Two Flavors of Flamenco

Sara Baras, Rafaela Carrasco Shine at Lisner Festival

Sara Baras won over the crowd with her femininity and elegance. (George Washington University)

Two remarkably different dance concerts rounded out the Seventh Annual Flamenco Festival at Lisner Auditorium this weekend.

"Sabores" ("Flavors"), performed Thursday and Friday by Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, was a marathon of high-gloss choreography calculated to entertain, which it did, beginning with the corps de ballet's delightful, percussive tangos. Baras then appeared in "A Fuego Lento" ("Slow Fire"), accompanied by her guest artists, the hot-wired Luis Ortega and José Serrano, a pantherine charmer.

Radiating graciousness, the star easily bonded with the audience. She was clearly the focus of this lush, swirling trio and capitalized on her femininity and elegance, at one point unfurling her skirt into a circle to become part of the choreography.

Baras's technical brilliance showed through in her angular martinete, as she stamped a cappella or skimmed across the stage on her heels. The piece segued into her more lyrical zambra with the company women, followed by a showstopping all-male soleá por bulerías. The corps looked gorgeous throughout, although its machine-gun rounds of footwork sometimes sounded like "Riverdance." Nonetheless, Lisner's aficionados loved "Sabores" -- and Sara Baras.

Bolder and much more profound was Compañía Rafaela Carrasco's "Una Mirada del Flamenco" ("A Look at Flamenco"), the festival's Saturday finale. This 70-minute bravura display incorporated modern dance vocabulary -- contractions, leaps and lifts -- as well as more unexpected elements: Indian vocals, African drums, a cello, bare feet and men manipulating tail-frocks.

Yet it remained coherent and true to its roots.

The opening, earth-toned ensemble number, "Encuentros" ("Encounters"), immediately spotlighted Rafaela Carrasco, the company's heart and soul, whose earthy, intricate style involves working her shoulders, arms, hands, hips, feet, even finger snaps independently of one another and synchronizing the motion into a mesmerizing whole. In her first solo, to Pablo Suárez's soaring cante, Carrasco danced mostly from the ankles up, arching, bending, twisting and turning. Later, just standing still, she inspired an ovation before launching into "De Antaño" ("From Long Ago"), a showcase for her virtuoso footwork performed as a row of eight men clapped the rhythm. The entire talented company wove seamlessly into her fury and spent passion in "Soledad Acompañada" ("Accompanied Loneliness"), the show's deeply felt and exquisitely interpreted conclusion.