Choreography by Carolyn Holden, Joaquin Ruiz, La Truco, Alejandra Parolis and Savitri Naidoo
Costumes by Dicky Longhurst
Artscape Theatre
17 - 21 February 2010
Spectacular Viaje Flamenco celebrates La Rosa's 20th anniversary and explores the global and cultural influences of Flamenco.
La Rosa presents Viaje Flamenco (Flamenco Journey) that beautifully portrays the cultural history of Flamenco through Arabic, Indian, Sephardic, Iberian and North African music, song and dance. The show reunites the acclaimed director Geoffrey Hyland with La Rosa's Artistic Director and choreographer Carolyn Holden, the Vadhini Indian Arts Academy, and guest artists from Madrid, namely choreographer and dancer Joaquin Ruiz and singer Jose Salinas.
Holden, who recently returned from Madrid where she spent time working with La Truco and Ruiz, explains that this production began with the creation of Route Expressions that was presented at Artscape in 2006. Viaje Flamenco, first performed in 2007, continues this fascinating journey through time, exploring Flamenco's many influences. Audiences can thus expect an eclectic mix of pure and fusion Flamenco, by choreographers ranging from contemporary Flamenco trend-setters to traditional Indian Kathak experts. Director Hyland has restructured Viaje Flamenco in order to bring a freshness to the work and highlight La Rosa's strong male dancers. He first worked with La Rosa in 2005 in Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding and has remained a close friend to the dance company, working either as director on productions (Jazz Flamenco Jazz, 2006) or in an advisory capacity (Heart of Sand, 2009).
The collaboration between La Rosa and Savitri Naidoo, Artistic Director of the Vadhini Indian Arts Academy, has resulted in each organisation developing a deep cultural appreciation of the others' dance discipline. Thier relationship began in 2004 when JazzArt invited the two companies to collaborate on a piece entitled Angika Bahavam for their annual Danscape production, joining forces once more in '07 for La Rosa's first staging of Viaje Flamenco.
The cast for this season of Viaje Flamenco includes company members Lisa Ventura, Ndumiso Tafeni, Zethu Mtati, Beth Shapiro, Alejandra Parolis, Kim Pretorius, Lorean Swartz, Luvuyo Simandla, Nicole Kleinhans; trainees Paballo Nhlapo, Mkhiwa Botya, Thandlowethu Sam and Deidre Jantjies and Youth Ensemble members Buhle Qinga and Kevin Sakhayi. The dancers are supported by a nine-piece musical ensemble featuring vocalists Nicole Holm and Lorean Swartz, accompanied by Bienyameen and Al Faried on Flamenco guitar, Robert Jeffery on cello and guitar, Robert Davids on cajon, Max Starcke on saxophone and Ronan Skillen on tabla and darabukha. The renowned designer, Dicky Longhurst, has joined the team once again, creating striking costumes in golden hues that complement the various cultures represented in the production.
La Rosa was founded in 1990 as a platform for students of Spanish dance to perform their chosen art form on a regular basis and at a professional level. Continuous and increasingly frequent performances in and around Cape Town and at Arts and Dance festivals across the country, have established the company as one of the foremost exponents of this dance discipline. La Rosa has also been involved in development initiatives since 1997 focusing on making the flamenco dance form accessible to the youth of the City, developing the artistic and technical skills of potential professionals as well as creating new audiences across the broader socio-economic spectrm.
Viaje Flamenco runs at the Artscape Theatre from 17-21 February with evening performances at 8:15pm, matinee on the 20th at 2:30pm and a Sunday 21st performance at 6:00pm. Tickets are priced from R95 to R125 via Computicket or 021 421 7695.
