Portland Stage Reviews

Dramatic lighting, hands moving gracefully like plumes of smoke in the air, the whoosh of a red dress, the singing and chanting and a strum of a guitar. Add in clapping and stomping and some sharp moves and you have a dance that’s called Flamenco.

White Bird Dance presents to the Portland audience Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca at the Newmark theatre for two more performances this weekend. 10 years in the making and Paul King & Walter Jaffe (founders of White Bird) were finally able to bring this world renowned company for three nights of hot flamenco dancing in the dead cold of January.

As previously mentioned, I had never seen Flamenco before other than clips of it in the movies. I knew what to expect, yet I didn’t. The one thing I didn’t really know about what the chanting/singing that two extraordinary singers (Manuel Gago & Jose Jimenez) performed so excellently despite having some audio difficulties. After a dramatic opening performed by the company you get the sense of the rich history and tradition that encompasses the flamenco. You wonder, what language is the singer singing in? Is it all Spanish or different iterations of languages combined to give us, with the amazing guitar work, the music and emotion behind the dances? Once you read more about the history of the flamenco, AFTER you see the show, a lot more of this makes sense. I had no idea how rooted in religion and a wide variety of cultures flamenco represented.

The wail of the conte jondo (deep song) resembles the mournful chant of the exiled Sephardic Jews. Its poetry has the existentialist angst and philosophical questioning common in Arabic poetry.

At one point during the evening just as I started to become fixated on the movement of the dancers feet and hands, and the technical audio difficulties seemed to be under control, I noticed that the back curtain was raising up exposing the back wall of the theatre, cables, tables, workstations and all. I was kind of stunned as to why on earth would this be happening… is this a mistake? All of the sudden the lighting (which was gorgeous throughout the performance) switched dramatically in order to cast shadows on the back wall. And then, I saw “my people“… (My people being referred to as stagehands & bad-ass workers behind the scenes who bust their butts to make things work). I was stunned. Wait, there’s Brian, and there’s that one guy who’s name I can never remember… wait, what? Why are they walking so slow on stage? The answer was absolute brilliance in my mind. Using stagehands right there on stage in the light to do something as simple as move a few chairs and slowly walk off. The next scene continued seamlessly, the curtain went back down, and I slowly picked my jaw up off the floor. Nicely done!

Alejandro Granados was fantastic as well bringing the masculine side of flamenco to light in a way in which I’m sure 1/2 of the gentlemen in the audience were envious of. As the evening progressed, the audience was taken aback by the variety and depth of this company. You might think that just because you are watching something in a theatre means that you can’t interact. Bull. At times the audience was so into it, they were shouting out, applauding and bobbing their heads to the rhythym, trying to figure out where it was going next, wooing and ole-ing Soledad Barrio when her feet were moving so damn fast it looked to be as if they were one.

I became so engrossed in this energetic, beautiful, and strong dance that I forgot what was choreographed and what was being improvised. Not just by Soledad, who was absolutely amazing, but by the musicians and the other dancers. In the last number, dressed all in black, you could tell that not only was she having so much fun with her dancing (and after all the years she has done it too) but that she was having fun with her company as well. Come to find out after the show that…

…In some of flamenco’s chief characteristics, the cante libre (free song) is where the singer may break into an established rhythm, which the guitarist then has to follow. Indeed the singer is at liberty to improvise…while sophisticated flamenco dance companies have been touring the world for more than 50 years, it is the raw un-choreographed dances of Andalucian Gypsies that has maintained the art form in its most creative essence.

(It helps to read the program Sabrina). Who knew?

I had a really great time at the performance. I thank White Bird for bringing such different and unique dance to Portland every time I see or learn something new. I learned a lot from watching the beauty and power that is Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca. If you are looking for a way to warm your cold little Portland bodies tonight or tomorrow night, get them to the Newmark to experience this once in a life time opportunity.