Audience Reviews >

AUDIENCE REVIEW: Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana

Performance Date:
May 23, 2015

Freeform Review:

Guadalupe Torres made her US debut as a soloist with Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana (FVCS) in their BAM Fisher 2015 season. A Madrilena, this Conservatory trained performer has many gifts, one being how she immediately captured the audience. The FVCS company led by Associate Artistic Director, dancer, and choreographer Antonio Hidalgo performs a technically perfect show; but Torres dances as though flamenco is her first language. Her “Ausencia” begins with her twirling a large lush “manton” (shawl) as though it were a beloved, a second skin she couldn’t shed, no matter how hard she tried. When she does drop the manton, she registers the change with a subtle loss of force. Dressed in a stunning black sheath that she slides up and over an orange skirt, she moves as one so full of emotion that she has to seize upon the flamenco vocabulary  to release each feeling. Torres, a two-time winner of Madrid’s Certamen de Coreografía competition, frequently turned to connect with the musicians, guitarist Gaspar Rodriquez, Pedro Medina, singers: Pedro Obregon, Felix de Lola, and percussionist Jose Moreno, thus affirming an experience unique to that moment. - Deirdre Towers