Compañía Maria Serrano

presents:

ENTRE FLAMENCOS

The encounter of the sexes « full of power, tremendous energy and rhythmic fireworks. »

With her programme "Entre Flamencos" (among flamencos) Maria Serrano makes an old dream come true: a flamenco programme exclusively performed be her and male dancers. Four male temperaments and styles encounter Maria Serrano's power, elegance and sensuous presence. The encounter of the sexes leads into a labyrinth of small gestures and deep passion – an inexhaustible reservoir of inspiration. "Entre Flamencos" promises fiery solos, stirring duos and sweeping ensemble presentations.

Press reviews Entre Flamencos:   

"Entre Flamencos" she dances, a woman alone among men. The temperament boils over. The dancing is impulsive, exuberant, fundamental and although completely  synchronic, still extremely individual – never in perfect unison : each dancer, solo.... The Ensemble bubbles with the joys of life.....Maria Serrano points the way. She literally has the trousers on, a woman dictates among men. …She throws à la Buleria on stage. In tight, modern clothes, she refrains from various skirt effects. He entire body, a bundle of energy."  - ANDA – Journal for Flamenco.****

 "Maria Serrano literally dances on a volcano, in fact she is a dancing volcano and pride and passion pour over the crowded rows of spectators like lava. The encounter of the sexes whips up to an erotic Duell d'amour.... In effervescent solos, the dancers hurl their passion at the feet of the Señora and to their public." – Schwäbische Post (Germany) ***

 "Without doubt, Maria Serrano is an impressive sight. Full of perfection and elegance and with a passion which radiates from both her body and her face. Whether emphatically slow or dazzlingly fast, her movements are precise and extremely expressive, right down to the tips of her fingers..... Entre Flamencos starts off as modern and rather cool before it increases during the course of the evening to an ecstatic Flamenco Festival." -  Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) ***

 No exaggerated stories, no electronic droning music but a simple, impressive Show. The greater part of the danced show, which includes long, purely musical segments consists of rigorous, extreme choreographic group scenes, in which the dancers move - almost like Riverdance – as a perfect synchrony of a clattering Ensemble...... Then at the very end, the Serrano finally does put on a Flamenco dress and dances a solo which has yet to find its equal. These are good people and this Flamenco Revue will cause a sensation."  - Stuttgarter Zeitung.(Germany) ***

 "Gangster outfit with black trouser-suit and wide-brim hat presented by the Serrano and sixr dancers.  A gentle start not yet revealing the flamenco fireworks that followed…. One and a half hours of flamenco in perfection, what a thrill! This was a flamenco way of life danced to the full on the stage." - Reutlinger Generalanzeiger (Germany) ***

 "Equality of rank is and remains the theme of the evening. Amazingly modern for flamenco where males and females normally perform as bipolar forces and would often serve fixed clichés…. "Entre flamencos" gives Spanish dance the stuff for progression. The company demonstrates that flamenco can be danced even on stools  holding up the machismo attitude  to the audience's ridicule." - Stuttgarter Nachrichten (Germany) ***

Compañía Maria Serrano presents:

RITMO Flamenco-Cubano

The Piercing Power Of Flamenco Meets Cuban Sensuousness - “A thrill for eyes and ears.”

RITMO is a homage to rhythm and unites fiery flamenco with Cuban music and rhythm. The 90-minute dance show is focussed on the Spanish flamenco queen Maria Serrano. Together with her 19-member ensemble consisting of Andalusian and Cuban dancers and musicians, the Sevillan presents the story of an encounter in dancing. RITMO is passionate, exuberant, wild and seductive – an iridescent circle of dances. Bulerías, tangos and alegrías meet with sones, habaneras and guajiras, the piercing power of flamenco meets Cuban sensuousness. The world première at the Bienal de Arte Flamenco in Seville and shows all over Europe saw the dancers and musicians of the Compañía Maria Serrano celebrated with standing ovations.

The Flamenco dance theatre show produced by the Cuban director and scriptwriter Tomás Gonzales is interpreted not only in terms of dance but also in terms of music, and the action is sung analogously to the modern musical by the Spanish and Cuban singers. The choreography is created by a team. Manolo Marín, one of Spain´s most famous and acknowledged Flamenco choreographers and the Cuban choreographer Lázaro Noriega, who has been awarded numerous international prizes. The Spanish Flamenco guitarist and composer José Luis Monton and the Cuban pianist Ramon Valle are responsible for the music.

The history:

Maria Serrano is going on a journey with her Compañía. Escaping from the past and in search for a new beginning the Flamenca arrives in Cuba. Fascinated and at the same time confused by Havana´s atmosphere, she lets herself be enchanted by the magic of the rhythms there. Cuba is the right place at the right moment. At dance auditions the first meeting between the two cultures takes place. In a very spontaneous way the Cubans change all the plans of the Spaniards and immediately make a Fiesta out of the event. Everything goes wild. Flamencos start fighting with Cubans, but also among themselves. Within the area of conflict of machismo, passion, love, jealousy, faith and the common history they are getting closer. Rhythm makes the floodgates open wide.

Press reviews on RITMO:

"More triumphant is hardly conceivable“ - Stuttgarter Zeitung (Germany)

„Maria Serrano and those Cubans   emit  sparkling enthusiasm." El País (Spain)

"RITMO takes the shine out of anything that  has so far been trying to catch the audience  through a flamenco show. - Frankfurter Neue Presse (Germany)

"No time to recover your breath during those 90 minutes of RITMO." -  ABC (Spain)

"The audience applauded  at the end like crazy." - Diario de Sevilla (Spain)

"RITMO is a furious audience-catching show." - Frankfurter Rundschau (Germany)

"The fusion experiment  brings about  a raging  encounter of two dancing nations thanks to  breath-taking techniques and unchained abandon." -  Nürnberger Nachrichten (Germany)

"Breath-taking  to see how the stage  blends sensuousness with pride, how

hammering feet drown in a  whirl of movements." - Die Welt (Germany)

"A brightly coloured dancing review  turned the concert  hall into a roaring musical hall…..Technical perfection, full of suspense and seductive eroticism." - Badische Neueste Nachrichten (Germany)

"With her dance show Maria Serrano created a devotion to rhythm…..

A  thrill for eyes and ears." - Generalanzeiger Bonn (Germany)

"A presentation of  modern dance choreography  forming a pleasing contrast with the folkloristic  round dance  touch of the traditional  flamenco scene." - Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)

Compañia Maria Serrano presents:
Balkan Flamenco

The spanish Flamenco wizard meets the hungarian cimbalom-virtuoso. Together with soloists of the Hungarian National Ballet and members of their companies - 14 artists from Spain and Hungary on stage

“Flamenco meets Balkan Gypsy Music” is the subtitel of the project that Maria Serrano realized together with the hungarian cimbalom virtuoso Kálmán Balogh. for the the prestigious Budapest Spring Festival in Hungary. Both new each other in the 90^th when they where selected to be part of André Hellers production “Magneten”. Together they where touring for several month through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. For their exiting new project “Flamenco meets Balkan Gypsy Music” they united 14 dancers and musicians from Spain and Hungary:

Dolores Castillo and her partner Solti Csaba are both solists of the Hungarian National Ballet with a wide range of experiences with hungarian dance. Dolores Castillos father was spanish, so she is very exited about this cooperation. Javier Sanchez danced as Maria Serrano´s partner in productions like FlamenTango and CARMEN. Zoltán Lantos is a violin virtuoso with a classical education at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and 9 years of studies in India. He played on several international jazz- and worldmusic festivals with musicians like Charlie Mariano, Renaud Garcia-Fons or Didier Lockwood. The singer and guitarist Gusztáv Balogh toured with traditinal gipsy music all over Europe. With his band Nomada his is searching new sounds and musical fusions. The saxophon player Mihály Borbély studied classical clarinet and jazz saxophon at the Béla Bartók Conservatory and the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy. He toured world wide playing playing folk and world music, jazz and contemporary music with musicians like Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano or Trilok Gurty. The flamenco guitarist Rafael Montilla toured for many years worldwide with the Company of Paco Peña. He studied guitar in his hometown Cordoba. The pianist José Maria Gago studied music in Jerez de la Frontera. He is member of the Compañia Maria Serrano since 2004 and toured worldwide with the productions CARMEN and FlamenTango. Inma “La Carbonera” Rivero is the female voice of the Compañia Maria Serrano. She also works with the band of Spains shooting star Falete. Flamenco singer Quisco de Alcala (Francisco Javier Rodriguez Ramos) is her partner. He is one of the best cantaores of his generation. Pablo Pradas is bassplayer and guitarist. He played with many flamenco, jazz and popgroups in Andalucia.  The percussionist Andrej Vujicic was born in Belgrad and lives since many years in Sevilla. He played with famous flamenco ensembles like the Familia Montoya.

Alba & Maria Serrano
present:
Intuition Flamenca

Maria Serrano´s eruptive force meets the classical elegance of her sister Alba: a sensual and intuitive approach to contemporary flamenco

18 years ago Maria Serrano had been discovered by the Austrian director André Heller for his show "Magneten", that brought together gipsy´s from all over the world. Within very short time the young flamenco dancer became one of the stars of the Heller-ensemble. Since then, the "volcanic event" (André Heller) fascinated audiences on stages all around the globe with her art of flamenco-dancing. During this time her sister Alba Serrano was born and discovered from early on, “the boards, that mean the world”. The parents had to work, so Maria Serrano took her little sister already as baby with her on tour. Every once in a while it used to happened that Alba had her siesta in the guitar case during the rehearsals. Hardly three years old little Alba insisted to dance with her sister in the encores at the end of the shows on stage.

Alba Serrano is now 18 years old and after 12 years of intensive studies, she completed the Conservatory of Professional Dance in Seville. And it pushes her onto the stage. Together with her sister Maria she created the show "Intuition" - a sensual and intuitive approach to contemporary flamenco. Starting from two completely different ways to study the universe of flamenco, the two dancers meet each other, orbiting one another. The dance styles merge, the sisters get one, and then suddenly with the eruptive force of their temperaments both are being t hrown again into their individual tracks. The intensity in Intuición nourishes itself from the completely different backgrounds and approaches of the flamenco dancers, but also from the intuitive harmony between the sisters. In the field of tension between the eruptive force of Maria Serrano and the classical elegance of her sister Alba "Intuition" celebrates contemporary flamenco in all its facets and on the highest level.

With the age of six Maria Serrano´s parents decided to send her to a dance school, initially against her will, in order to learn how to dance Sevillanas.In Seville almost an obligation where everybody is dancing Sevillanas.When the course came to his end, little Maria had caught fire. She insisted to continue with flamenco. As within the parental home always lacked money, Maria began very early to earn money with small gigs in order to be able to finance her flamenco classes. Always accompanied by her grandfather, the patriarch of the family, she danced already with 12 years in the best-known tablaos of Seville, because of being still a child equipped with a special permission. Among others she worked several years with the famous Familia Montoya. Maria Serrano lived and learned flamenco from the first steps on being on stage. (detailed biography and press see below)

Alba Serrano's career could hardly be more different. Her sister Maria was always an incentive and example for her. Alba wanted to be a dancer, from the beginning, without compromise. But when her dream finaly became true and she was incorporated with six years into the Conservatory of Dance in Seville, she hardly became to see her big sister anymore. Maria
Serrano was still constantly on tour. Alba's reality on the other hand was, in the morning the normal school, then she had to rush home for lunch and immediately after it with the car of her father to the conservatory. Depending on the traffic at least a half hour drive, but very often more. Then four to six hours dancing lessons, every day. Clasical Spanish dance, ballet, dance and music theory and so on. Flamenco only every once in a while. Finalized the lesions in the conservatory her father picked her up again. At home there was always some homework waiting and then she went directly to bed. There was no time to play. Her parents every once in
a while tried to convince her to leave the conservatory, because it seemed to much. But there was no way, Alba wanted to dance and nothing else. So she continued like this for 12 years.
Alba and Maria Serrano are accompanied by four musicians from the Compañia Maria Serrano. – Luis Amador (guitar), David Bermudez (piano/perc.), Tom Auffahrt (bass), Quisco de Alcala (cante).

Maria Serrano: Maria del Mar Serrano Rebollo, „Maria Serrano“, was born in Seville (Spain). From her earliest childhood on she was taught flamenco by Seville's best and most famous flamenco teachers. José Galván, Los Gitanillos de Bronce, Juan Manuel, Farruco, to name just a few, very soon recognised her sensitivity and power. Very soon she travelled half the world
with famous ensembles such as Meme Menjibar, Javier Barón, Carmen y Carmelilla Montoya, Antonio "El Pipa". In 1993 André Heller chose her for his production "Magneten" and in that show she enchanted the audience in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for six months. The Austrian "NEWS" even named her the "Voodoo Queen" of flamenco. In the years 1995 until 1998 Maria Serrano was touring with different companies all over Europe For the Bienal de Arte Flamenco 2000 in Sevilla she founded for the first time the time her own company: the Compañia Maria Serrano and presented in a premiere “RITMO Flamenco-Cubano”. Choreographer was an good old friend: Manolo Marin, one of the most renowned in his field. In 2001 the company produced “Entre Flamencos” and in 2002 Maria Serrano presented for the first time her own interpretation of the Carmen myth. In 2004 followed “FlamenTango” which had been presented for the first time on the prestigious Budapest Spring Festival. In 2007 presented for the first tima a solo performance called “Flamenco por derecho” and the show “Balkan Flamenco” together with Hungarian musicians and dancers from the Hungarian National Ballet. Since the foundation the Compañia Maria Serrano has toured in countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, Rumania, Norway, Northern Irland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ukrania, Turkey, Finland, Denmark, Netherland, Taiwan, Macedonia, Poland,
Mexico and Italy.

Reviews on 'Intuicion´:

"It's an evening with striking lots of subtile nuances, which open us the eyes within the intense dialogue of the Serrano sisters' eyes for the fine details of this dance. Even when they dance unison with each other Maria and Alba find spaces for their very personal expressions. You can see the fact that the big sister is an experienced stage animal in each of her gestures: she has the size to reduce her movements to the absolutely essential. While the younger, celebrates with a lot of elegance and style this typical flamenco hand turns, the ´Floreos´. Marias´s movements seem to come from deep inside, while Alba appears more distant apparently cooler,
the one always lightly bent forwards, deeply rooted and connected to the elements, the other one dances smooth and elegant - and yet the two operate in the most beautiful synchronicity. " (Stuttgarter Nachrichten/Germany)

"The face of this women reflects pride, every muscle of her body radiates power and energy. And so even the simple rising from a chair becomes art.At least if the Spanish flamenco dancer Maria Serrano celebrates it. ... The speed is as impressive as the precision, when Maria and Alba Serrano alternate in furious dance duels and find together in precise duets, driven by the sound of the four musicians. "(Stuttgarter Zeitung/Germany)

"Where Maria Serrano exudes her passion pure and direct, Alba Serrano lets it bubble long time under the surface, before you finally can have a look behind the proud facade. Especially the duos of the sisters, where they play with parallels and reflections, with all this precise rhythmic compatibility and all this intuition life from this fascinating contrast, which exposes the whole range and diversity of this traditional Spanish dance style, "(Reutlinger General Anzeiger/Germany)

Press reviews on Maria Serrano:

"Maria Serrano is an all-present dancer who knows the secrets of flamenco." – El Pais. *** She overwhelmed the audience at the completely sold-out Beethoven hall with the power and vitality of her dancing." – Stuttgarter Nachrichten. *** "The queen of flamenco." – Die Welt. "A volcanic phenomenon." – Berliner Morgenpost.*** "The demon of the dance." – Stuttgarter Nachrichten. "Maria Serrano – the voodoo queen of flamenco." – News, Vienna. "Maria Serrano herself is an exceptional figure." – Wiesbadener Tagblatt.***"A furioso of movements" – Dresdener Neueste Nachrichten. "Maria Serrano celebrates flamenco at its best," - Petra. "Maria Serrano made ice melt." – Neue Ruhrzeitung "Maria Serrano dances with an elementary passion and power,her exploding crescendi are captivating and overwhelming." - Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung***"Maria Serrano dances with utmost abandon and expression." – Berliner Kurier***"The Serrano really has got oomph". – Der Kurier, Vienna