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)