Email
The core cast of “She Dances with Fate,” billed by the organizers as a “flamenco hip-hopera.” The musical drama uses legends in Gypsy folklore and Celtic fables.
Camelia Finley and Jacob Cornelius met at an Albuquerque party two years ago where flamenco dancers spontaneously started moving to live rapping.
“Some of us began talking about what we had experienced because we’d never seen anything like it before,” said Finley, an Albuquerque writer who has been working in the film industry since 1995. “Jacob and I got together and wrote 10 pages of a script for a show with a rapper as a storyteller and flamenco dancers moving to rap. We brought those pages to the National Hispanic Cultural Center, which was interested in presenting the show.”
Finley and Cornelius call “She Dances With Fate” a “flamenco hip-hopera,” which is a series of hip-hop songs in the form of an opera with flamenco dancing and music. It’s a musical drama that uses legends in Gypsy folklore, Greek mythology and Celtic fables to tell the story of Amara the warrior. Amara is on a journey and pursued by the immortal Phoenix and his hip-hop oracle. She learns how to survive with flamenco as her sword.
 |
||
|
If you go WHAT: “She Dances with Fate” WHEN and WHERE: 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9; 2 p.m. March 10, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 Fourth SW; 7:30 p.m. March 23, Taos Center for the Arts, 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos HOW MUCH: $12-$22 at NHCC, call 246-2261; $15 in Taos, call 505-758-2052 |
|
|
The character of Amara is played by Anna Lee DeSaulniers, who has a background in ballet and modern dance and has been a flamenco dancer for 16 years. Cornelius plays the part of Phoenix. He uses spoken word and rap as his dialogue.
“Jacob and I decided to workshop the show with friends when we first started working on it,” Finley explained. “Friends have given us great ideas, and we also watched a lot of movies and YouTube videos. A core group of people has been working on the production for the past six months. Many of them are friends of Jacob involved in the music and dance scenes.”
Among the other artists contributing to the show are Chantal LaRue, who plays the character of Fate and also serves as the modern dance choreographer; “Shuga” Shane Montoya, an accomplished break dancer who plays the role of the King of Dreams; Sam Sisneros, who plays the Aztec Warrior who delivers the dead souls to the portal; and Veronica Medina, a flamenco dancer who plays the Gypsy Woman. There are 40 different characters in the show.
“We’re so fortunate that the Santa Fe Opera has allowed us to borrow costumes,” said Cornelius. “We went to the opera twice and picked out 100 costumes. Some of the core actors wear two or three costumes each. We made our masks ourselves.”
A large screen on stage projects abstract moving images that fill the entire background behind the characters. Music is the show’s driving force.
“Music tells the story,” said Finley. “About half of the music is live, and half is a soundtrack.”
Anthony Rodriguez is videotaping the show, which Finley and Cornelius hope will be presented in venues around the country in the future.
