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By Deirdre Towers/Follow @deirdre.towers on Instagram
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Published on May 13, 2026
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana; Photo: Steven Pisano
Choreographer Patricia Guerrero
Composer: Francis Gomez:
Dancers: Emilio Ochando, Lorena Franco, Fanny Ara, Rebeca Tomas, Jose Montes, Jesus Perona
Guitarists: Daniel Jurado, Pau Vallet
Singers: Manuel Soto, Loreto de Diego
Lighting Designer: Daisy Long
Costumes: Carmen la Mcarmelilla
April 21, 2026
An otherworldly hum overwhelms us for the opening and closing of Quinto Elemento, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana's 2026 scintillating offering at The Joyce Theater. With that sonic choice, the audience immediately expects a fresh take on this traditional art.
Six dancers stand alert, facing stage right in a somber space. One, then another, moves their fingers as though the air were palpable. The dancers seem transfixed by an invisible presence, acutely observant, as if they were participating in a seance.
The choreographer Patricia Guerrero from Granada, Spain, talks about "dark energy and finding a beauty within desperation." Yet, her work has a playful side, best revealed in Eternities, a female trio performed in black bata de colas by Lorena Franco, Fanny Ara, and Rebeca Tomas. Held high, the long ruffled skirts both conceal and reveal the women upon entering. This traditional flamenco costume, a holdover from the late 1800s, is explored as though it were a magician's cape.
The women fall to the ground, jerk forward, exhale and fall back again. The exquisite lighting by Daisy Long darkens the stage, silhouetting the musicians and allowing the three women to discard their skirts. Just as flamenco divas Rocio Molina and Olga Pericet have experimented with nudity, here Guerrero adds a discreet body flash.
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana in Quinto Elemento by Patricia Guerrero; Photo: Sari Makki
What was surprising was that much of the choreography was frontal, performed in unison. Guerrero is known for her angular experiments and mid-air leg suspensions, but this choreography is smooth, with familiar snippets of partnering. Aside from Eternities, the beginning and end, Quinto Elemento involves standard arm and hand gestures reaching up to pull back to the waist, immaculate footwork, heads snapping to the side and long straight spines.
That said, the work features some unconventional, fresh gestures. In unison, the dancers pump their right hand downward as though striking the floor with a cane. The group huddles, audibly exhaling, lifting their shoulders, and exhaling again and again, something you would see in a modern dance performance but rarely in a flamenco choreography. Emilio Ochando performs Orbit, swirling a manton (shawl) as though he is the mad bequeather of spirals; Gravity is personified in a duet performed by an elegant Jesus Persona and the sparky Jose Montes. Persona brings to mind a masculine style, less prevalent today, of a man who commands our respect by his inner strength and restraint.
An excellent vehicle for Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Quinto Elemento is at once traditional and mind-opening. One can’t help wondering, though, why the middle section of this piece looses the distinctive quality it has in the beginning.
