Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca

First and foremost, this company’s show is in the Joyce Theater through November 9^th, so get your ticket right goddamn now. I have only ever seen one flamenco show before this one and that one does not count because it was in a ship off the coast of Barcelona and not performed by particularly skilled dancers (i.e. a show for tourists)
Within the first two minutes, I knew this was different. The show started off with a high energy dance off and once the action began the dancers seemed to have only three emotional modes: sad, pissed off and pre-​coitus. The sadder they get the more they hug each other or the floor; the more pissed off the faster they move; and the sexier it gets, the more the woman dramatically pushes the man away.
In addition to guitars and percussionists, there were three to five male vocalists on stage crying for different reasons and it was beautiful. Their voices shined in a dramatically wistful fashion. For once, I was not mad that the audience talked, as the Spaniards in the audience kept screaming at the dancers and singers to keep their momentum going.
The first half of the show consisted of excerpts from the company’s interpretation of «Antigone» and while it was jaw dropping, I preferred the second half as it was a mixed repertory. One of the highlights of the second part was when the one male and five to six female dancers and the singers all danced together on stage and smiled.
The two primary dancers were unreal. The man’s feet flitted like a hummingbird’s wings and he had a sense of humor that shone through most of the second half. Soledad, on the other hand, was dressed in all black for the finale, which is fitting as she is a flamenco ninja. You knew she was going to kill with her dancing, it was just a matter of when.
As a side note, even if you’re not crazy about flamenco, buy a ticket for the fashion. The dresses for the second half of the show were ridiculously well made, shiny and able to withstand a violent yanking and twirling should you need to flamenco down or bust out swirling or slapping hand geometry (the dancers must lack wrist bones).