“La Pasion Flamenca” in South Milwaukee

Carlota Santana. Lois Greenfield photo for Flamenco Vivo.

New Yorker Carlota Santana encountered flamenco in her teens, and that was that. Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, the company she founded in 1983 with the late Roberto Lorca, will dance, sing and play Saturday evening (Feb. 4) at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center.

Santana’s company is based primarily in New York. It gives a season at the Joyce Theater, an important dance venue there, every year. Flamenco Vivo also has an outpost in Durham, N.C., as Santana has taught flamenco at Duke University since 2000. In a phone interview from North Carolina, she spoke of the magnetic appeal of Spain’s principal cultural export.

“For me, personally, it allowed me to be as feminine as I want, but not soft and sweet only,” Santana said. “I could be angry and stamp my feet. I have always especially loved the arm work — that’s very feminine.”

She spent the late 1970s and early 1980s traveling back and forth from New York to Seville and Madrid to study formally and informally.

“You go and sign up for classes,” she said. “You live in Andalusia, you hang out, you soak up the atmosphere. Flamenco just enters your body.”

Flamenco Vivo, like most New York companies, assembles and disperses and reassembles as tours and performance arise. She has a circle of dancers and musicians to draw from and connections in Spain to help her find new talent. Flamenco is a narrow specialty; you can’t just put out a casting call and expect dozens of dancers to try out.

“We have a mix of stateside and Spanish,” Santana said. “All the men are from Spain, and all of our performers have spent time there.”

Antonio Hidalgo. Lois Greenfield photo for Flamenco Vivo.

The crew coming to South Milwaukee Saturday comprises five dancers (two men and three women), two guitarists and two singers. Associate artistic director Antonio Hidalgo leads the touring company. They will perform Bailes de Ida y Vuelta, a survey of Latin American dances influenced by flamenco, on the first half. The second half will be very traditional and very Andalusian.

“People might be surprised that we start with a Colombian folk song,” Santana said. “We also do two Argentine songs and dances, and a Cuban rhumba. The Latin American dances usually draw on the lighter forms of flamenco. We’re trying to show the integration of Latin America and Spain. The arts of the Spanish-speaking peoples are one, in a sense. I enjoy putting peoples together. This piece is also an attempt to connect with Spanish speakers in this country.”

She pointed out that one of the traditional flamenco rhythms in Spain is called the colombianas; influences went both ways.

The Latin American suite is an example of the company’s set choreography. Traditional flamenco is more improvisational.

“A lot of flamenco happens in the moment,” Santana said. “The music is not written down. There are no music stands. The singing comes from Arabic styles, from [the Moorish] time when all these different people lived together.”

The essence of the dance has to do with the power and rhythm of heels driving into the floor, the high carriage of the shoulders and head, and the sinuous, spiraling shapes of the arms and torso.

“What people see most is the expression of emotion,” Santana said. “It’s different from a classical music concert. You can yell ‘Ole!’ or clap at any time. Flamenco might be sexy or angry, or just about having a good time with a girl. But it’s always intense.”

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana will perform La Pasión Flamenca at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4. Join Carlota Santana and some of the performers for a pre-show discussion at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $25-$40; call the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center box office, 414 766-5049, or visit the SMPAC website. The theater is within South Milwaukee High School, at 901 15th Ave.