Pepin Review in Scottsdale Republic
October 1st, 2004

Pepin serves up flamenco
Latin dance likened to jazz

SCOTTSDALE - Martín Gaxiola is driven toward success, not unusual for a dancer.

I first spotted him doing the Spanish divertissement from The Nutcracker with Ballet Etudes, a company that guests annually with the Phoenix Symphony. This classical ballet work was masterfully intensified by his flamenco skills.

If you're in the mood for an outstanding evening of flamenco, Gaxiola and one or two flamenca dancers and musicians perform Friday and Saturday nights at Spanish restaurant Pepin in Scottsdale.

For the next two weeks Gaxiola, a 33-year-old Phoenix resident, will bring two of his key dancers from Calo Flamenco: Ballet de Martín Gaxiola, his professional company, to Pepin's stage. They're Bernadette Gaxiola, his older sister, and Amalia Duran. Since 1995, he has been performing at Pepin with his pre-professional group Zona Flamenca.

Calo Flamenco is a significant addition to the concert dance performance in the Valley.

Flamenco is entwined with the history of oppression, adding to its supplement of fire. Why? Unlike classical Spanish dance or popular social dances like salsa and tango, the less refined flamenco style was born out of the caverns that harbored gypsies.

Unlike classical Spanish dance, flamenco isn't composed of toreador posturing, castanets, furley dresses and dancing in partners, though those are people's expectations. Instead, Gaxiola says, viewers should connect with another art form, American jazz.

The dynamics of flamenco key off the lead dancer (Gaxiola) in "a basic jam session for the dancers." As Gaxiola describes it: "I create the bass rhythm and with it a feeling. The dancers are clapping an accompaniment . . . but (after establishing it) I don't maintain the bass line. I move to syncopated rhythms and counter-time. I tell the dancers, you are the musicians first. We are all creating the music here."

Once the tone is set, they improvise.

"The musical styles cover a range of emotions," Gaxiola says. "I'm encompassing everything that's happened to me that week. Flamenco requires a complete integration of my personal life into the movement."

The movements are dictated by the feeling behind them, he said.

You may have seen Gaxiola in a video, produced by Mike Sauceda, that has aired numerous times on public TV.

"It has helped to build some following for flamenco," says Gaxiola, as if this pounding, driven dance form weren't enough to attract attention to itself.

Roberta Burnett
Special for the Scottsdale Republic
Oct. 1, 2004 12:00 AM

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September, 2004