Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The great Sara Baras headlines Flamenco Festival New York 2023, dancing up a storm in ALMA at City Center

• By drediman
• March 24, 2023
• No Comments

Last night at City Center, the great Sara Baras premiered her latest creation Alma to New York audiences. The work and its fiery legendary star arrive as the headliners of Flamenco Festival New York 2023, a city-wide festival celebrating the riches of the internationally renowned folkloric dance and music traditions of southern Spanish (in addition to City Center, Flamenco Festival performances are also scheduled to take place at Joe’s Pub, Roulette, and DROM).

There’s no denying Baras’s mastery of the art form. Alongside her company El Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras (which she founded twenty-five years ago), the international flamenco star delivered an invigorating and guttural evening of music and dance that was a joy to witness. Throughout, she danced with intense theatricality and an impeccable sense of rhythm, performing with a passionate and percussive flair that seduced as much as it wowed. It’s that rare kind of dancing that transmits from deep within the soul. Conceived as a tribute to Baras’ father, Alma is an organic progression that builds into joyful frenzy that generates considerable excitement (be warned, there are a number of “false endings” built into the piece).

Music plays a central part in the show, and the onstage band and vocalists sounded absolutely terrific in their vibrant renditions of bolero and flamenco tunes. Indeed, these music-makers play as much of an integral role as Baras and her sensational dancers. The opening night audience enthusiastically embraced the performance, and Baras gave the love right back at us (she last performed in New York back in 2019 in her evening-length show Sombras).

RECOMMENDED

SARA BARAS: ALMA
Dance
Flamenco Festival at New York City Center
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 26