“FlamencoBITS” 2024
FlamencoBITS
Compañía Pepa Molina’s “FlamencoBits” premiered on the 3rd of November 2024 at Granville Centre Art Gallery, Sydney, featuring Flamenco Ensemble “Las Flamenkas”, visual artist VJ Miguel Olmo & electronic music composer DJ Manuel Barco, directed, produced & choreographed by Pepa Molina.
Supported by:
Create NSW, Cumberland city council, Granville Centre Art Gallery, Embajada de España en Australia, Instituto Cervantes Sydney, FORM Dance Projects, Compañía Pepa Molina.
Synopsis
Synopsis: – “FlamencoBITS”
“A striking, fresh electronic take on Flamenco”
Choreographed by acclaimed flamenco dancer and choreographer Pepa Molina, “Flamencobits” is an experimental exploration of form and cross-artform dialogue that re-interprets the traditional forms of flamenco by fusing the performative, visual, and aural practices of three distinct practitioners: Pepa Molina, Miguel Olmo and Manuel Barco.
Performed across nine separate vignettes by award-winning early career flamenco dancers from the Flamenco Ensemble “Las Flamenkas” [Emilia Hanna, Sophia Marotta, Lily Cook, Anna Rocias, Amari Leiva Urzua & Eliza Cooper] along with the internationally acclaimed Pepa Molina. The work is a contemporary re-interpretation of this century-old form through the pairing of electronic dance music with experimental visuals (generated with AI) and an innovative dance vocabulary. The work culminates with audience participation as the performers invite patrons to the dance floor for an electronic “Rumba” fiesta-style, (party-style boogie).
Image Gallery
Photographer credit: Dom O’Donnell
Photographer credit Poster: Yerko Leiva.
Cast
Original idea & Director Pepa Molina
Choreographers Amari Leiva Urzua, Eliza Cooper & Pepa Molina
Dancers Flamenco Ensemble “Las Flamenkas” with emerging artists including; Sophia Marotta, Lily Cook, Emilia Hanna & early career artists; Anna Rocias, Amari Leiva Urzua & Eliza Cooper.
Electro-acoustic sound and composition & DJ: Manuel Barco
Visual artist & VJ: Miguel Olmo
Costumes: La Morena
Flamenco shoes: Antonio Garcia
Photographer credit Poster: Yerko Leiva.
Producer Pepa Molina- Compañía Pepa Molina
Perceptions is supported by: Create NSW, Cumberland city council, Granville Centre Art Gallery, Embajada de España en Australia, Instituto Cervantes Sydney, FORM Dance Projects, Compañía Pepa Molina.
Compañía Pepa Molina, Flamenco dance company, Flamenco dance Sydney, International Flamenco artists, Flamenco dance Australia, Flamenco company
Reviews
REVIEWS
“Back home in Sydney, I took myself to a space not known for its presentation of dance, the Granville Centre Gallery. Inside, a makeshift performance space was demarcated on the polished concrete floor, two rows of seats set out in a semicircle. What ensued in this unlikely dance space was I think, probably my favourite dance work of the past year, FlamencoBits by Flamenco legend Pepa Molina, performed by her emerging artist ensemble Las Flamenkas. Fierce footwork and passionate gestures performed before us in front of a series of projected artworks by Spanish-Australian artist Miguel Olmo, supported by electronic music composed by Manuel Barco. The exploration of a dance form, often trapped in a purist’s echo chamber, in a novel way, in a novel context, in collaboration with artists from other disciplines, with common ideals, nurturing a new generation of artists, making excellent, skilfully executed live performance – this is the best of what dance can do.
When I left, I sat in the car and cried. I couldn’t help but think what I’d just seen was over, and that it wasn’t fair, that this deserved better, it deserved more. No more than, say, 60 people got to witness that piece, all that work, all that skill, evaporated into the humid western Sydney air.
You probably know that feeling yourself, the dreadful slump, the mourning of the death of a thing you injected your soul into that has no future, that heavy thought of now what? Where do I go from here?
What is worth remembering in those moments is that, beneath those floorboards, there is a thriving ecosystem. Dance like this is like a sparkling fungal bloom, sprouting from the rich nutrient soils of the scraps (and don’t we know they’re scraps) that have slipped between the cracks of the floorboards above. To witness the bloom is a magical, fleeting miracle. Then the shrooms decay and go back to the soil, feeding the moss that spreads across the damp and rocky surface, carpeting the floor with a soft, spongy green, cushioning the many insects (including roaches) that crawl (or scurry) along its surface.”
BLOG – Carl Sciberras (General Manager – Dance Makers Collective – Sydney)
Interviews: