“… I am focused on creating new trends in order to evolve the Flamenco dance by fusing it with everything that the stage vocabulary has to offer – from the dramatic arts, to contemporary dance currents, to native rhythms“
Irene Rodríguez
“Rodríguez: energetic and forceful dancer of contemporary Flamenco”
The New York Times, 2019
Critical acclaim
“Rodríguez: energetic and forceful dancer of contemporary Flamenco”
“Rodríguez performed the finale solo, Amaranto, displaying an extraordinary level of physical stamina — an exclamation point that closed a fascinating and enriching festival testifying to the developing artistic prowess of the island nation.”
“But flamenco is the group’s specialty—as is showcasing Rodríguez, its fervent star.”
The cast that included the outstanding and eternally young Irene Rodriguez and her six secondary and magnificent dancers, offered the most. All the pieces were fascinating, but the two New York releases, El Mito and La Pena Negra, stole the show. Rodríguez developed the final solo: Amaranto, showing an extraordinary level of physical resistance, an exclamation point that closed a fascinating and enriching festival that testifies to the value and artistic development of the island nation.
“Featured at Joyce Theatre, the Compañía Irene Rodríguez closed the Cuba Festival season with a grateful standing ovation cheering the Spanish theatrical art references gathered within the program titled Más que flamenco/More than flamenco.”
“Ms. Rodríguez is an intense, exacting dancer; the word “fiery”, so overused with respect to flamenco, actually suits her well. Yet her studied expression was just one element of the show, of which she was the unequivocal star and which felt rehearsed to the point of dullness. (…) In the last piece, a solo, Ms. Rodríguez tapped into a spontaneity we hadn’t yet seen.”
“With Solera, a solo by Rodríguez…the night livened considerably. Rodríguez’s feet acted possessed as they rattled rapidly against the floor. She kept teasing the audience, pausing as if she had finished, and then dancing even more madly than before. Her whole body shuddered as her back foot tapped like a mechanical woodpecker on high speed. She slowly, in a sensuous manner, ran a hand down her long ponytail and then suddenly swung it high into the air and took off dancing again to the roar of the happy crowd. Before she walked toward the back of the stage and the lights dimmed, she dramatically arched backward and held that pose for a prolonged period. Through this solo, I understood Rodríguez’s greatness. Particularly as a soloist, she commands attention and deserves it.”
She is an interpreter, teacher and choreographer whose main objective is to rescue and highlight the different genres of Spanish dance, and who has innovated in dance with a new aesthetic, personal and modern concept.
With a sensual, vigorous and passionately theatrical performance at the Doris Duke Theater, Cuban dancer / choreographer Irene Rodríguez took the audience to her feet. Rodríguez describes his work as a “contemporary theater flamenco”, incorporating different styles of dance, theatrical effects, variety of music, poetry and narrative to enlarge, evolve and revitalize Spanish history in Cuba.
After his departure from the Carlos Piantini hall of the Eduardo Brito National Theater, after attending the musical show “Spanish Symphony of Classic to Flamenco” the attendees only made positive comments about it, praising it with words as excellent and sensational.
The magic, in short, which in this case is called Irene, which keeps the viewer tied to his seat with the desire that the function is prolonged and leaving the theater full of images and good omens.
The applause heard on Sunday in the Carlos Piantini hall of the Eduardo Brito National Theater, was the sound of the approval of the crowd to the show “Spanish Symphony, from Classical to Flamenco.
Impressive sample of a repertoire of the great classics of world music, a transition to flamenco loaded with magnetism, interpretative power and choreographic synchrony. And to be able to see the influence and the interpretive force of this woman, who at her young age is considered one of the best dancers of these times was a privilege for the soul of those who attended the show on Sunday night. the classic flamenco.
Gathering masterfully flamenco and contemporary dance, gestures, and, above all, a precision (almost clockwork) in each step to tell the feeling of the work, the group once again demonstrated that it is prepared with strength, guided by the impetuous dancer and director who leaves everything on stage when she dances, and encourages the collective.
We are in the presence of a young but very talented company, that of the hand of its excellent director show a solid work and high artistic-technical flight.
Rodríguez manages to structure a sober but clean and condensed narration in movements that refers masterfully to flamenco styles and to gestures with references to contemporary dance.
… despite its two and a half years of creation, it already occupies close-ups in this area of Cuban dance. This is demonstrated in the scene, because wherever it is presented leaves a pleasant trail of triumph and sonorous ovations.
It shows the tradition of our Spanish classical dance and, at the same time, makes a search for the avant-garde and the evolution of our dance.