Flamenco Show Boldly Steps Up Its Skill Level

Dancer-choreographer Yolanda Arroyo evidently approached the “Herencia Flamenca” (Flamenco Heritage) program at the Los Angeles Theatre Center on Friday as a dead-serious test of prowess.

Accompanied by a distinguished ensemble of singers and musicians led by her husband, Paco Arroyo, she remained severe and even arguably remote in style except for one brief, joyous duet with her son. Subduing the emotionalism and sensuality that had marked her dancing on previous occasions, she emphasized technical frissons: the sharpest changes in stance, the boldest turns, the most intricate displays of heel work.

Only her restless, magically expressive hands softened, decorated and personalized her dancing, embellishing the startling directional shifts of her Solea (faceted flamenco), and enhancing the spiraling, skirt-swirling turns of her Alegrias (centrifugal flamenco). A performance of impressive, if unyielding, power and surety.

Produced by the Fountain Theatre, “Herencia Flamenca” also offered the gutsy singing of Charo Monge and Jesus (“El Genio Gitano”) Montoya, the woodwind mastery of Pedro Eustache and fine guitar playing by Paco Arroyo and Antonio Triana. In addition, Pepe del Gastor performed two poems--one reportedly his adaptation of a Gypsy original, the other by Lorca, but neither of them identified or translated for those who didn’t speak Spanish.

A major duet for guitar and flute misfired--Paco Arroyo’s intent musicianship left no room for dialogue with Eustache--but otherwise the collaborative interplay of the company represented one of the event’s greatest pleasures--perhaps the highlight: the colors and textures that Monge and Eustache brought to Yolanda Arroyo’s dynamic twisting, stalking, skirt-flinging Taranto.

Unfortunately, eight visible microphones and four loudspeakers cluttered the stage--not only ugly to look at but responsible for imbalances between instruments and a sense of spatial dislocation that weakened the music-making. Gastor performed without amplification, sounding just fine, and one unmiked guitar passage offstage could be heard loud and clear. So why can’t the Fountain risk “Herencia Flamenca Unplugged?”