Swirling skirts, castanets and a passionate display of flamenco dancing, rhythms and sounds with the backing of live flamenco guitar!
Swirling skirts, castanets and a passionate display of flamenco dancing, rhythms and sounds with the backing of live flamenco guitar!
This is what National Arts Festival audiences can look forward to in Sentimientos. Directed by La Rosa Spanish Dance Theatre’s founder Carolyn Holden, this is dance at its most dynamic.
“We explore the broad spectrum of human emotions, ranging from fury to elation,” says Holden, who is well known in the arts for her bold concepts and innovative choreographic approach.
In Sentimientos, she drew from a variety of influences and created a visual feast that combines traditional flamenco and a contemporary flare.
The dancers are exquisitely costumed by Dicky Longhurst and the production showcases choreography by Madrid-based choreographers Joaquin Ruiz and La Truco.
World-music is the inspiration behind the onstage band. Bienyameen plays flamenco guitar, Robert Davids plays the cajon drum, Robert Jeffery plays guitar and cello, Brydon Bolton is on double bass, Christopher Jeffery is on violin and there are the haunting vocals of Loreán Swartz.
Flamenco is the structured expression of raw emotions. On one extreme, the deep songs cante jondo convey a cry, a lament or a protest; at the other extreme, the light songs cante chico are a celebration, often tongue-in-cheek and usually with a hint of satire.
The intermedio are the narrative, which recount events and episodes. These bubbling currents of universal human emotion flow through Sentimientos, sweeping the audience along on an emotional journey.
La Rosa was founded in 1990 as a platform for students of Spanish dance to perform their chosen art form at a professional level.
Continuous and increasingly frequent performances in and around Cape Town and at arts and dance festivals across the country have established the company as one of the foremost exponents of this dance discipline.
La Rosa has also been involved in outreach and development initiatives since 1997 focusing on making flamenco accessible to the youth, developing the artistic and technical skills of potential professionals and audiences across the broader socio-economic spectrum.
