying eclecticism of today's contemporary styles. This work features a selection of women's (Bailaora) and men's (Bailaor) dances from different eras.

• Premiere—March 12, 2002, The Joyce Theater, New York
• Choreography—Antonio Hidalgo
• Music—Roberto Castellón, Terence Butler, Calvin Hazen and Fermín Querol

En El Café de Chinitas

Among the highlights were an imperious solo by Ms Santana, a solo for Mr. Reyes in which his feet made fierce declamations and a duet for Ms Filgueiras and Mr. Calvo de Mora that began tenderly, then burst into fire.

—Jack Anderson, The New York Times

El Café de Chinitas was a well-known café cantante (the forerunner of today's tablaos) in mid 19th-century Málaga. At this café, the poet García Lorca's great uncle Federico was an acclaimed performer on bandurria, a type of lute. Cafés cantantes were places where artists gathered to show off their artistry and share their enthusiasm for flamenco. Inevitably the dramas and emotions of daily life influenced and inspired the performances. The work En El Café de Chinitas is a a traditional festive tablao displaying the bold, pure, passion of flamenco.

• Premiere—March 12, 2002, The Joyce Theater, New York
• Choreography—Antonio Hidalgo
• Musical Arrangement—Roberto Castellon

Watch an excerpt from this work.

Mano a Mano

An ingenious production…enriched and propelled forward with the aid of modern-dance steps and a spoken text

—The New York Times

Mano a Mano is a rich dramatization of the life of legendary Spanish bullfighter Manolete. Its subject: la corrida—the bullfight. With the creation of this work, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana continued in the tradition of creating innovative and original dance dramas. Samuel Hazo, director of the International Poetry Forum of Pittsburgh, wrote the book and provided creative direction.

• Premiere: October 2000 at Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, PA
• Choreography—Antonio Hidalgo
• Music—Roberto Castellón
• Book—Samuel Hazo

Navidad Flamenca

An exuberant exhibition of storytelling through flashy footwork, splashy guitar and melodramatic song…It was breathtaking

—Susan Green, Palm Beach Daily News

Move over Drosselmeyer—make room for Tío Augustín! Step aside toy soldiers—the bullfighters have arrived! Away sugar plum fairies…give them flamenco dancers! The story may seem familiar, but the cast of characters is refreshingly new. A large family gathers to eat and drink, to dance and sing, to celebrate Christmas—dancers sing and singers dance, recalling the folkloric fiesta of Flamenco, rarely seen today by theater audiences.

• Premiere—December 1999 The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, New Jersey
• Choreography—Clara Mora
• Music—David Serva

Federico

A daring piece of theater…Flamenco Vivo's remarkable production brought to life, if only for a few moments, the revitalizing essence of Lorca's genius.

—The Albuquerque Journal

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana's fifteenth anniversary, leading flamenco artists from Spain and the U.S. joined together to create and perform Federico in a major artistic collaboration. This work explores the fascinating world Lorca created in his poetry and plays, and follows the poet through his tumultuous personal life and untimely death at the hands of the fascists. Original music involved instrumentation of two guitars, cello, percussion and flute brought a new mix to flamenco, while retaining the rhythms and sounds of traditional flamenco.

• Premiere—December 20, 1997 Palacio de Congresos, Granada, Spain
• Choreography—Juan Andrés Maya and Miguel Angel Rojas
• Original Music—Juan Campos and Cañadu
• Book and stage direction: Manuel Duque

Watch an excerpt from this work

Zapateado

Lorca's 1983 Zapateado drives the audience wild… and Antonio Hidalgo's restaging increases the speed dazzlingly, his heels and toes hardly seeming to move.

—Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice

The Zapateado is thought to have originated in the 16th Century and is composed mostly of taconeo—intricate and rhythmic footwork. The use of the garroches (poles) was introduced more recently. This classical Spanish work showcases the strength and skill of the male dancer.

• Premiere—1983, New York, NY
• Original Choreography—Roberto Lorca (1983)
• Re-Staging—Antonio Hidalgo (2003)

Luz y Sombra

The darkness at the heart of flamenco—the guitars, the wail of gypsy voices in cante jondo, the coiling wrists, the angry feet and curving backs—never fails to entrance an audience…

—Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice

Luz (light) depicts the light side of life and love while Sombra (shadow) depicts the dark side, the struggle with death. For the central role in Sombra, Choreographer Roberto Lorca used the folkloric figure of La Petenera, a spell-binding seductress who ultimately breaks men's hearts, and transformed her into the Angel of Death. Mr. Lorca created this piece after being diagnosed with AIDS as his way of dealing with his imminent death.

• Premiere—1986, New York, NY
• Original Choreography—Roberto Lorca (1986)
• Re-Staging—Antonio Hidalgo and Carlota Santana (2003)