DANCE REVIEW : Benitez: Eloquent Flamenco

Slumped across a table on stage at El Camino College on Wednesday, Maria Benitez and four other members of her Spanish Dance Company beat an intense, steady rhythm on its surface.

Three guitarists nearby restricted their playing solely to percussive accompaniment and soon the snapping fingers, stamping feet and forceful chanting of the seated dancers added complexity to the ostinato without diminishing its primal force.

Eventually, the chant led to song (dominated by the soulful Manolo Segura), the guitarists turned melodic (and, alas, overamplified), while the dancers moved from their chairs to center stage.

Answering the hand-claps of the stocky, feline Angel Atienza and the elegantly proportioned but bland Alfonso Simo, Benitez unleashed flurries of eloquent flamenco heelwork, her long arms sweeping rapidly through space--her style lighter and without the tension of her extended, superb “Solea” earlier in the evening.

While Benitez changed from her red dress to a sleek pants outfit, the suite passed to tiny, mercurial Susanna di Palma and the men, evolving from unison line dances to flamboyant solos for the women and, later, brief dances for nearly everyone--including Segura and two of the guitarists.

Remarkable for its sense of atmosphere and its unpredictable interaction between dancers, this hourlong “Flamencos de la ‘Trinia’ ” (choreographed by Mario Maya) set the seal on a performance already praiseworthy for skill and intelligence.

Benitez remains a superb soloist--feral, sensual, virtuosic, commanding. But now the company’s mixture of classic and offbeat repertory helps make its program exceptional as a whole.