By JULIE BLOOM
Martin Santangelo and Soledad Barrio represent an unusually productive pairing in dance. The founders of the Spanish company Noche Flamenca are at once choreographer and muse, director and performer, husband and wife.
They met in 1992 in dance studios in Madrid and since 1993 have been building one of the most highly regarded flamenco troupes in the world.
Their current program in New York, a traditional flamenco show with several new works, reveals a lot about their artistic and personal relationship. “Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca” opened recently at the Lucille Lortel Theater in Manhattan, where it runs through January 16.
“We go to rehearsal together; we’re taking care of the kids together; we go to bed, we talk about it; we wake up, we talk about it over coffee,” Mr. Santangelo said about the way their work and personal lives intertwine.
The couple, who married in 1995 and have two children, say they find that balancing family life and their commitment to their art is a constant challenge. “Sometimes it’s all so encompassing that it’s overwhelming,” Mr. Santangelo said.
Ms. Barrio, who is also a choreographer, agreed: “As someone who loves her work, it’s difficult to drop it at home. And we both love our work.”
Onstage Ms. Barrio is explosive and full of raw passion. Writing in The New York Times, the chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay has called her “an intensely dramatic dancer,” noting that her skilled footwork expresses “the brilliance and color of flamenco rhythm.”
Recently she and Mr. Santangelo settled into the balcony of the theater to talk about the show. Ms. Barrio, in an apple-green hoodie and straight brown hair that falls down to her shoulders, comes across as serious and reserved, whereas Mr. Santangelo is ebullient.
Even though they had arrived in the city just moments before from Spain, after a flight delay because of weather, knowing some of their company was still in transit and might not make it in time for the first performance, they were both surprisingly calm.
Together they exhibit a casual, spontaneous sensibility and often choose what pieces will be danced each night just a few hours before the performance. Ms. Barrio’s English is limited, and her husband translates for her in a way that suggests he’s discovering something new each time she speaks.
“Mi Sueno” is a simple love story told through a duet. It’s about a couple meeting, flirting and then finding something more profound ? the unity of two people. It is also the first piece that Ms. Barrio has choreographed in seven years that is not a solo.
“I’m always crying and doing tragic pieces, and this is a very happy piece,” she said.
“Flamenco is life. It’s my life, and I live it in a very internal way. I speak about myself when I dance, and I have moments that are happy.”
Ms. Barrio did not conceive “Mi Sueno” ( “My Dream”) in isolation; her husband plays an integral role in the company’s creative process.
Mr. Santangelo, a native New Yorker, former dancer and Noche Flamenca’s artistic director, produced the program, selected the dancers, guitarists and singers and choreographed three new pieces for the show. One, “Refugiados,” is based on poems written by international refugee children that Mr. Santangelo came across in a newsletter from the United Nations.
“I read them and I went, ‘Whoa, this is like flamenco,’ ” Mr. Santangelo said, “the sense of desperation, the sense of pride, in extremely dismal circumstances.”
ANDREA MOHIN/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Martin Santangelo and his wife, Soledad Barrio, formed the Spanish dance troupe Noche Flamenca. / CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES
