Hot performances at MonteLago Village Floating Stage
SEPTEMBER 15 WAS one of two nights of "Spanish Nights" performances. Spanish-style dancers and musicians created an exhilarating montage of Flamenco, Moorish and Gypsy influenced Flamenco. An opening segment of instrumentals was followed by individual dances with yet another set of musicians. Three male singers accompanied the show's musicians, numbering from five to seven on stage throughout, masters of the flute or saxophone, congas, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, and percussion/drums. Add to that, five female and three male Flamenco dancers, in their own segments and "Spanish Nights" fills the night air with passion, fervent dancing and eloquent instrumentals. 16 world-renowned Flamenco singers, dancers, and musicians made each of the two shows unique, featuring different artists both evenings.
Saturday's stirring version of the weekend's two shows was constructed of layers of energy and intricate technique, finally bringing the audience to their feet repeatedly. These rare shows are an ethnically important grouping of talent—some of the best in our country. Well-attended, an encore event is needed for those who missed these shows.
Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos held the stage, with famed Jesus Montoya's haunting vocals creating a mood seldom found on stage here in our desert cultural milieu. Guitarists, world renowned, as well, were Adam del Monte, Pedro Cortes and Jason 'El Rubio McGuier.' The enthusiasm and tension built relentlessly, as each dancer and singer presented increasingly difficult and stirring work. Their dancing styles varied, and each seemed better than the previous. Yet, the best was still to come.
The show's highlight was the precision dances of Omayra Amaya, Grandniece of international Flamenco icon, Carmen Amaya. Omayra's gripping mastery of form is seen in her every flourish and flawless stance. Her light-speed, intricate steps rival her mesmerizing hand movements, her wrists twisting in beautiful pirouettes of their own. I had to watch one or the other, alternately, or simply watch the whole for the overall effect.
Sustained, staccato foot stepping, is a signature of Flamenco dancing. Omayra, as did Carmen before her, lifts these movements to spinning sculpture, alive and exalting. A new appreciation of Flamenco is the only outcome. Everyone came to their feet several times during her performance.
Her flair, her speed, her own style evident, Omayra is a special visit as the present Flamenca, an extension and elaboration of the previous reigning Flamenca, Carmen. For us, the performance is a living insight of the modern Flamenco dance movement, revitalized by Carmen in the early nineteenth century. Omayra's presence is palpable on stage; her dancing is sometimes for the audience, or the musicians, interacting with the cantor. Mostly, her dancing reveals an inner passion, her face introspective and noble, herself lost to the music and lyrics of remote mountains and thorny brambles, lost loves and hardship. She is the virtuoso embodiment of her Great Aunt, Carmen Amaya.
No small claim to fame, as Carmen Amaya is the acknowledged premiere Flamenco artist of this cultural form, rooted in Catalonia, Spain. I included some notes below of her life and times. She was born a gypsy, and like a gypsy, she traveled the world, performing and winning hearts, from royalty to huge anonymous audiences, accompanied by her father José, her brother Paco, her sister Leonor, as well as extended family and relatives. She was a woman out-of-time, as she adopted the ferocious, high impact dance steps normally confined to Flamenco male dancers and blended it with her own stylish dancing. Add a pair of pants and a jacket, when other female Flamenco dancers still wore dresses—and a new Flamenco era dawned in the twenties, flourishing on stages worldwide.
Omayra, who also forgoes dresses, appeared in black pants and satin vest, dress white shirt, her long hair pulled back with a brilliant red silk flower clip. You don't miss a move when the fluff of fabric is removed from the equation. Her feet pounded the stage, her hands clapping to the musical strains. Omayra was brilliant—she truly lives her heritage.
A return visit by her is much needed. We must all watch for her. Some of the dancers are locals, and some even teach. Flamenco is alive and well in Las Vegas, and another wonderful ethnic heritage is added to the many already entrenched cultures in Las Vegas.
Another wonderful evening outdoors
It is hard to beat a color-soaked sundown, outdoors, at Lake Las Vegas. Our desert is cooling, the late summer evenings are sublime, the after-dark temperatures stable and comfortable. A cool breeze off the lake riffles the air, redolent with the smells of desert, water and food, combining in a distinctive MonteLago Village perfume. Add in high quality entertainment and you have an evening par Excellance. Whenever we go to a show at the Village, we find our seats and then slip over to 'Tutti Gelati' a small parlor full of mouth-watering displays of Sorbets and Gelatos. A few steps from the floating stage, you can be knoshing on Gelato, getting in some people-watching while waiting for the performance to begin.
As a last comment: The ambience of the Village is perfect—the only thing that mars these events is the stage itself—stage level needs to be raised 4 or 5 feet, to allow for better viewing, as the near seating is also on the flat dock. The premium seat audience is constantly shifting to see around those in front of them, as they move their heads from side to side to see around the people in front of them. Nighttime lighting diminishes the viewing the further away you sit, although sitting on a blanket on the upper lawn looks inviting. If the show requires you see the performer's feet, avoid the VIP floating stage seating.
Notes: Omayra Amaya, began dancing with her parents, often stealing the show. She performed her first choreographed dance designed for her at age 12. Traveling the world, visiting with and learning from her homeland relatives in Spain, earning a BFA in dance and choreography from the Boston Conservatory in 1993, she then founded 'Amaya, Flamenco Sin Limites' in 1994, garnering rave reviews about her program which mixed modern Spanish, World Beat music with traditional Flamenco dance forms. Omayra has established schools in Boston, New York and New Mexico, performed with many notable artists and currently operates 'Omayra Amaya Flamenco Dance Company & School' in Miami, Florida.
Carmen Amaya (1913–1963), born in the slums of Sommorrostro, Spain. She began dancing as a child, various ages of 4–7 are cited, however she began dancing in Catalonian taverns, with her father El Chino, singing for her. She is considered by most to be the greatest Flamenco dancer of all time. With her stylish work exceeding anything in previous flamenco artistry, she redefined and brought new life to Flamenco. After appearing at Carnegie Hall in 1941, President Roosevelt invited her to the White House. Paco Sevilla wrote a book on her entitled "Queen of the Gypsies."
Her revisionist flamenco stylings are memorialized in such movies as Maria de la O in 1939 and Los Tarantos in 1963, her last film before succumbing to kidney failure. She is buried in her homeland at Cementerio de Santander Cantabria Cantabria, Spain, in her husband's Familiar Pantheon plot.
On esflamenco.com her autobiography begins: "Carmen Amaya is one of the legends of flamenco dancing. She was a genius who revolutionized dancing as it used to be at the time. She also used to sing, but her skills as a bailaora eventually eclipsed her dimension as a cantaora. She never studied in a dance school. Her only teacher was her instinct. Her school was the street, where she sang and danced to earn some money. From the street, she went on to theatres, and from these she went on to the great stages in Madrid, in a meteoric rise, with a style and attitude that had never been seen before."
For more information about Lake Las Vegas, call (877) LLV-LAKE (558-5253), or visit www.lakelasvegas.com or Andrea Day, Lake Las Vegas Resort, (702) 564-1600 and aday@lakelasvegas.com.
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Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos held the stage, with famed Jesus Montoya's haunting vocals creating a mood seldom found on stage here in our desert cultural milieu. Guitarists, world renowned, as well, were Adam del Monte, Pedro Cortes and Jason 'El Rubio McGuier.' The enthusiasm and tension built relentlessly, as each dancer and singer presented increasingly difficult and stirring work. Their dancing styles varied, and each seemed better than the previous. Yet, the best was still to come.
Her flair, her speed, her own style evident, Omayra is a special visit as the present Flamenca, an extension and elaboration of the previous reigning Flamenca, Carmen. For us, the performance is a living insight of the modern Flamenco dance movement, revitalized by Carmen in the early nineteenth century. Omayra's presence is palpable on stage; her dancing is sometimes for the audience, or the musicians, interacting with the cantor. Mostly, her dancing reveals an inner passion, her face introspective and noble, herself lost to the music and lyrics of remote mountains and thorny brambles, lost loves and hardship. She is the virtuoso embodiment of her Great Aunt, Carmen Amaya.
No small claim to fame, as Carmen Amaya is the acknowledged premiere Flamenco artist of this cultural form, rooted in Catalonia, Spain. I included some notes below of her life and times. She was born a gypsy, and like a gypsy, she traveled the world, performing and winning hearts, from royalty to huge anonymous audiences, accompanied by her father José, her brother Paco, her sister Leonor, as well as extended family and relatives. She was a woman out-of-time, as she adopted the ferocious, high impact 
dance steps normally confined to Flamenco male dancers and blended it with her own stylish dancing. Add a pair of pants and a jacket, when other female Flamenco dancers still wore dresses—and a new Flamenco era dawned in the twenties, flourishing on stages worldwide.
Omayra, who also forgoes dresses, appeared in black pants and satin vest, dress white shirt, her long hair pulled back with a brilliant red silk flower clip. You don't miss a move when the fluff of fabric is removed from the equation. Her feet pounded the stage, her hands clapping to the musical strains. Omayra was brilliant—she truly lives her heritage.
A return visit by her is much needed. We must all watch for her. Some of the dancers are locals, and some even teach. Flamenco is alive and well in Las Vegas, and another wonderful ethnic heritage is added to the many already entrenched cultures in Las Vegas.
Reviews are © Carol Lane Patterson and reprinted with permission.
