Carmen & dance

STAGES AND PAGES
by Paula Citron

The year's mixed program
Ethnic dancers made further inroads into the mainstream...

"Gutsy flamenco choreographer/dancer Carmen Romero created a full-length show called Carmen Complex which looked at various aspects of Bizet's opera heroine. Set in a theatre, Romero's Carmen was a siren-cum-entertainer whose dangerous games led to her death. An imaginative aspect was her dance encounters with different styles of lovers that included National Ballet principal dancer Ryan Boorne as a shy stagehand, Argentinean tango dancer Ruben Bustamente as Escamillo, and her nemesis Don José portrayed by Spanish flamenco dancer Domingo Ortega."