O.C. DANCE REVIEW : Benitez Heats Up Irvine Barclay

“Don’t dare stop to smell the roses” seems to be the moral of “El Muro,” (The Wall) a dance-drama based on a poem by Lorca, which opened the Maria Benitez Teatro Flamenco program Thursday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

With choreography credited to Ciro, who wrote in the program notes that he was inspired by Lorca’s “The Gypsy Nun,” the work shows a woman taking a vow as a nun, joining two fellow sisters in garden tasks and games, and, left alone, sitting at an easel to work at embroidery. She takes up a rose and smells it. Then all hell breaks loose.

Two intense working men in leather aprons and chaps (Juan Ortega and Martin Santangelo) strut in. The nun (danced by Benitez) emerges from her habit dressed in a sleek red dress. Maybe she’s the spirit of the rose.

At first, the woman proves more than a match for the two guys. They stalk her as she continually ups the sensual heat with caresses and alluring moves. The three entwine and disengage in various combinations. Anyone who believes you have to show lots of skin to make an erotic statement ought to check out this approach.

But the games get out of hand, and the woman is tossed onto the prone body of one of the men. From then on, of course, the guys turn caddish. Her fellow nuns (Monica and Ramona Garduno) need to rescue her--and also give her time to get back into the habit.

At the end, we see her again at the easel, smelling the rose. Perhaps this has all been her fantasy or a dream. Perhaps not.

At any rate, this potentially farcical hyper-response to his poem found redemption in the serious focus and superb skill of Benitez and her fellow dancers.

Intense in bearing and endless in line, she was all wildness and vulnerability, yet also sweet and triumphant in magnetic attraction. The men were both pattering libido and focused coltishness. The whole thing was superbly silly.

The second part of the program consisted of a suite of flamenco dances, including a solea por bulerias by a deft, piston-powered Ortega, a solea by a moody Santangelo, and an alegrias each by a fluent, sturdy Monica and a furiously forceful Benitez.

In an especially high-spirited finale full of throwaway virtuoso spontaneity by all members of the company, Benitez also enticed singer Manolo Segura and guitarist Jose Valle Fajardo “Chuscales” to dance. Each acquitted himself with style.

Benitez had been set to appear at the Irvine theater in April, but suffered an injury at that time; the program was rescheduled.