Flamenco is celebrated on-stage at BAM Fisher for the first time as FLAMENCO VIVO CARLOTA SANTANA presents ANGELES/ALMAS, the company's Spring 2015 NYC season, May 19-24 at Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAM Fisher Building, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, New York. 

Founded in 1983, FLAMENCO VIVO CARLOTA SANTANA is one of this country's longest-established flamenco companies, dedicated to promoting flamenco as a living, evolving art form. During its week-long BAM Fisher season, the company will present two programs featuring the world premieres of three works by contemporary Spanish dance artists, accompanied by live music.

The first world premiere is Angeles (Program A) choreographed by Ángel Muñoz. The New York Times praised Muñoz' previous Flamenco Vivo commission, A Solas (2012), as "impressive for its compositional finesse" (while describing Muñoz himself as "singing with his feet").  Angeles portrays angels in myth, music and motion; building off of an earlier solo piece selected for the Festival de Jerez and London Flamenco Festival, the new work features Muñoz with a cast of nine more dancers and musicians.

The second premiere work, by Enrique Vicent and Antonio López is Martinete-Seguiriya (both programs), named after the flamenco form and rhythm featured in the piece.  Seguiriya is one of the oldest flamenco forms where the serious, almost tragic sound of the music gives the dancer a chance to express sorrowful feelings, while the martineterhythm said to derive from the workers in the forge, from the word martillo,meaning hammer.  Vicent and López were commissioned as part of a new collaboration between Flamenco Vivo and Madrid's El Certamen de Coreografía de Danza Española y Flamenco, one of Spain's most prestigious dance competitions. 

The third premiere is Ausencia (Program B): Guadalupe Torres, a two-time winner of the Madrid Certamen, reveals the soul of flamenco in a new solo work created for her US debut performances. The engagement also features other company repertory including A Solas (2012 - both programs) a work by Ángel Muñoz showcasing the soleá por bulerías style; Mujeres (2009 - Program B only), choreographed by company associate artistic director Antonio Hidalgo, which offers a modern take on the traditional elements used by women in flamenco (the castanets, fans, shawls and dresses with bata de cola trains); and De Milonga (2003 - both programs), also by Hidalgo, which celebrates Latin American influences on flamenco.

Flamenco Vivo's BAM Fisher season features a cast of accomplished dancers and musicans from Spain and the US, including company dancers Antonio Hidalgo, Charo Espino, Isaac Tovar, Eliza Llewellyn and Alice Blumenfeld; guitarists Gaspar Rodriguez and Pedro Medina, singers Pedro Obregón and Felix de Lola, flutist Diego Villegas and percussionist Jose Moreno; and guest artists Ángel Muñoz and Guadalupe Torres.

Performances are May 19-24, 2015, (Tuesday-Saturday, 7:30pm; matinees Saturday-Sunday 2pm) at BAM Fisher, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, New York.  Tickets range from $20 - $59 and can be purchased at www.flamenco-vivo.org. Tickets for the company's First Night Fiesta on May 19, including premium seating and a post-performance reception with the artists, are $100-$250; for more information, call 212.736.4499 or visit www.flamenco-vivo.org. Flamenco Vivo will also offer a post-performance artist talk following the Thursday, May 21 show.  Performance schedule:

• Program A: Angeles, Martinete-Seguiriya, A Solas, De Milonga

Tuesday-Thursday, May 19-21 at 7:30pm 

• Program B: Ausencia, Martinete-Seguiriya, Mujeres, A Solas, De Milonga.

Friday-Saturday, May 22-23 at 7:30pm; Saturday-Sunday May 23-24 at 2:00pm 

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana's Spring 2015 season at BAM Fisher is made possible, in part, through support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Rockefeller Brother Fund, the Harkness Foundation for Dance and the Consulate General of Spain. ANGELES/ALMAS is presented by Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. BAM house and ticketing policies may not apply. All programs and casting subject to change. 

SEASON REPERTORY

Angeles - World Premiere

Choreography by Ángel Muñoz
Original Score by Gaspar Rodriguez

Dancers: Ángel Muñoz, Antonio Hidalgo, Charo Espino, and Isaac Tovar

Angeles builds off of a solo piece developed by Ángel Muñoz, in which he reflects choreographically on the contradictory meanings of his first name: angel of light, dark angel, guardian angel, fallen angel, avenging angel. For the new production, Muñoz will use all these symbols as points of departure for a series of solos, duets and ensemble movements, accompanied by 6 live musicians.

Angeles was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and Spain Culture New York - Consulate General of Spain: member of the network SPAIN arts & culture. 

Ausencia - World Premiere

Choreography by Guadalupe Torres

Dancer and choreographer Guadalupe Torres, a two-time winner of Madrid's prestigious Certamen de Coreografía competition, reveals the soul of flamenco in a new solo work developed especially for her first-ever appearance in New York. 

Martinete-Seguiriya - World Premiere

Choreography by Enrique Vicent and Antonio López

Dancers: Antonio Hidalgo, Isaac Tovar, Eliza Llewellyn, and Alice Blumenfeld

The martineterhythm is said to derive from the workers in the forges and from the word martillo, meaning hammer. Seguiriya is one of the oldest flamenco forms, where the serious, almost tragic sound of the music, gives the dancer a chance to express sorrowful feelings. The heaviness of the music allows a chance to work with complex rhythmic patterns.

This choreography was made possible by a partnership between Flamenco Vivo and the Certamen de Coreografía de Danza Española y Flamenco of Madrid and supported by Spain Culture New York - Consulate General of Spain: member of the network SPAIN arts & culture.

Mujeres (2009)

Choreography by Antonio Hidalgo

Dancers: The Company

Mujeres demonstrates flamenco traditions within a contemporary context. The work highlights the traditional elements used by women in flamenco dance - the castanets, fans and shawls and how the bata de cola (dress with a train) is used in both traditional and contemporary flamenco. This traditional costume was once only used as stately attire, but the modern female dancer uses this costume in new ways: as a partner, as defense/offense against the male dancer, and as a "toy" to play with and express humor and lightness.

Mujeres was made possible by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts

A Solas (2012)

Choreography by Ángel Muñoz

Dancers: The Company

Originally choreographed for five women, A Solas was first performed during the Flamenco in the Boros tour in New York City in 2012. In early 2013, the men's parts were added to this soulful piece, exemplary of the soleá por bulerías style.

A Solas was made possible by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts

De Milonga (2003)

Choreography by Antonio Hidalgo

Dancers: Antonio Hidalgo or Isaac Tovar and Alice Blumenfeld

This work is an excerpt from Bailes de Ida y Vuelta and celebrates the Latin American influences in the flamenco art form.