Compania Maria Pages

Wit is not what is expected from flamenco. But Maria Pages is not interested in the expected. Her troupe, Compania Maria Pages, whose groundbreaking transformation of flamenco into a contemporary dance form was acknowledged with the 2002 National Dance Award, makes its Joyce Theater debut.

By setting traditional flamenco dancing against music such as the tangos embedded in several Tom Waits songs, as well as works by Manuel Soler, Isabel Granda, Astor Piazzolla and Peter Gabriel, Pages creates a surreal wit evolving from the juxtaposition of unexpected realities with the piece, El perro andaluz. Burlerias.

In Flamenco Republic, Pages reverses the choreographic process by exploring the potential influence of dance on the cante rather than the music on the movement. Although Pages is well-known for dances that demonstrate how traditional national forms could incoporate ouside cultural influences, this piece is pure flamenco, blazing with its fiery passion and poetic resonance.