Zorro at Alliance flashes with flamenco
Alliance Theatre opens their newest show this week, Zorro. The story is still rooted with the passion and mystique of the iconic masked character, but a new sensation is brought to the stage: flamenco. Below the shows choreographer, Rafael Amargo, talks all things dance, love, beauty and heroes all the way from Spain.
Q. You choreographed the production of Zorro at The Alliance Theatre and it seems that dance, flamenco especially, takes a huge role in this show. What was it like to combine the action and romance all into dance?
A. Yes, indeed the choreography is one of the great attractions of this musical. There are many types of musicals: jazz, modern dance but Zorro is a latin musical, a musical where sounds and choreographies are basically flamenco. I think that this is the added value with this great production which is Zorro, apart from the story itself, of the way it is told, as a timeless passion and in purely flamenco rhythms.
Q. Audiences seem more and more aware of dance as an art form and it seems to be having a huge comeback for those who were not interested in it in the past. Why do you think that is?
A. Dance is something incredible, it doesn’t have a language… more than physical, the message, the virtuosity, the art… or it is not necessary to tell it in Spanish, English, French or italian… dance is sensitive, it is a noble art, absolutely beautiful.
Q. Zorro is touted as capturing the true essence of flamenco. What is that essence?
A. Zorro is a very flamenco man. It is a man capable to go all the way with his passion to show his truth, his kindness and he is a hero because he pulls on the courage and the fight of the whole people. There is a message of love and peace. He is a man of olé!!
Q. There is a lot of mystery behind the masked man Zorro. How is this characterized through the movement?
A. He is a real pure male. He is pure sensuality and, at the same time, he has the sensibility and vulnerability of the heroes.
Q. You are back and forth between the show and Spain, what is it like to put the trust of rehearsals into someone else’s hands while you are away?
A. We have done this show in many countries, having a great acceptance by critics and public because it touches the deepest feeling of the human being: the truth of real pure love. I put my trust in who is there with my seal. In this case my colleague Saulo Garrido as he is a professional who knows very well what my artist spirit wants to transmit.
