Noche Flamenca

”A haunting, distant classicism coexists with sweaty, unmediated corporeality in this dance drama.” -Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times [Critics’ Pick]

“Never, until I saw Santangelo’s ensemble, their heels stamping, their arms cutting through the air, had I seen a chorus whose physical force could support the fate-heavy songs that Sophocles wrote for his plays. As for Barrio, though she spoke rarely, dancing seemed better than words: no rhetoric, no explanations, but just passion, majesty, absorption.” -Joan Acocella, The New Yorker

“As a flamenco dancer, Ms. Barrio is known for ferocity and intense drama, as well as for her ability to convey tenderness. There is a formal beauty to her movements, whether she is unleashing a torrent of steps or simply walking across a stage. The New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay has called her ’one of today’s great dancers of any genre.’” –Susan Hartman, The New York Times

“Ms. Barrio has an allure that is based in something eerily intangible.” –Gia Kourlas, The New York Times

“This Flamenco Antigona Earns a Stamp of Approval” –Miriam Felton, The Village Voice

“The best part of Noche Flamenca’s flamenco musical Antigona—and it is full of astonishing parts—is the way that it tosses you between states of delight.” ***** (five-star review), Helen Shaw, Time Out New York

Noche Flamenca

About the Company

Formed in 1993 by Martín Santangelo and his Bessie award-winning wife, Soledad Barrio, Noche Flamenca has been hailed by critics everywhere for its transcendent and deeply emotional performances. Born of passion and the desire to present the authentic form of flamenco to audiences throughout the globe, Noche Flamenca is noted for creating a diverse theatrical body of work that expresses the rigorous, spellbinding aesthetic of flamenco that exceeds the highest artistic expectations.

Santangelo has successfully brought to the stage the essence, purity, and integrity of one of the world’s most complex and mysterious art forms without the use of tricks or gimmicks. All aspects of flamenco- dance, song, and music- are interrelated and given equal weight, creating a true communal spirit within the company – the very heart and soul of flamenco.

Performance highlights include regular seasons in New York City, including at Lincoln Center, the Joyce Theater, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater and at its home base at the West Park Presbyterian Church. Noche Flamenca also tours extensively across the U.S., throughout Canada, in Europe, the Middle East, Argentina, and Australia.

In support of its mission to educate and enlighten audiences about flamenco, the company offers extensive residency programs and classes that reach out to people of all ages, races, and economic means.

Noche Flamenca has been recognized with awards from the National Dance Project, the MAP Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lucille Lortel Award for Special Theatrical Experience and most recently an exceptional artist award for Soledad Barrio from Dance Magazine.

Artist Bios

Martín Santangelo – Artistic Director & Producer

Martín founded Noche Flamenca. He studied with Ciro, Paco Romero, El Güito, Manolete and Alejandro Granados. He has performed throughout Spain, Japan and North and South America, appearing with María Benitez’s Teatro Flamenco, the Lincoln Center Festival of the Arts and Paco Romero’s Ballet Español. He also appeared in Julie Taymor’s Juan Darien at Lincoln Center. He choreographed and performed in Eduardo Machado’s Deep Song, directed by Lynne Taylor- Corbett. He choreographed a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Denver Theater Center. He has directed and choreographed Bodas de Sangre, The Lower Depths, La Celestina, A Streetcar Named Desire, amongst many other productions in Spain and Buenos Aires. He has collaborated with many, many artists, but his most fulfilling collaboration has been with his wife, Soledad Barrio and his two wild daughters, Gabriela and Stella.

Soledad Barrio – Choreographer & Dancer

Soledad Barrio was born in Madrid. She is a founding member of Noche Flamenca with her husband Martín Santangelo. Ms. Barrio has appeared as a soloist with Manuela Vargas, Blanca del Rey, Luisillo, El Gúito, Manolete, Cristobal Reyes, and El Toleo, Ballet Español de Paco Romero, Festival Flamenco and many other companies. She has performed throughout Europe, Japan and North and South America with such artists as Alejandro Granados, El Torombo, Isabel Bayón, Jesus Torres, Miguel Perez, Belen Maya, Manolo Marín, Javier Barón, Merce Esmeralda, Rafael Campallo, Belen Maya, etc. She is a resident teaching artist at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Drama. Ms. Barrio has won awards from over 15 countries for her excellence in dance, including a “Bessie” award for Outstanding Creative Achievement and a 2015 Dance Magazine Exceptional Artist award.

shows

Antigona

Adapted and directed by Martín Santangelo

Featuring Soledad Barrio

Producer – Sharon Levy, Dovetail Productions

Choreography – Soledad Barrio

Additional Choreography – Isabel Bayón

Consulting Director – Lee Breuer

Mask Design Based on the Work of Mary Frank

Music – Eugenio Iglesias, Salva de María & Martín Santangelo

Vocal Arrangements – Eugenio Iglesias, Salva de María & Martín Santangelo

Original Text – Sophocles

Assistant to the Director – Marina Scannell

Lighting & Production Designer – S. Benjamin Farrar

Lyrics Adapted & Written by – Martín Santangelo

Antigona is based on an adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone in the version by Dudley Fitts & Robert Fitzgerald.

About the Show

The idea to create a flamenco interpretation of the text and themes in Sophocles’ Antigone began when Noche Flamenca’s Artistic Director Martín Santangelo encountered the Living Theatre’s production of the classic play and was struck by the battle between an individual, disenfranchised woman and the authority of the state and its patriarchy. The idea resurfaced in 2010 when judge Baltasar Garzon was suspended from the Spanish court for his efforts to publicly honor those who fought against Franco, allowing families to bury their relatives previously left in mass graves. This breach of democracy struck Santangelo as similar to the conflict in Antigone, confirming his belief that the story is alive and relevant today. At its heart, however, the story of Antigone resonates with the roots of flamenco, which is based not in any one culture or region, but on the strength of family. Antigone’s story is her humanity and her quest to bury her brother, regardless of the circumstances.

Honoring the Greek tradition of sung poetry and musical accompaniment, Santangelo studied the poetry of Sophocles, then translated and re-wrote the text into lyrics. In collaboration with his wife and principal dancer, Soledad Barrio, who plays the role of Antigona, Santangelo began the development process for Antigona in 2012, working with the company in Spain for five weeks over the summer. Together with company members Eugenio Iglesias and Salva de María, Santangelo created vocal interpretations, wrote lyrics to enhance the emotional impact of the story, and composed the musical accompaniment from which the choreography was developed.

Since that time, rehearsals and workshops have taken place at the company’s New York City studio, in San Juan Bautista at El Teatro Campesino, and at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. The final development phase took place with the company’s creative residence at the Meany Center for the Performing Arts in Seattle immediately prior to the world premiere in October 2014 at the Meany Center for the Performing Arts.

Commenting on the University of Washington residency, Meany Center Artistic Director Michelle Witt stated, “This project is a step towards the realization of a new initiative to actively support the creative process of leading international artists, working across creative disciplines.”

One of the most exciting aspects of this project has been the opportunity to work with artists outside the dance world who are primarily in exemplary in their own fields, including theater director Lee Breuer and visual artist Mary Frank. Santangelo believes strongly that collaborating has expanded his perspectives on developing theater and dance.

The themes in the work include catharsis, issues of dictatorship, repression, loss, the strength of family, and female empowerment; strong themes not only in Sophocles, but also in flamenco, all of which Barrio, in particular, is keenly aware of. Her mother’s family lived through the dictatorship of Franco’s Spain, surviving desperate hunger and civil war, yet proved themselves to be far stronger than their male counterparts. Barrio grew up with all of this in her blood and as one of the most powerful artists living today, in any genre, is ideally positioned to embody all of this in her performance. Antigone was the first female heroine written for the stage. She was not afraid to show her strength, her pain, and her passion, all attributes that are deep at the heart of flamenco.