"Alma Flamenca" - Flamenco Aparicio Dance Company
Fuego Flamenco VI - Sixth International Flamenco Festival
Teatro Hispano Gala @ Tivoli
Washington, DC
December 4, 2010
by George Jackson
copyright 2010 by George Jackson
Dancing so strong that it hurt - caustic like vitriol, abrasive like venom, a dose so potent one wanted to tear ones eyes away but couldn't because it paralyzed - was the "Taranto" solo Nelida Tirado delivered on the third and final program of Fuego Flamenco VI. The very name Flamenco can ignite the stage: stamping feet striking sparks on the floor and stalking steps with the impact of judgement's gavel. Tirado's entire frame resonates with a vehemence incredible for her compact, modest form. Is she a witch one watches being burned alive at the stake?
Tirado suffers too, her features leave no doubt about it. Yet she surmounts the agony, becomes victor over her torment, relishing the toxic as if it were sensual pleasure. With no crack in the purity of her technique, there is in the smile that curls on her lips as she exits and in the parting glance she gives the glint of a verdict about her own condition.
Not that the rest of the Aparicio company's program was negligible. Defne Enc's dancing in her "Solea por bulerias" highlighted not just the limbs but gave the torso too exceptional independence. Isabel Soto, whose singing appealed throughout the evening, burst into gutsy dancing during the finale. Edwin Aparicio's choreography for Genevieve Guinn, Anna Menendez, Kyoko Terada and Enc showed that ensemble flamenco can be used to suggest swans flocking, deer gamboling as well as lovely women being proud. Fine contributions too from the male singer, Jesus Montoya, from guitarist Richard Marlow and from percussionist Behzad Habibzai. What was foremost in the flamenco of Aparicio, this fiesta's host - his virtuosity or the contagious relish with which he danced at his own party?