Finale with a flourish

The unprecedented tableau style tour of hot Fairbanks night spots and less expected venues concluded with an elegant flourish at Mile 229 Parks Restaurant in Denali Sunday night. It was a fitting finale to a historic experiment by FCA director Anne Biberman in outreach to both Fairbanks musical audience and institutions such as the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theater.

The show was a benefit for Denali Arts and Humanities Alliance and the FCA outreach partnership. DAHA director Kris Capps could not have been more pleased at the near sell-out of the venue.  "Obvious the community supports the presentation of talented performers in the Denali Borough," Capps said. 

Fairbanks Concert Association Executive Director Anne Biberman concurred.  "This benefit for Denali Arts was really successful.  As an event it was so vibrant.  It was such a great time, and there were a good number of attendees new to Mile 229 Restaurant.  In many ways our most successful piece.", Biberman said.  "[The event] gave us much to think about in terms of performance in a small space. The entire Calo Flamenco residency provided valuable experience with which to consider future touring residencies."

The two sets of flamenco dance, song and guitar were intermingled between the appetizer, the main course and desert, creating a night of world class food and world class performance among the tall pines, majestic views and traditional Alaskan hospitality of Denali.

The performance opened with the unique introduction of all three dancers, Martin Gaxiola, Lena Jácome and Bernadette Gaxiola, sporting castanets.  Although the castanet is generally associated with Spanish dance in American understanding it is not specifically a part of the traditional Flamenco lexicon. The addition is a distinctly Calo Flamenco touch. The friendly confines Mile 229 Parks Restaurant precluded those in the back from seeing the footwork of flamenco, but that was only a means to focus on the power of the dance itself.

In a spontaneous example of innate showmanship, Artistic Director Martin Gaxiola floated off stage late in the second set, propelled by a complex flamenco tap pattern maintained with minimal body movement down the narrow corridor between the tables, much to the enjoyment of the crowd.  When he sat down at a chair and hoisted a wine glass in salute to the audience, still maintaining his footwork, it was a virtuoso example of why Calo Flamenco is such an engaging act in tableau.

After the now-expected standing ovation, Gaxiola invited FCA Executive Director Biberman, DAHA Director Capps and others to join him in an impromptu flamenco dance jam onstage.

For the dance company, the main course was — ho-hum — just another exceptional performance, but desert proved to be an Alaskan specialty.  As soon as the load-out could be completed, the troupe hastily embarked on a tense deadline-beating drive through swirling snow over dark and icy roads to Sophie's Station to gather bags and just make the red-eye to their native Phoenix.

Vaya con dios, Calo Flamenco.

You warmed hearts in Fairbanks.