Flamenco ‘Orfeo’ fizzles

Heroic passion, devastating loss and a belief in the power of art make the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus an ideal subject for a flamenco dance drama. In what other idiom is every step so weighted with the fragility of human happiness and the inevitability of doom?

Unfortunately, Compania Domingo Ortega’s new “Orfeo” kept going awry at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday: missing opportunities, failing to develop its best ideas and trivializing the most profound hallmarks of its source.

Choreographed by Ortega and Miguel Angel Espino, the two-act narrative began with a rehearsal scene in the manner of the late Antonio Gades’ “Blood Wedding” from 30 years ago. But as the story took shape, bad decisions undermined it, despite the exciting performances of the dancers and musicians involved.

For starters, dancer Silvana Amati never got a solo as Eurydice (a serious lapse considering the self-sacrifice she inspires), and Ortega performed the role of Orfeo with impenetrable self-absorption. They danced together expertly but without any true connection.

Instead of seeking Eurydice in the underworld -- the land of the dead -- Ortega’s Orfeo looked for her in hell, or more accurately, heck, where the action resembled one of those Ricky Martin videos with women incessantly pawing his chest.

The idea of a challenge between Orfeo and King Karonte (ringmaster of flamenco cupidity) was a good one, and it began with excitement as Ortega and Javier Serrano traded assaultive step-combinations. But, far too soon, the dancing stopped and fake wrestling took over.

Similarly, the crucial passage in which Orfeo tried to lead Eurydice back to the living never fulfilled its potential, ending in mundane pantomime when Ortega pretended that he couldn’t find Amati and tore off his blindfold. Other retellings establish a tragic flaw in Orpheus’ nature, or Eurydice’s, that thwarts their reunion -- but here nobody thought beyond the obvious.

Ortega’s final solo offered a sustained sampling of his superb technical and expressive powers -- especially the way fusillades of steps suddenly erupt volcanically. Moreover, the evening also featured a magnificently menacing extended solo by his sister, Inmaculada Ortega, in the role of an evil serpent. What a family!

Cast in a number of assignments, dancers Begona Castro, Emilio Ochando and Monica Romero gave the performance their skill and energy. The fine musical ensemble included Jorge Rodriguez, Gema Caballero, Manuel Hernaiz, Francisco Orozco “Yiyi” and Alfredo Valero “Freddy.” But “Orfeo” badly needed a dramaturge -- someone to make its mythic source mesh with its dance resources. Without one, the whole company -- like the work’s blindfolded hero -- fumbled in the dark.