Review: Yjastros Aliento
Rujeko Dumbutshena
Intro to Grad Studies
Performance Review
Yjastros 31: Giving Breath to the New.
This unique American Flamenco Repertory Company is “never the same” mainly due to the multitude of choreographers and artists that inspire them as dancers and help shape each of their seasonal performances. What remains constant is the foundation that, with the help of its local and international communities, has built a legacy over five generations.
For many years now I have had the privilege of witnessing the company Yjastros and artistic director Joaquin Encinias’s vision of bringing the structure and ideas of a repertory ballet company together with the flamenco dance style. Encinias’s goal is to create a new language and aesthetic that the majority of the United States, and perhaps the flamenco world itself, has yet to see. Yjastros began staging productions in 2001, two years after their formation. We, lovers of dance, are lucky to be brought together again to bear witness to their 31th season titled “Aliento.” Yjastros is founded on a richly complex family dance history that pays homage to age old elements of Flamenco dance technique and bridges them with contemporary innovations.
It has become a shared tradition for me to walk into the National Hispanic Cultural Center with friends and so many local (and international) patrons of the Center. The building brings back memories; the austere arches and high ceiling of the corridors are perfectly designed to inspire photo shoots, they evoke visual memories of past performances. It brings me back to the people that have accompanied me here before. To me, Yjastros represents rich tradition and celebration of community.
As I walk to find my place among, colleagues and students, I am surprised to run into a friend who is dedicated to supporting the African drum and dance community here in Albuquerque in the most profound ways. She makes me flip to a photo in the program of Marisol and Joaquin Encinias as children performing on stage with their grandmother. My friend shares how growing up, her mother loved flamenco, and would take her to flamenco performances where she saw, on many occasions, the very moment that this photo was taken. She is obviously moved by this historical memory jolt, and it strikes me that the stirring of her emotions, along with that of my own memories, affirms that the history of the Encinias family, the multiple generations of dancers, the relationships between the artists, and the audience are what makes night so special. It is the constant that threads every season together.
The company has gone through an evolution that has brought them to their current position where they bring “to life the creative visions of renowned flamenco artist” from Spain. Since 2010 they have been working with three to four guest a year. The artists are brought in for three sometime six-week residencies in collaboration with the University of New Mexico Theatre and Dance Department. “We are utilizing the skills of the best people in the world,” Joaquin Encinias told the Albuquerque Journal in an article published April 16th 2016. And it is for this reason that each season is a stand-alone experience. (Might not need this paragraph)
What I was most interested in seeing this season was how choreographers Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños meld the classical Spanish and flamenco styles to create a contemporary form. Estévez began as a traditional flamenco dancer and soloist and evolved into becoming a contemporary choreographer. Valeriano Paños is trained in ballet and is well versed in Spanish classical styles. They are co-choreographers for the opening piece “Ciertas Dancas” set specifically for and on the Yjastros dancers. Soloist and long time member of Yjastros, Kayla Lyall, describes the ease with which the choreographers worked with a large company and how they had crafted this piece perfectly for a large concert stage.
The curtain opens on the world premier of Ciertas Dancas. I am transported to a world I have never seen before, the audience appears similarly transfixed. On center stage is soloist Kayla Lyall. She is grounded in black costume that reminiscent of 18th century aristocratic society; her poise and movements exaggerate the theme. Dancers, all in black costume, their movements and gestures reinforcing the images of that era, slowly spill onto the stage to join her.
My eye is drawn to Lyall and soloist Carlos Menchaca as they are paired together in a duet.I have grown accustomed to the dynamics of their technical and intimate performance skills. However, the larger choreography makes it challenging for the eye to settle on them for long, as there are duets and trios spread across the stage. Familiar shapes, gestures and expressions draw my eye for brief moments as I try to take in all the many pairings and trios in the piece. My eye rests on a formation occupying downstage center, the powerful image of Menchaca flanked by two female dancers take delicate grasp of his hands and slowly turn him on an axis, as if they belong in a music box. He is in a classical ballet position, arms outstretched as the female dancers, slowly circle him him.
In a moment I am holding my breath, the theater is silent. Thus far the dancers had not used very much foot percussion, this layer is slowly built throughout the piece. Visual and auditory anticipation grows to a point that it feels other worldly. We remain silent as if in a dream. I wonder if this ethereal quality that is mimicked by the music, might have been lost if it was being played live. Recorded music is not my usual preference, but the dancers reflect such an intimate connection with it and reflect its mood precisely.
The movement comes from an internal place its origin silent until it translates to the complex rhythms of the dancers feet and the gestures of their hands and arms, or when it can be read in their faces. The energy grows from the inside and exits with such power and force that we are drawn in involuntarily. The dancers move into clusters, linear and circular formations. They weave in and out of each exuding strength and grounding with fluidity and elegance.
I notice the formations after they have already happened and their pathways elude me. The dancers settle into something familiar to my eye; a traditional semi-circle formation where soloists enter. Marisol Encinias is first to enter; I want to cry out in the tradition of flamenco, but the audience is still dumbfounded, they too are barely breathing. She is joined by Joaquin, and seeing the brother and sister duo paired is endearing. Seeing them dancing as part of the ensemble is a special feature of this season’s production. I can’t help myself at this point, I yell out “ole”, and I am the only one, the audience is still breathless.
The dancers recede into darkness and emerge once more into a central pool of light reminiscent of Ailey’s Revelations, a testament of how dreamlike and ethereal the piece has become. All the elements of the dance, the costumes, the lighting and the music work successfully together to enhance our experience of “Ciertas Dancas.” Choreographers Estévez and Paños took their audience on a multi-dimensional journey using a tightly woven community of dancers whose dedication to their art form keeps drawing us back to see what’s new.