Suidy Garrido: Warm as Spanish sun

Suidy Garrido 

Suidy Garrido is warm. She is the flamenco dancer who is the sun of Spain, radiating a balminess that tickles one’s skin, but leaves one certain that she is capable of unleashing a scorching burn.
 
Certainly, she stands out as the bailaora with flair, but her show at MassMoCA on Saturday night showed that Garrido, her dancers and musicians are also polished and tight. Suidy Garrido Flamenco Company is refined, a group of hypnotists whom the audience was happy to fall under its precisely staged spell.
 
The shine of her woven 100-minute show was obvious in the four backup dancers who accompanied her. Their first appearance, dragging chairs behind them, rattled with synchronized stepping that framed Garrido and echoed her rapid foot falls Their dances with canes, fans and fringed shawls was also choreographed with exactitude. Garrido had everything in hand.
 
Garrido, of course, endearingly spun her own tale with a smile. The rapid polyrhythms pounded by her sole and heels demanded all attention. And of course, like all gorgeous bailaora, she topped her dancing with the arms that transformed her into a swan or butterfly. She flew above her raging feet.
 
Her musicians were impressive – especially guitarist Jose Luis de la Paz whose strumming sounded like three guitars. No one can get more from the wood and wire than he.
 
I liked that Garrido didn’t fall into the flamenco trappings. Aside from the lighting at the start, no one was dressed in the ubiquitous red, nor were there any castanets (however, I did miss them) and Magela Herrera’s flute played a strong role – transporting the listener to an ancient time. Garrido also ended the evening in slacks – not something one sees on American stages where audiences are used to seeing trains of ruffled skirts.
 
There were also no male dancers, which was also unfortunate. Her company, based in North Miami, does include them. But this version of her show appeared scaled down with fewer dancers, like a cost saving measure.
 
It was also difficult to see as the museum’s Hunter Center did not deploy its platform for raised seating. This was a terrible idea because to fully enjoy flamenco, or any type of dance for that matter, one should see the feet. There was some live video to accompany the dance, but it was infrequent. I stood up, when needed, in the back.
 
Regardless, the sights and sounds of Garrido and company was sweetly gratifying.