by Leigh Witchel
Noche Flamenca’s productions have often expanded the expressive range of flamenco, including a production of Antigone. But in “ni bien ni mal, todo lo contrario” (neither good nor bad, just the opposite) the group fronted by Soledad Barrio and run by her husband Martín Santangelo kept it simple: the group of four dancers, three musicians and two singers, put on a short-form evening recalling a flamenco recital, but charged and structured enough to make sense on a theater stage.
It wasn’t a great sign that it started with a cliché – a line of chairs onstage – but that was the worst offense of a solid evening. Directed by Santangelo, who has consistently delivered strong, well-thought-out productions, he even mixed up the chair trope by avoiding symmetry, having a singer enter late.
More often, the work showed invention. One number, “Toros,” began with a striking image, Barrio appeared in silhouette doing a handstand, supported by the others. This section took the soloists and had them act as a group; the process of taking a recital form and staging it. It would be fascinating to go more than once to see what changed night to night and what stayed consistent.
From there the show moved back through mostly solos, not just for the dancers, but the singers. Pablo Fraile, almost stereotypically tall, dark and handsome, did a quick solo tight under himself. Marina Elana, bright and flirtatious, entered to hand claps and guitar. Antonio Granjero started his turn by rattling across the stage in the flamenco equivalent of a moonwalk. Like a Bach invention, Barrios’ solo felt as it was in parts – a long monologue of varying speeds and moods.
Continuing on, a fusillade for Granjero and Fraile seemed to combine ballet and flamenco training with a pirouette punctuated by taps during the rotation. There were also duos for the musicians and singers, and a blistering castanet solo by David “Chupete” Rodriguez. He also all kinds of effects from a shallow Moorish-looking drum that he evokes sounds from with tapping, or a wet finger, nails, finger or fist.
Elana entered for another piece in a simplified flamenco dress, monochrome in white lace and a few ruffles. She carried a cinnabar fan that almost became a conversation tool in the varying effects she got from opening, closing and pointing it. Confident and coquettish, singer Manuel Gago and Rodriguez took her fan. She playfully retrieved it, and even gave an Oprah head roll. She silenced the men with her fan as she finished.
Fraile changed into a matador outfit for another solo, again involving pirouettes. The evening capped with two final solos, the first very long solo for Granjero grabbing his jacket to wrap it around himself, blotting the sweat with his scarf. Slapping his knee, the spirit entered him. It felt like someone who just, as he trailed off, remembered something else he wanted to add.
Where Elana’s solo used her steps to create a character, Barrios’ final number created a rhythmic structure, building it up stamp by stamp. There was a final group encore and the cast strolled off like a band of traveling players.
As polished as the performance was, there was an unintended factor of seeing flamenco in a theater. Except when applauding, Americans in a theater watch dance performance silently, people who are familiar with flamenco as a cabaret form are interactive; that audience is vocal, encouraging the performers. It took a moment to realize both audiences were showing respect.
“ni bien ni mal, todo lo contrario” was, like most of Noche Flamenca’s work, a reliably high quality show, where you knew you’d enjoy yourself. It may not have broke new ground, rather it relied on good staging and solid performing to deliver.
copyright ©2022 by Leigh Witchel
“ni bien ni mal, todo lo contrario” – Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca
The Joyce Theater, New York, NY
April 7, 2022
Cover: Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca in “ni bien ni mal, todo lo contrario.” Photo credit © Jesse Rodkin.
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