Rebeca Tomás at Theater 80 St. Marks

(photo of Rebeca Tomás by Zita Bradley)

New York fans of the renowned Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca know Theater 80 St. Marks as an intimate, vest-pocket stage for a small audience. Performers can scale back and work with natural effects and subtlety. They need not strain to project.

This weekend, Rebeca Tomás—a masterful flamenco dancer who has appeared with Barrio in Noche Flamenca—is making her solo debut at Theater 80 with a 75-minute program called A Palo Seco. And, I guarantee you, it's a major debut because, for better or for worse, Tomás holds nothing back. Shreiks of joy from her opening-night audience argued that it's "for better."

I'm going to insist that you see Tomás, but this recommendation comes with a caveat.

Her choreography and performance—so exacting and clean, I'd choose her as my surgeon—both feel aggressively over-dramatized. Even her frequent smile looks tense and self-conscious. Much is made of her slight stature (5'1”), her low center of gravity, and she's truly a well-crafted explosive device. Power in a woman is beautiful, but the ability to share the variable intricacies of one's self with an audience should also be prized. By comparison, her A Palo Seco colleagues--Sol "La Argentinita" and Laura Castellano--dance like ordinary mortals, and bless them for that.

Flamenco artists have been messing with the traditional formula for some time now. Big props to Tomás for the unique, if perhaps not terribly risky, vision of Metamorphosis, the first half of which shows the diva seated at a piano, arrayed in a sweeping, midnight-black bata de cola, as she plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata—expertly, beautifully--accompanied by violinist Alí Bello and electric bass player Sean Kupisz. It's an unexpected, spellbinding prelude, a respite of serenity. And then she gets up and unleashes her particular brand of flamenco—to Regina Spektor's edgy “Apres Moi.”

Besides Bello and Kupisz, Tomás's musical ensemble includes musical director/guitarist Pedro Cortés, percussionist/singer Oscar Valero, and singers David Castellano and Bárbara Martínez. The ensemble's needless over-amplification and its initial New Agey approach felt alien. However, as the show proceeded, the musicians and singers displayed more supple skills and thrilling collaboration ranging from traditional flamenco to a graceful interpretation of “Over the Rainbow.” Valero's fiery percussion, throughout, was extraordinary.

A Palo Seco continues tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm.

Complete program information

Theater 80 St. Marks
80 Saint Marks Place, Manhattan (between 1st and 2nd Avenues)
212-388-0388  Online ticketing