Flamenco dance, music counter chill

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This article was published 20/01/2011 (5720 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Flamenco: an individualistic, yet structured folk art from Andalucía, often improvised and spontaneous. The song, dance, guitar and rhythmic punctuation (hand-claps, castanets, etc.) are blended together by the passionate rhythms of southern Spain, flamenco’s birthplace.

Winnipeg: a central Canadian city, the largest in the province of Manitoba, best known for its extremely cold, long winters and giant potholes.

A classic portrait of contrast or a match made in heaven?

Either way, two Winnipeg musical organizations are independently presenting flamenco-themed concerts that will temper the cold this weekend.

At 3 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday, The Musical Offering is holding Some Like it Hot! starring two Manitobans: phenomenal Spanish soprano Maria Luz Alvarez, direct from Thompson, and Grant Park High School English teacher and flamenco teacher/dancer Pedro Aurelio.

Artistic director Sylvia Scott Wortley transforms her historic home at 298 Yale Ave. into a concert venue while playing harpsichord in the concert with cellist Karin Erhardt.

“It will all happen in our living room,” said Scott Wortley, whose series is now in its 20th year. “Pedro will either dance in character shoes so as not to mark our floors or we may put down two sheets of hard board so he can wear traditional flamenco shoes and make the sounds associated with flamenco.”

Aurelio started ballet and Spanish dance training in Puerto Rico, continued in St. Petersburg, Russia, Washington, then Winnipeg at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He travels to Spain annually to study escuela bolera, classical Spanish and flamenco. As well as teaching at Grant Park, he is the founder and artistic director of the Bolero Dance Theatre.

“Pedro will perform historical bolero dances with harpsichord and castanets,” said Scott Wortley. In keeping with the more flamboyant nature of the art form, Aurelio will change costumes between sets.

The program will alternate between vocal works of the Spanish baroque accompanied by cello and harpsichord, and various traditional flamenco dances. Alvarez broke onto the Winnipeg scene last year and has gained a loyal audience, due not only to her warm and expressive voice but to her stage presence. She transforms herself when she sings — the ultimate performer — drawing you in for an almost visceral experience.

Tickets are $30, $25 and $15, with children under 13 free of charge. Call Peter at 774-3601.

Virtuosi Concerts is holding its own Spanish-themed concert on Saturday at 8 p.m., called The Soul of Flamenco, featuring the five-piece Jorge Miguel Flamenco Ensemble. Flamenco guitarist Miguel’s family moved to Canada from Spain two years before he was born and he has maintained a strong connection to his roots.

He spent a great deal of time in Spain, studying. “I moved back in 1995 to get immersed in it,” he said from his home in Toronto. “It’s the only way to become a flamenco guitarist. I used to play rock and acoustic guitar, but I did more in 15 years since I was in Spain than in my whole life. I was a guitar player looking for a home.”

His multinational group has been together for close to 10 years. Eliana Cuevas, who hails from Venezuela, provides the vocals; Ilse Gudiño, originally from Mexico is the dancer; Chilean-born Mario Allende plays percussion and bassist Yoser Rodriguez is from Cuba.

The 47-year-old Miguel is a bundle of energy. “Flamenco is everything for me,” he said. “There are so many elements. The singing and dancing are very important. There has to be lots of communication between us. The music must respond to the motion. Singers have free range. When I am playing, I’m sitting on the edge of my chair, watching the dancer and singer. It’s intense. You expend a lot of energy because you are responding to the moment.”

All the works on the program are Miguel’s original pieces. “I’m very slow and meticulous,” he explained of his compositional style. “I study the traditional stuff, then write in the vein of it. We use traditional lyrics or Eliana writes them.”

Miguel will introduce each of the pieces on the program.

“I will explain the program. It will be exactly what you would see in Seville … probably because I was born in Toronto I’m more of a purist about flamenco,” he said. “You’ll get the real deal, not watered-down flamenco. It’s not the light, pop stuff that’s being sold to Canadians as flamenco.”

The concert is at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall in the University of Winnipeg. Tickets are $33, $15, and $5, available at 786-9000 or via email at music@uwinnipeg.ca.

gwenda.nemerofsky@shaw.ca