Flamenco Date Night

 For this week's Wednesday night date night, my husband and I had the chance to go to the Heymann Performance Arts Center for one of the Performance Arts Society of Acadiana's (PASA) 2010-2011 shows. The show was Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca, a flamenco ensemble from Madrid. It took my breath away. If someone had asked me to write a critic about this performance, this is what I would have written.

Four chairs. Four bodies. Two guitars. A red dress.

Gut-wrenching native chants that command every space that surrounds them.

Soul, passion and seduction through the twist of a wrist and the soles of the feet.

Percussion.

Percussion beyond rhythms and beats. Percussion that cannot be taught or learned. Percussion that you are born with, to the marrow of your bones.

Strings being plucked with such intent and dedication that they resonate through the bodies with coinciding peaks and valleys.

Beauty, elegance and womanly grace flows like syrup through the tip of the fingers down through the core of the arch of the back, but with bestial ferociousness that can not be contained.

Power.

The essence of pure manliness, put with the finesse and poise of a matador's feet.

Compete control, yet total reckless abandonment.

Fire. Love. Poetry. Bliss.

This show was, by far, one of the best shows I've witnessed in a long time. Thank you PASA for giving us the chance to experience such raw talent.

For PASA show listings and tickets go to http://www.pasa-online.org/.

Oh, and to all you moms and dads out there, the next show (Feb 4th) is Louisiana's own Imagination Movers...they're gonna move you! A show that does NOT require sitting still....how often does that happen?:-)