(noticia) No-frills flamenco

By janet smith

Publish Date: 9-Feb-2006

Nuevo Ballet Español’s artistic directors Angel Rojas (left) and Carlos Rodríguez turn traditional flamenco on its head and inside out.

Flight Centre

Forget the souvenir-doll ruffles and castanets: in Nuevo Ballet Español’s shows, you’re more likely to find black T-shirts and jeans or sleek white dresses with black athletic stripes down the arm. And the Madrid troupe, which is on the vanguard of an exciting new movement in Spanish dance, goes far beyond the unorthodox costumes in its attempts to bring flamenco to a new generation. Young dancers and artistic directors Carlos Rodríguez and Angel Rojas fuse the once-dated form with ballet and contemporary styles. When their show Flamenco Directo! hits the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Saturday (February 11), its choreographic pyrotechnics will span pirouettes to thundering zapateado.

“We have the technique of ballet, la fuerta—the spirit—of flamenco, the aesthetics of contemporary dance, and the same energy as jazz,” explains the globetrotting Rodríguez from a brief sojourn home in Spain’s capital city before setting out for another tour. “Our generation has had to study all these disciplines. And now, all the time, every year, there are new shows, new companies with different spirits. We have a company with roots in flamenco, but there are others with roots in contemporary dance that do some flamenco steps.”

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