Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company to Perform LETTERS TO SPAIN, 4/24-26

The award-winning Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company (EESDC) presents Letters to Spain, a provocative and captivating evening of Spanish dance and music that will enthral audiences with imaginative and expressive choreography by Artistic Director Esmeralda Enrique and others. Wrapping up Hispanic Heritage Month, Letters to Spain runs Friday, April 24 to Sunday, April 26 for three shows only at Harbourfront Centre's Fleck Dance Theatre as part of NextSteps.

Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company has been presenting its highly anticipated annual Toronto season since 1990. For the upcoming season, EESDC remounts cherished works from its repertoire as it pays homage to the birthplace of Spanish Dance.

With this performance, the company artists reflect on the impact their connection to Spain has made in their lives. Their dances, songs and music are like letters to Spain, written with gratitude, love and reverence.

In the first half of the program, Poeta celebrates and explores the life, loves, exile and return of iconic Spanish poet Rafael Alberti. Set to the beautiful concerto of the same name by composer Vicente Amigo, this classical work - originally presented in 1999 by EESDC - is re-envisioned by Enrique and her company sixteen years later, bringing a new understanding of the strife that forces some to leave their homeland.

Alberti described himself as a sailor on land when separated from his beloved home, Puerto de Santa María in the Bay of Cádiz. The spectacular costumes worn by the dancers evoke the landscape of the poet's journey: they are the tides, the bay and the sea.

Special guest and contemporary dancer Piotr Biernat performs the role of the poet and he and Esmeralda have together created a new duet. EESDC dancers Pamela Briz, Virginia Castro Durán, Paloma Cortés, Ilse Gudiño, Noelia La Morocha and Margarita Rigó complete the cast.

In the second Act of Letters to Spain, EESDC presents an all-flamenco mixed repertoire showcasing the range and inseparable components of music, song and dance that flamenco offers.

Dancers Pamela Briz, Virginia Castro Durán, Paloma Cortés, Esmeralda Enrique, Ilse Gudiño and Noelia La Morocha are joined by musicians Nicolás Hernández (guitar), Benjamin Barrile (guitar), Chris Church (violin), Rosendo "Chendy" León (percussion) and singers Tamar Ilana and Fernando Gallego Torres.

Flamenco, an art form like no other, speaks to the heart and touches the soul. EESDC's talented company of musicians, singers and commanding dancers deliver the power of this expressive art with elegance and passion, eliciting shouts of "ole" and standing ovations at each performance.

To post a comment, you must register and login.