Noche Flamenca's ANTIGONA Returning to NYC

On Monday, December 7, Dance Magazine will honor flamenco artist Soledad Barrio at the 58th annual Dance Magazine awards ceremony at The Ailey Citigroup Theater (405 West 55th Street) in Manhattan. Ms. Barrio is the first flamenco artist to win the award, which recognizes outstanding men and women whose contributions have left a lasting impact on the dance world. Additional winners this year include Marcelo Gomes, Karen Kain, David Vaughan and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.

This recognition comes days before Noche Flamenca's Antigona returns to New York for a six-week engagement, December 11-January 23. Antigona is a visually arresting adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone. The production, which originally opened on July 21, merges spoken text, live music, theatrical spectacle, and dance to create a production that propels the classic Greek play to new heights. The company brings the inherent theatricality of Flamenco to bear on this classical tragedy, reigniting the theatrical potential of the Greek chorus as the lyrical and rhythmic heart of the drama. Critics are welcome beginning Monday, December 14.

This summer, Antigona was declared a New York Times Critics' pick by Laura Collins-Hughes, who wrote that "a haunting, distant classicism coexists with sweaty, unmediated corporeality in this dance drama." In The Village Voice, Miriam Felton-Dansky called it "raucously eloquent," while Apollinaire Scherr in the Financial Times wrote that Noche Flamenca "has created a powerful marriage of Greek tragedy and flamenco." The New Yorker's Joan Acocella declared: "Never, until I saw Santangelo's ensemble, their heels stamping, their arms cutting through the air, had I seen a chorus whose physical force could support the fate-heavy songs that Sophocles wrote for his plays."

Adapted and directed by Noche Flamenca Artistic Director Martín Santangelo from an English translation by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, Antigona features a cast of 14 performers and four musicians, who in a quick-paced 15 scenes, bring forth a full-bodied level of catharsis not often seen in more traditional adaptations. Lee Breuer, founding co-artistic director of Mabou Mines, serves as consulting director.

Soledad Barrio, Noche Flamenca's celebrated lead dancer and choreographer, brings her exquisite artistry to the role of Antigone, the classical Greek heroine. Daughter of Oedipus and sister of the shunned Polyneices, Antigone follows her heart and defies Creon by burying her brother. Sentenced to death, Antigone then kills herself.

Noche Flamenca was founded in 1993 by Artistic Director Martín Santangelo and his Bessie award-winning wife, Soledad Barrio and is recognized today as one of the world's leading flamenco touring companies. Noche has been hailed for its authentic performances of one of the world's most complex and mysterious art forms. The company performs to live music, propelling the dancers to an incredible height of drama that "goes straight for the expressive tension that seems to be at flamenco's very heart" (The New York Times)

Performances of Antigona will take place December 11-January 23 (see schedule above) at the West Park Presbyterian Church, located at 165 W 86th Street in Manhattan. Tickets, which are $25-$60, are available at nocheflamenca.com or by calling 212.352.3101. The running time is 90 minutes with no intermission. Antigona is performed in Spanish with English surtitles.

The cast of eight dancers, three singers and four musicians is led by Soledad Barrio as Antigone, Juan Ogalla as Haemon, Manuel Gago as Creon, Pepe el Bocadillo as Tiresias, Emilio Florido as the Master of Ceremonies and Marina Scanell as Ismene. Live musicians include Eugenio Iglesias (guitar), Salva de Maria (guitar), David Rodriguez (percussion) and Hamed Traore (electric guitar & bass).

The creative team includes S. Benjamin Farrar (lights), Soledad Barrio (costumes) and Sydney Moffat (mask artisan).