whisks her away to the Land of
the Majas (the Spanish version of
the Land of the Sweets), where
she is rewarded with a display of
colorful and exciting flamenco
and folkloric dances from Spain performed with live guitar music
and singing - along with fusion
dances with Spanish and Arabic
movements, and folkloric dances
from Mexico and Ecuador. Every
year, Alborada changes some of
the dances seen by Clarita during
her dream, so new, exciting choreographies will always be seen.
A wonderful aspect of this production is its talented young artists. Students of Ms. Botalico are
trained by her starting in the early
fall and auditioned for the production. Especially gratifying to
her is the growth of students in
one particular family – the Baum
family of Hopewell, NJ. Their
son Navruz, now 16, has danced
as the young Matador since this
show premiered in 2007. His sister Quetzal has also performed in
the show since its inception and
New Jersey Stage
played the lead role of Clarita in
2013; their younger sister Paz
joined the show in 2008. Like
traditional Nutcracker ballets, the
students benefit from gaining performance experience on-stage
with the Alborada company’s professional artists, including learning
how to dance with live accompaniment - guitar music and singing.
Two of the professional dancers
include guest flamenco artist Peter Suarez, who has traveled from
Florida annually to dance as the
King Bull, and Alborada principal
dancer Ricardo Santiago dancing
as the adult Matador. Alborada
principal dancers Lisa Botalico as
the Queen Maja, and Eva Lucena
as Tia María round out the principal artists of this production.
All of these elements - vibrant
Spanish dance, colorful and authentic costumes and stage set,
live guitar music and singing,
castanets – bring a bit of Spain to
benefit not only the central New
Jersey community, but also the
greater community at large.
November 2014
pg 140