Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Arts Festival Review: Eva
Photo: Jose Luis Alvarez
Eva
Reviewed by Lorraine WardEva
Ballet Flamenco Eva
Yerbabuena
8 - 12 March
Opera House
The Opera House is packed and hushed. The huge orange curtain rises on a single seated woman (Eva) dressed in red and blue, listening to a scratchy old-fashioned gramophone. She dances a dance that seems to embrace her solitude, and then returns to sitting.
The stage is bare again. A single, singing man dressed in black walks into a spotlight. He sings his impassioned song, and another man walks into another spotlight to sing his song. A third man does the same. The trio then joins the musicians - guitars, drums, flute and saxophone - at the back of the stage, to form the musical accompaniment of the dancers.
The music is beautiful and flawless. The sound and lighting changes are also beautiful and seamless, adding to the overall excellence of the evening.
The stage is taken by two male and one female dancers who give us a full-on flamenco. Each performs a solo, and the trio co-ordinates movement in such a way that stomping can turn to flowing at the click of a heel.
An undulating woman in white dances to poignant guitar chords and song, rippling the flounces of her dress and moving with such controlled passion as to conjure for me the image of a white egret at the water's edge.
Much of the dancing involves the stomping and clapping we traditionally associate and enjoy with flamenco. Yet three women in white can give us a whimsical piece, involving the choreographed twirling of orange fans. And much of it, particularly the solo pieces, evokes the power of silence and stillness.
The ninety-minute performance led to a curtain call, with the audience showing its appreciation with a great measure of shouting, stomping and clapping of its own.
As I walked along Cuba Mall, on my way home, I heard a lone busker picking out flamenco chords on his guitar.
Arts Festival: Eva
Arts
Festival: Festival Debut for Flamenco’s Finest
Scoop
Full Coverage: Festival
2006
Scoop
Scoop Independent News
Scoop is NZ's largest independent news source; respected widely in media, political, business and academic circles for being the place on the internet for publishing "what was really said", and for the quality of its analysis of issues.
Binoy Kampmark: Catching Pegasus - Mercenary Spyware And The Liability Of The NSO Group
Ramzy Baroud: The World Owes Palestine This Much - Please Stop Censoring Palestinian Voices
Dee Ninis, The Conversation: Why Vanuatu Should Brace For Even More Aftershocks After This Week’s Deadly Quakes: A Seismologist Explains
Martin LeFevre - Meditations: Meditation Without A Method
Ramzy Baroud: Israel To Annex The West Bank – Why Now? And What Are The Likely Scenarios?
Binoy Kampmark: The Strawman Of Antisemitism - Banning Protests Against Israel Down Under