Flamenco in Bilbao: Sara Baras is Carmen at the Teatro Arriaga

Next Tuesday, the 2nd of December, the students of Instituto Hemingway have a flamenco date at the Arriaga Theatre. Sara Baras and her company are returning to Bilbao to interpret one of the most represented and world-famous Spanish myths: Carmen.

We will meet at Instituto Hemingway’s office at 7:30 pm and from there we will go to the Arriaga, just five minutes from the school. The show starts at 8pm and we will be able to enjoy the essence of flamenco courtesy of Sara Baras.

Sara Baras is now an obligatory annual fixture in the calendar of cultural events that we organise here at Instituto Hemingway. These events aim to allow students to become more familiar with Spanish culture. Completing the curriculum with activities of this quality is definitely worth it.

In 2002, Sara Baras came to the Arriaga Theatre to play Juana I de Castilla, a passionate and intense figure; in 2003, she performed the role of Mariana Pineda, a philanthropist and a fighter; and now, in 2008, she is returning, this time as Carmen, a free and genuine spirit, whose attitude as a woman is synonymous with life. Three women, all with one thing in common: love. Three stories that flow together in a single artist: Sara Baras.

Passion and disillusionment are present in Carmen, but unconstrained by stereotypes, since Sara Baras’ Carmen is made from pure force, feeling, and above all greatness. Although the dance is dramatic, the artist does not wish to tell the famous story of the gypsy cigar-maker, preferring instead, in her own words, “to develop the character through a certain poetic abstraction, which preserves the mystery and leaves the audience’s imagination to run its own course”.

Sara Baras’ Carmen keeps her head held high when courted by ‘guest dancers’: José Serrano in the role of the bullfighter Escamillo and Luis Ortega playing Don José, the lover whose jealousy eventually drives him to kill her.