Ballet Hispanico conjures up images of castanets, fiery flamenco dancers, the sensual undulations of Cuban dance styles—salsa, mambo, and meringue—as well as Brazil’s indigenous and African beats. Confirmed, Ballet Hispanico is all that and so much more!!
Ballet Hispanico’s season at New York City’s City Center showed the company at its best with a variety of Latin-based dance styles and modern dance techniques. That said, Artistic Director streams these very familiar Latin dance styles through a prism of modern dance techniques—Horton, Graham, Cunningham—positioned nicely alongside current social dance evolutions, and at this performance, New York ballroom-style vogueing.
By drawing from this amalgam of dance styles, new and traditional, Vilaro keeps Ballet Hispanico fresh, current, and always evolving. This evolution is readily apparent in Anabelle Lopez Ochoa’s “House of Mad’moiselle.”
Though gender neutrality now seems to be acceptable subject matter for stage and skin, the dance world has lagged behind in pansexual inclusions. In Ochoa’s “House of Mad’moiselle,” Ochoa examines the in-your-face, glamour delusions of a gender fluid character as the center character, buttressed by dancers in bobbed red wigs as a corps de ballet of sorts.
Though humor is employed throughout this dance work, Ochoa expertly melds of styles of the New York ballroom culture with more established modern dance techniques. While the central ‘drag’ character struts and poses in a dance style that includes vogueing, death drops, and bunny hops, the corps de ballet extends their incredible limbs in sky-high extensions, acrobatic lifts, and intricate partnered couplings, with a little social dance thrown in for good measure.
Though this work has a strong camp element and parodies stereotypical female representation in Latin culture, this work demonstrates Ochoa’s craft in weaving disparate dance styles into a cohesive expression of strength and versatility.
In comparison to Ochoa’s “House of Mad’moiselle,” where there is one central character, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s ballet “18+1’s” strength is in the choreography’s ensemble work. This is where Ballet Hispanico shines this season.
In their ensemble work in “18+1,” Ballet Hispanic reigns supreme. Like some other works in the company’s repertoire, the dancers don asymmetrical loose-fitting clothing, dark garments that works well for the type of movement quality of this ballet.
That said, what works best in “18+1” is the dancers’ ability to inhabit this ballet as one body, breathing and moving as one with the same phrasing and approach even though Sansano uses a cornucopia of dance styles and movement forms. In this respect, this is how Ballet Hispanico has evolved as a dance company; from a company that mostly gave audiences an insight into Latin dance in the diaspora to a company that is adept at melding a plethora of dances styles into one cohesive presentation.
Vilario’s “Buscando a Juan,” (Looking for Juan) though a more cerebral dance work, aptly applied the same unity of phrasing seen in other works on this program. “Buscando a Juan’ is a works that celebrates Ballet Hispanico’s expert partnering abilities which is necessary for Vilaro’s intricate choreography.
If there is one Ballet Hispanico dancer to give special notice, among all the great dancers in this company, Fashion Reverie gives a nod to five-year veteran Leonardo Brito. Brito distinguishes himself with his magnetic stage presence, masterful technique, and brilliant partnering skills. When Brito is on stage, sometimes it’s hard to look at anyone else.
With this outing, Ballet Hispanico demonstrates their skill at stimulating the heart, the mind, and visual palettes with their beauty, dedication, and craft. What’s next for the company in this 15th anniversary of Eduardo Vilario? Hmm, not even the sky is the limit!!
—William S. Gooch
Image credits
- ballet-hispanico-01.jpeg — Editorial image.
- ballet-hispanico-mademoiselle.jpg — Editorial image.
- ballet-hispanico-181.jpg — Editorial image.
- ballet-hispanico-buscando-a-juan.jpg — Editorial image.
- ballet-hispanico-brito.jpg — Editorial image.
- ballet-hispanico-feature.jpg — Editorial image.
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