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Memories of Spain

Presented by Dancepatheatre at Hobby Center - Zilkha Hall

June 20, 2009

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Memories of Spain is Dancepatheatre’s repertory concert that will sweep audiences through various eras of Spanish history and style through dance, word, music and song. This concert is Dancepatheatre’s Zilkha Hall debut, and features its hallmark of fusing modern dance with story, word, and voice.

El Cerrojo (The Door Latch) is artistic director Sara Draper’s signature work, featuring two dancers, two chairs, and flamenco motives in a modern dance arrangement. Stark and dramatic, the soundtrack is four voices passionately articulating Spanish and English arrangements from a Song of Songs poetry verse. El Cerrojo was selected and performed for the 1998 National American College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., was performed by Chrysalis Dance Company at DiverseWorks, by Dancepatheatre at Barnevelder, and was last performed in 2003 at Miller Outdoor Theater in A Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance.

Pianist Timothy Hester will accompany two works on the program. An audience favorite, The Back, a solo performed by Draper to Chopin Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2, speaks to the suffering and strength of women all over the world. Hester will also accompany mezzo-soprano Shannon Langman in a new work to selections of Tonadillas by early 20th century Spanish composer, Enrique Granados. Draper’s choreography is a unique approach to arranging classical voice with modern dance, as Langman will move along with two company dancers as she sings.

Dancepatheatre’s ongoing Al Andalus Project moves forward in this program with Scenes from Al Andalus, a suite of solo and duet dances reflecting the various cultures, music and dance styles that peacefully co-existed in medieval Andalusia. Historical characters portrayed in dance include Fatima of Cordoba (a famous Muslim career woman and scholar), Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (leader of Cordoba’s Jewish community and foreign minister to the caliph), and Eleanor of Aquitaine (Queen of England), as well as a Greek Christian monk, a gypsy matron, and a Berber princess. Love duets, magic, and exotic intrigue are plentiful in this suite.

The Gypsy Matron is passionately portrayed with canto hondo, castanets, and dance by Lucia Rodriguez-Sanchez of Gitanerias Flamenco. Kristina Koutsoudas performs a stunning solo as the Berber Princess. Dancepatheatre’s gifted modern dancers perform Draper’s Modern-Andalusian Fusion style with zest and deep feeling to portray the other characters.  Sephardic singer Isabelle Ganz accompanies one of the duets.

Guest musician Valdemar Phoenix of Gitanerias Flamenco will perform flamenco guitar solos, exhibiting this fiery Spanish Gypsy art form that came to the world’s attention in the 19th century.

8:00pm performance. Zilkha Hall of the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby Street, Houston Texas. Tickets: $11 Students and Seniors. $21 General Admission. $60 Front Row VIP with Cast Party Admission. Box Office: www.thehobbycenter.org  or 713-315-2525. Information: call 713-522-6000, visit www.dancepath.com, or email tickets@dancepath.com.

This Dancepatheatre project is supported in part by a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

Pictured above:  Richard Hubscher (as Hasdai Ibn Shapurt), and Lydia Hance (as Fatima of Cordoba) in Scenes from Al Andalus. Photographer: Dan Mohr.

Pictured in gallery below:

1.  Sterling Ramsey as the Greek Monk Nicholas and Richard Hubscher as Hasdai Ibn Shaprut in Scenes from Al Andalus. Photo by Dan Mohr.

2.  Lydia Hance, Shannon Langman, and Joani Trevino in Five Tonadillas with Elementals. Photo by Dan Mohr.

3.  Joani Trevino as Eleanor of Aquitaine. Photo by Dan Mohr.