New York, Mar 23 (EFE).- Sara Baras brought the New York public to their feet this Thursday with her show “Alma”, and above all the attendees celebrated with abundant applause the waste of physical strength and technique that she Spanish bailaora offered in her varied heel-heel numbers.
Sara Baras (San Fernando, Cádiz, 1971) is the headliner of this 21st edition of the New York Flamenco Festival, and today’s was the first of four shows that she will give in the sumptuous neo-Moorish building of the New York City Center, converted already in twenty years in «the house of flamenco», as the director and creator of the festival, Miguel Marín, said.
The Cádiz-born bailaora proposes in «Alma» a tribute to flamenco art itself and to the bolero, which on some occasion she has defined as a gift to her father, now deceased. She is accompanied on this trip by six more dancers (five of them women), two singers, two guitarists, two percussionists and a flutist and saxophonist.
The stage for «Alma» is sober, with a background created by a folded canvas and a translucent drapery that allows the group of musicians to be seen from behind, but the absolute leading role is taken by the bailaoras, on whom beams of light descend that enhance their hand and leg movements.
The bailaoras do not have ruffled costumes, nor do they use fans or shawls; the aesthetic that Baras proposes for her group is austere, almost androgynous, in a suit jacket and Cordovan hat, on bodies that attract attention due to their athletic demeanor.
Sara Baras promised at the beginning that she was going to bring something more than flamenco: she was going to bring “bolero soul”, and in fact, songs as recognizable as “Toda una vida”, “Contigo aprendi”, “Vete de mí” or “Algo with you», but all of them accompanied by flamenco rhythms such as seguiriyas, soleás or fandangos.
The New York public, among which there were many people of Latino origin, undoubtedly recognized such familiar melodies, but judging by their reactions, what they most appreciated were the most flamenco moments of the night, and especially the abundant heel-heeling numbers, in which that Baras demonstrated absolute dominance.
The bailaora, who on more than one occasion has defined herself as the true “brand of Spain” because she is “lucky enough to represent Spanish culture”, is also going to take “Alma” to Miami and Washington, since the Flamenco Festival, born Initially in New York, it spreads its wings to other destinations in the United States, where flamenco is very popular.
Sara Baras has said that “Alma” is not her most experimental creation, but surely the most sentimental for linking her with her father, and says that the show “has the energy, soul and strength of flamenco, together with the sweetness of the bolero ».
