'Los 4 Elementos': Modern Flamenco That Forgot the Fire

It took nearly 90 minutes for the essence of flamenco -- its soulful passion, its unruly power -- to take hold Wednesday evening at the gala opening of the fifth annual Flamenco Festival DC. For a few minutes, the performers let loose their pent-up energy. Before that the four dancers and seven musicians of "Los 4 Elementos," who nearly sold out Lisner Auditorium, were hampered by a program driven by concept, one unabashedly drawn from modern dance.

Flamenco thrives when performers teeter on the edge of uncertainty, sharing exploratory possibilities of movement and syncopation. Improvisatory at its root, flamenco is best when unfettered by plans and limitations. Born in southern Spain nearly half a millennium ago, today it still flourishes and innovates, while keeping a hold on tradition.

That was the goal of "Los 4 Elementos," an evening-length piece by modern-dance choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi. The dancers, representing water, fire, earth and air, were serving an idea meant to push flamenco into a contemporary mold. But the concept sapped the dancers of vitality and originality.

Voluptuous Rocio Molina filled out her sea-blue dress as an evocation of water. Stalwart Alejandro Granados found grit and passion in his "Seguirilla," a textured paean to the earth. As air, lean-legged Carlos Rodriguez relished effortless turns and steep lunges. Carmen Cortes smoldered in her brief, stage-engulfing solo, but she never quite burned as fire. The dancers mostly left these fleeting impressions underdeveloped. And a series of computer-generated moving backdrops, relics from the psychedelic '60s, marred their solos, as did the floor amplification, which sometimes deadened the dancers' syncopated footwork.

Buglisi shaped these autonomous performers into a company by grouping sections in unison and tandem, directing entrances and exits and adding symbolic props -- a shell, a hill of sand. But choreography is anathema to flamenco. The finale, when dancers reconvened with their musicians to bow, hinted at the enormous passion that was otherwise lacking.

The festival continues through Feb. 12 with Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras tomorrow and Sunday, and two music programs the following Wednesday and Saturday.

-- Lisa Traiger