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Yaelisa and Jason McGuire, her guitarist husband, called El Rubio, started the New World Flamenco Series in Irvine, California, now held annually each August. This signifies that Yaelisa may be American, but man, she is serious!

Yaelisa is the daughter of Isa Mura, an intrepid dancer brightening the Old Spaghetti Factory Spanish nights back in the late ‘50's and early ‘60's. With other youthful San Franciscans smitten with Spanish flamenco, Mama Mura helped make North Beach atmosphere particularly wonderful.

Like Isa Mura, Yaelisa is medium-height, full-bodied, nothing to suggest a ballet dancer, except the grace in her arms which frequently outdoes said dancer type in fluidity. Beguiling filigree hand gestures are executed with tapering fingers which look as they experience the practical part of life. She plays a lot with her skirts, usually effective, and her pauses can speak volumes.

She has brought Andres Pena from Spain and featured the singing talents Felix de Lola and Miguel Rosendo. From Jerez de la Frontera, Pena is smallish and square, given to business style suit and tie apparently currently popular with Spanish male exponents. His barrel-hauling physique provides particular force to the bursts of movement and a gravity in place when executing intricate taconeo; his pitos are very strong and clear, his hand gestures firm and understated. When he pauses, it is closer to the mood of Millet’s Angelus figures in twilight than the haughty images of elaborately garmented baillerins. Pena worked magnetically with the two singers, who also enjoyed brief solos, everyone sensitively supported by McGuire.
 

The company women this season, Melissa Cruz, Christina Hall, Fanny Ara and Marina Elana,are the most skillful to date with at least three smiling with pleasure as they dance. They are physically more the same height,and though distinctive, similar in spirit, most residing in Spain and possess appearance credits with major contemporary flamenco exponents. The resulting assurance clearly shows.

What is most difficult about such programs is to reconcile the hallmark improvisation of flamenco with pieces set, an inevitable necessity in concert. This conflict showed most clearly with Melissa Cruz’ Lamento, lengthy enough that her tiring and touches of remembering sequences was obvious. She was preceded by Pas a Dos, where Christina Hall’s arms, pivots and personal pleasure were part of the pleasure. Fanny Ara, dark, sensual and alluring, thrusts her head forward unnecessarily and is fairly solemn about her dancing. The four women most excelled in the Caracolles, here called Cazuela de Pescado, featuring excessively large fans. Seen only with the ensembles Marina Elana was a dancer who could also have been effectively featured.

I hope Yaelisa and the Caminos Flamencos will be one of the first to return to the Performance Gallery when it reopens the end of 2008.