‘EL DUBTE’ PRESENTED BY IRENE DE LA ROSA & ROSA SANZ AT ‘CARME TEATRE’

Flamenco and Contemporary Dance Come Together For A Riveting Performance At Carme Teatre. This weekend, renowned local Flamenco dancer Irene De la Rosa debuted a new body of work which evolved from her earlier piece titled ¿Y Quién Entiende Esto? (So Who Understands About This?). A commissioned work funded by a Focus Days scholarship provided by Festival 10 Sentidos.

According to De la Rosa: “EL DUBTE is a production that explores Hegel’s dialectic applied to flamenco. Flamenco, a fusion of diverse cultural influences, has always been a battlefield where different visions of purity and innovation have clashed. ‘The Doubt’ is my own reflection on this debate.” She continues: “The will to show new forms of movement, new ways of expressing flamenco and the objective of reaching an ever-growing audience that values and experiences the greatness of flamenco.”

It was fascinating to observe contemporary dance built on the foundation of Flamenco. These two masters pushed the boundaries of this traditional form exploring movement in engaging ways. Upstage, wall projections of thematic clips reinforced the mood of the pieces. Montages in motion impressed like vast downloads of our shared human experience: galaxies, storms, buildings imploding, crashing waves, explosions, candles and on. There to reinforce the emotion of the dance.

Notably compelling was the sound design. Ambient murmur met with melodic Middle Eastern vocal ease. Rhythmic tabla drums provided a metronome for the flamenco style finger snaps, body percussion and staccato clapping. During one piece, the intermittent and booming clang of a church bell fostered the menacing intrusion of time’s authority. The lighting design was dramatic with 18 large pars mounted at body level, 9 stage right and 9 left for blasts of light casting haunting shadows. Combined, the movement, projections, lighting and soundscape all worked together through this interpretive journey.

De la Rosa partnered with Rosa Sanz for the two-person performance. Sanz is also the choreographer. A relationship that was forged, a few years ago, when Rosa danced for Sanz in a piece titled ‘Sumergidas’. As a result, Rosa decided to have Sanz choreograph and direct her first production: MINIMAL. Since then, they have continued to work together. After the performance, Rosa and Sanz held an artists’ chat with the audience to discuss their performance and answer questions. This premiere has been made possible with the help from Carme Teatre’s technical residency grant.

Costumes: Elena Gasso

Audiovisuals: Jesus Perrez

Lights: Diego Rosello

Carme Teatre

C/ de Gregori Gea, 6

Campanar

46009

València

Report by Philamonjaro

Article copyright ’24/7 Valencia’

Photos copyright Phillip Solomonson/ 24/7 Valencia

Carme Teatre