DanceNorth WestReview

Ana Morales Flamenco Company: Reunión – The Lowry, Salford

Reviewer: Peter Jacobs

With the support of British flamenco promoters Flamenco Edition, Ana Morales and David Coria – two of the most exciting and highly-regarded flamenco performers today – bring this brand new show from the heat of Seville to the barely holding-off May drizzle of Salford (and elsewhere in the UK for a short tour).

Reunión is staged with striking and timeless simplicity: the basic idea is smoky, nocturnal and heat, with the sumptuous lighting moodily shifting between dark amber and red, drenched with lots of haze, which periodically – and as scenes change – pours suggestively out onto the stage.

Ana Morales enters first and delivers a masterclass in moving very slowly and silently across a stage while wearing amplified flamenco heels. Dance partner David Coria busies himself around the edges of the stage, carefully placing costumes – a flamenco dress, a fringed scarf – for her later use. His heels clatter shamelessly, emphasising her silent transition across the stage. Musicians enter – a drummer, a guitarist and two singers, who take up relaxed positions on one of two black sofas in the shadows outside the perimeter of the dramatic floor lights.

Reunión takes its time to reveal itself, intriguingly. Morales moves slowly through elegant and precise armography before she allows herself to start unleashing the intense communication of her heels and footwork as music and song fall into step.

The show is a finely-considered journey through the palos – the different styles of flamenco: demonstrating the skill and artistry and emotional articulacy of the form rather than being just going for speed and drama. Although Reunión certainly achieves that, the devastating speed and intricacy of the footwork and shaping contrasted strongly with sections of stillness where the guitar and singing are allowed free reign to take centre stage.

The guitarist is superb – as there is no programme or information on the website the musicians are uncredited unfortunately – and the sound is accessible and familiar but delivered with great flair. The percussion and drums creatively interplay with the amplified heels of Morales and Coria and the calls and interjections of both dancers and singers. The flamenco cante – song – is at once familiar and yet ancient and other-worldly: the two men holding a conversation of almost impenetrable strangeness and complexity: part-narration, part vocalisation of the emotion and feeling emanating from the dancers. It’s a heady mix and the show is remarkably well-thought out and considered while being delivered by all parties with incredible precision, intensity and passion.

Reviewed on 12 May 2017 | Image: Contributed

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