Judging from the work of some of the award-winning Spanish flamenco companies included alongside classical flamenco artists every year in the International Flamenco Festival in Albuquerque, one growing current in this well-trodden genre is the expanded use of theatricality and narrative. Sure, each traditional flamenco dance or palo comes with a built-in narrative. The fandango, tientos and the siguiriya are part of an established form which always includes music and song, and thus a form of narrative. But a lot of the narrative gets lost when non-Spanish speakers can’t understand the lyrics being so emotionally presented. (If only, like the opera, there were subtitles on the seatbacks in front of you–offering real-time translations.)
The story ballets I’m referring to, however, are the newer-style, theatrical flamenco presentations. They almost resemble plays or musicals– flamenco created for a big stage instead of a cleared-out space in a bar. Often, in these new shows, there is one star with lots of backup dancers, eccentric costumes and choreography, unusual instrumentation (electric guitars and pianos), all the bells and whistles of theatrical design, (projections, sets and props) and an overall intention to meld visual style, theme, and performance into a cohesive work–a story with chapters, but a strong narrative through-line. In Albuquerque, during the latest edition of the Festival, I witnessed one work with women dressed as warriors (like men) in a work exploring the final poems of the Spanish writer Garcia Lorca, before he was executed at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Another piece explored the connection between flamenco, with its origins in India and the Romani people, with the Mexican folkloric music and dancing form called “son.” In past seasons, there have been men dressed as women, presenting seriously fierce versions of traditional flamenco albeit in polka dot gowns with trains; one artist danced nude, another concert had a group of electronic artists improvising flamenco music crossed with synth metal.
Santa Fe’s homegrown flamenco star, La Emi, has turned slightly in this direction for her new show, “Amor, Quejío y Vuelo,” (Love, Lament & Flight), which debuted at the Inn and Spa at the Loreto in July, and will have a second engagement September 24-October 4. While La Emi may not have a budget nor a theater to go wild with Spanish theatrical abandon, her new piece is more openly theatrical, using flamenco to follow a woman through love, lament and the possibility of flight. Included in this evening of flamenco and music are La Emi, guest star José Junco, a veteran dancer from Madrid, along with three female dancers, Olivia Rojas, Janira Cordova and Aislin Robertson. Musicians include Eddie Garcia, Masael Barranza Díaz and Daniel Azcarate.
The evening’s projected quotations help set the frame. “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards” (Soren Kierkegaard), “The cure for pain is in the pain” (Rumi), and “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls” (Kahlil Gibran) all point toward a familiar human passage: a woman moving through rupture, disorientation and grief toward some harder-won version of herself. It is not a confessional story so much as a flamenco story, and therefore a story about suffering transformed into form—into rhythm, footwork, gesture and song.
La Emi was a protégé, from the age of three, of the renowned dancer (and diva) Maria Benítez, who died 2024. More recently, annual trips to study with the masters in Spain have led her to discover one teacher, Gala Vivancos, in Madrid, in whom she says, she has found a new mentor. “We work on Danza Española as well as flamenco. During the pandemic, we would do zoom lessons on castanets and the basics. She had me doing a ballet barre.” La Emi has been working with her for six years. “It’s her eye for detail. She sees everything.”
The new show is a first for La Emi. “I’ve never done anything like this,” she said. She uses her fellow dancers to explore states of chaos and confusion, the kind that can follow any profound loss. A duet with her male partner suggests the haven that love can seem to offer. Her solos reflect not just sorrow but (spoiler alert) ultimate growth. What emerges is less biography than allegory: a woman discovers that after loss, after the terrifying fact of being alone, there can be something new and wonderful—an inner power.
Another goal of this new “espectáculo” according to La Emi is to keep New Mexico artists employed. After her engagement September 24-October 4 at the Inn and Spa at Loreto, the company will travel for shows at Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces as well as Martinez Hall in Taos. They will close the year with a week of performances at The Eldorado Hotel and Spa.
