Jose Greco Flamenco Dance Company wowed audiences on Friday night at the National Theater with shouting, leaping and a whole lot of stomping as they kicked off a weekend set of performances in Taipei with very energetic heels following a week-long tour of the island.
The first half of the show featured an anthology of Spanish dance.
Most of the pieces were ballet-inspired folk dances accompanied by the kind of canned orchestral music you might hear at the big top. Though the dances themselves were quite lively, perhaps more authentic music could have really brought out their folksy flavor.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOSE GRECO FLAMENCO DANCE COMPANY
Thankfully the live band did come out for Jose Greco's solo demonstration of the Serrana, a classic Andalusian form or palo of flamenco. All eyes were glued to Greco's fancy footwork from the first soulful strum of the guitar to Greco's final thundering stomp. With one cocky arm flung above his head, Greco gazed out over the awestruck audience. Applause erupted -- he had us just where he wanted us.
Possibly the only other highlight of the show's first half was when Carmela Greco, Jose's sister came out in a charcoal dress with a long ruffled train. Her dance, slow and stately, was punctuated by backward kicks to keep the dress' train in order, executed with the same haughtiness as if she were flinging long, flowing locks from her face.
The audience returned from intermission yearning for more of Jose Greco and that sultry guitar. They got it in the form of Los Tarantos, a Gitano Romeo and Juliet story adapted by Jose Greco to show off his and the company's skills. Greco played the pompous older peacock who claims the young beauty as his bride, and tries to tear her away from her lover. This was perfect for Greco, who used the vanity and machismo of his character as an excuse to treat the audience time and again to his jaw-dropping sequences of kicks and stomps.
Carmela, who played the matriarch, danced with the strength and sorrow of a woman weighed down by the world. Her slow, yet powerful movements provided a contrast to the wistful and frenetic dancing of the young lovers.
The confrontational scenes really brought out what might possibly be the true function of flamenco -- a glorified stomping contest.
These heated showdowns embodied the spirit of a genre that was born out of the pent-up frustration of persecuted peoples. The soulfulness of the Gitanos and the passion of the Moors combined centuries ago to produce the music and eventually the dance that became a symbol of Spanish national identity. On the stage Friday night, it became an expression of the fervent anger of desperate families.
Despite Greco's eye-popping moves, it was vocalist Gabarri Barrul Julio who really kept Los Tarantos going by inciting both the dancers and the audience to passion with his reverberating, melodic yells that sounded like an alternately furious and mournful call to prayer.
Meanwhile, the guitarists with their by turns gentle and violent strumming could have kept the audience rapt all by themselves.
By the end of it all, one was almost surprised that the dancers, musicians and their instruments didn't fall apart from exhaustion. But they were saving the best for the encore. As if the stage hadn't taken enough of a beating, the whole company came out stomping in unison.
Coaxed forward by Julio's impassioned hollering, each man took his turn freestyling with his best and wildest flamenco. Stomping their heels at lightning speed, kicking high in the air or shaking their entire bodies frenetically, these gentlemen were as much athletes as they were artists.
While female dancers in flowing skirts may be a symbol of the genre, the encore capped off a stirring demonstration of the fevered power that male dancers bring to Flamenco.
Jose Greco and his team spent enough energy out on that stage to keep the place heated up for a good chunk of the winter.
One of the biggest sore spots in Taiwan’s historical friendship with the US came in 1979 when US president Jimmy Carter broke off formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan’s Republic of China (ROC) government so that the US could establish relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan’s derecognition came purely at China’s insistence, and the US took the deal. Retired American diplomat John Tkacik, who for almost decade surrounding that schism, from 1974 to 1982, worked in embassies in Taipei and Beijing and at the Taiwan Desk in Washington DC, recently argued in the Taipei Times that “President Carter’s derecognition
JUNE 30 to JULY 6 After being routed by the Japanese in the bloody battle of Baguashan (八卦山), Hsu Hsiang (徐驤) and a handful of surviving Hakka fighters sped toward Tainan. There, he would meet with Liu Yung-fu (劉永福), leader of the Black Flag Army who had assumed control of the resisting Republic of Formosa after its president and vice-president fled to China. Hsu, who had been fighting non-stop for over two months from Taoyuan to Changhua, was reportedly injured and exhausted. As the story goes, Liu advised that Hsu take shelter in China to recover and regroup, but Hsu steadfastly
You can tell a lot about a generation from the contents of their cool box: nowadays the barbecue ice bucket is likely to be filled with hard seltzers, non-alcoholic beers and fluorescent BuzzBallz — a particular favorite among Gen Z. Two decades ago, it was WKD, Bacardi Breezers and the odd Smirnoff Ice bobbing in a puddle of melted ice. And while nostalgia may have brought back some alcopops, the new wave of ready-to-drink (RTD) options look and taste noticeably different. It is not just the drinks that have changed, but drinking habits too, driven in part by more health-conscious consumers and
On Sunday, President William Lai (賴清德) delivered a strategically brilliant speech. It was the first of his “Ten Lectures on National Unity,” (團結國家十講) focusing on the topic of “nation.” Though it has been eclipsed — much to the relief of the opposing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — by an ill-advised statement in the second speech of the series, the days following Lai’s first speech were illuminating on many fronts, both domestic and internationally, in highlighting the multi-layered success of Lai’s strategic move. “OF COURSE TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY” Never before has a Taiwanese president devoted an entire speech to
RSS