Press and Reviews

Company Harnesses the Passion of Flamenco

by Tresca Weinstein

Dramatically lit and costumed in stark black, white and blue, Palillos y Pies uses space and composition in contemporary ways, creating patterns and arrangements across the stage. The women's arms make gorgeous exaggerated curves as they play their hand-held instruments, adding punctuation to their multiple turns and quick steps. Even a sensual embrace is performed with crisp edges and a kind of stylized elegance.

February 18, 2007

Castanets and Fans, Yes, And Men in T-Shirts, Too

by Anna Kisselgoff

Antonio Hidalgo's Bailaor/Bailaora was a brilliantly distilled minisurvey of flamenco's evolution to the present…Flamenco nowadays is veering away from tradition, and Mr. Hidalgo's choreography moved ingeniously from an image of Gypsy beginnings to a jazz-infused quartet for men in T-shirts…Mr. Hidalgo's choreography is filled with symmetrical patterns and smooth transitions. It isn't long before other women join in the sinuous dance, adding heelwork to introduce Ms. Santana, gracefully manipulating a huge fringed shawl. José Salinas, the young and excellent flamenco singer, joined in a stylized encounter with Ms. Santana, who floated out, chest raised in an image of pride. Clarita Filgueiras, Cristina Villaplana, Almudena Hernández and Ms. Moguel were terrific as they manipulated fans in shifting patterns…In "Bailaor," the second part of the piece, Mr. Hidalgo began with an exquisite male quartet, holding the lapels of their 19th-century bolero jackets.

July 21, 2004

A Shawl as Seduction

by Sylviane Gold

The show opens with a showcase for the company's first rate dancers … Bursts of castanet-fire and volleys of stamping feet announce each arrival onstage…The men and women swoop and swoosh through dramatic ensemble formations—a vibrant reminder that this is one of the few genres of dance where men and women can perform the same steps with equal drama. Bailes de Ida y Vuelta looks at flamenco's travels in Latin America and Latin America's influence on flamenco … touring Colombia, Argentina and Cuba before ending with a blow-out salsa party.

June 13, 2003

A Blur (Rápido!) of Fancy Footwork

by Jack Anderson

Programs by Ms. Santana's company can usually be counted on for spirited dancing and imaginative choreographic concepts. This one was no exception. Its featured attraction was the New York premiere of Antonio Hidalgo's Bailaor/Bailaora, an ingenious production that offered a sample of male and female flamenco dance forms. Flamenco may emphasize stamping, but Mr. Hidalgo choreographically demonstrated that stamping can be infinitely varied.

March 14, 2002

Dance in Review

by Jennifer Dunning

An infectious joyful celebration of music and dance… The Carlota Santana Spanish Dance Company knows how to put on a show.

March 28, 1994

Flamenco Vivo, Setting Hearts and Soles Aflame

by Sarah Kaufman

Hot stuff, all of it…Such was the impeccable cool of Santana's dancers, delivering a rampage of pheromones and pounding footwork, then kissing it all goodbye with a conclusive stamp.

March 8, 2007

Selected as one of the Washington Post's 5 Best Dance Performances of 2007!

Celebrating an Anniversary and a Popular Spanish Export

by Jack Anderson

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Joyce Theater on Tuesday night by journeying through its own history and through some of the countries outside Spain in which Spanish dance has flourished. As in past productions by this company, the dancers combined meticulous attention to choreographic details with outpourings of passionate feelings.

June 16, 2003

Social Studies

by Deborah Jowitt

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…Roberto Lorca's 1983 Zapateado drives the audience wild. Not only do five women wearing manly velvet jackets and loose trousers ride the stage with their heelwork, swinging their hats like bullfighters' capes; three men top their virtuosity, striking the ends of long poles against the floor in tricky counter-rhythms to their feet. Antonio Hidalgo—credited with the restaging, increases the speed dazzlingly without sacrificing his intense composure, then pulls everything down to a sotto voce flutter of taconeo, his heels and toes hardly seeming to move.

June 18, 2003

Flamenco, Gloriously Alive

by Susanna Rodell

Santana has a clear sense of mission. She wants to bring the flamenco language into the mainstream of dance in this country. With offerings like this, she is bound to succeed. Carlota Santana's wonderful company, Durham—and New York-based Flamenco Vivo offered a history lesson, her dancers taking us in quick, seductive and beautifully staged sections through the various forms of male and female dancers that form the tradition

March 11, 2002

Flamenco's Deep Passions Ignite Poetry Forum Stage

by Jane Vranish

Considered one of today's premiere dramatic ensembles…these dancers broke open like flames…exhibiting a new, bold trend in flamenco…with outright fireworks for the tableaux finale…The rhythm of Flamenco is irresistible…You could say it has a way of making women look more womanly and men look more manly, much like bullfighters themselves. There is something inherently dramatic about it all.

October 12, 2000

Homage To Lorca Highlight of Show

by Ninotchka Bennahum

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

June 11, 1998