Shadow Dancers

Santa Fe’s EmiArte opens flashy new production

“People are always asking me what the story was behind the show is, and that got me thinking that this should be a story you can relate to, regardless of experience, age or language. So this is going to express all the emotions,” flamenco artist La Emi tells SFR. “I want them to feel it. Falling in love, heartbreak, suffering, joy, concentration and beauty. All of the emotions are on display here.”

There’s a great freedom in seeing a flamenco show like the kind from EmiArte. Call it audience autonomy or creative freedom, but La Emi and company want to keep the audience in control of how they interpret the show. Frankly, you can’t really do it wrong—and newly added stage effects might even make your interpretations more colorful, though this dance company doesn’t seem overwhelmed in the slightest. For the cast and crew, the new technical marvels in their live show is just another step in a direction they’ve always been heading. These modern elements range from a new lighting set-up to help intensify shadows to a smoke machine for dreamlike sequences. New handmade costumes from Maria Sena add fiery satin flair, too, and a number of new props hail straight from the motherland—handmade fans from Valencia being just one example.

If you’re eager to see old favorites, don’t fret. Dixon-born musical master Vicente Griego and his band return to play rumbia flamenca. And, of course, there is La Emi herself. As a homegrown star born and raised in Santa Fe, her passion for dance has led to near-yearly travels to Spain for tutelage under the world’s most renowned dancers. Because of this, she says, audiences will never need to take their focus off the traditional elements that make up the beloved peninsular dance; and skilled production folk from both the Lensic Performing Arts Center and AMP Concerts are helping build the show.

“We want to make it visually satiating. We want the audience to eat up the show,” La Emi continues. “This debut of our brand-new show is a big stepping-stone for our company. A lot people have seen our growth as artists and producers. I’m proud to be from New Mexico, and my vision is to provide year-round work with New Mexico artists. The majority of [the working crew] are from here. I personally think success takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and I’m very blessed.” (Riley Gardner)

EmiArte Summer Flamenco Series: 8 pm Saturday, July 9. $25-$55. 750 N St Francis Drive, emiarteflamenco.com

Alex 2: Electric Boogaloo

Alex Maryol emerges from the earlier parts of the pandemic with recommitment to jamming all sick

You’d think you’d know a local musician like Alex Maryol after so many years of live performance, record releases and general Santa Famous presence, but the early-pandemic lockdowns played a huge role in his doubling down on his craft. He’s practically a new performer.

“The last two years I’ve had a lot of time to just be at home and basically go on a forced woodshedding,” the downright beloved blues-rock guitarist and singer tells SFR. “What else are you going to do when you’re home all the time?”

Making lemonade from lemons, Maryol says, was all about relearning to sing from the start (breath control) and getting back into a guitar-practice regimen. He’d play often before COVID-19, he says, but he wasn’t as committed to practicing in his off-time as he’d once been. That’s no longer the case, and with a bevy of new or sharpened skills under his belt, Maryol is ready to get back into regular appearances. The timing is right, too, as Maryol’s last album, 2020′s In the Meantime, came out just before the lockdowns. He’ll have brand new songs, too, both at his solo performance this weekend at El Rey Court, and at his Plaza show later this summer with his full band.

“I did a lot of writing and basically focused on new songs and getting my guitar and voice skills better,” he says of the last two years. “I wrote probably about 40 new songs—which doesn’t mean I know them, but that’s why I’m playing out: You write them, then you have to learn them. But I know I can get them to the next level.” (Alex De Vore)

Alex Maryol: 7 pm Sunday, July 10. Freel El Rey Court, 1862 Cerrillos Road, (505) 982-1931

Return of the Boom-Bap

While the thought of attending the type of drum circle perpetrated by white dudes with dreads and those who’ve declared war on shoes sounds like a nightmare, the promise of syncopations, polyrhythms and just plain slapping drum work from Santa Fe’s Wassa Ensemble is another thing entirely. Led by the inimitable drum master Soriba Fofana, Wassa makes for one of those things you feel someplace deep in your gut—a primal call and response that highlights countless years of musical history, puts Africa’s contributions to global culture front and center and, honestly, just feels really great to witness. Find at the show examples of N’goni harp as well as percussion styles from numerous African countries. Feels good, man. (ADV)

Wassa Ensemble: 6 pm Thursday, July 7. Free. Santa Fe Plaza, 100 Old Santa Fe Trail, ampconcerts.org

Steaming Cup of Atoms

Sometimes you’re just trying to run a tea shop, but all your regulars are talking about building the most powerful weapon known to mankind over a nice jasmine green. It happened to Edith Warner, who famously ran a Los Alamos establishment frequented by scientists and engineers doing you know what. La Fonda’s Centennial Speaker Series includes memories from Ellen Bradbury Reid, who knew Warner—and J. Robert Oppenheimer—personally, and James Hopkins who witnessed the atomic bombings of Japan from the skies. In the program’s second half, filmmakers Bruce Gelfand and Alton Walpole take the stage to discuss their in-progress documentary about Warner and how her little tea shop and restaurant powered the folks behind the Manhattan Project. Why has the little adobe house at the Otowi Bridge continued to captivate so many memories? You’re damn right we’re about to find out. (RG)

Bridge to the Atomic Age: From Los Alamos to the House at Otowi Bridge: 2-4 pm Friday, July 8. Free. La Fonda Hotel, 100 E San Francisco St., lafondasantafe.com

Sprinting to Printing

How many printmakers are enough for you? Five? Ten? How about 50? OK, slow down now. Let’s start with 50, because 50 printmakers are in fact coming to town from all over the Southwest. These artists are set to join forces with local printmakers (such as Axle Contemporary) to create a heck of a showcase in the Railyard. See printings of fine art, various 3D prints and fabrics, even bring your own t-shirt to get a custom print. Not enough? Well, ABQ-based Herstory Print Collective is driving up to offer up their feminist-inspired collections, which use sticky foam as a basis. Etching, woodblock printing, silkscreens—it’s all there, ranging from fine art to street art. This is the biggest Printed Matter event yet. (RG)

Printed Matter #3: 10 am-4 pm Sunday, July 10. Free. Railyard Plaza and Shaded Structure, 1612 Alcaldesa St., axleart.com

A Good Old-Fashioned Face Melting

Let us all hand it to Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery for turning to the metal community with open arms and being all like, “Sure, you shredders can come in here and shred at the same place some dude with an acoustic guitar kicked out mellow jams last night!” And so that’s what the metal crowd did (and does), this time in the form of Metal Sunday (suck it, Metal Monday, we guess). On this particular bill, find local thrash-masters Street Tombs getting so heavy you feel it in your heart, while fellow locals Distorted Evil and Albuquerque’s Void Skull round out the rest of the bone-rattling, guitar chugging, double-bass drum ferocity. Hand to Satan, this one’s gonna make a believer out of anyone. Let it shred. (ADV)

Metal Sundays: 7 pm Sunday, July 10. $10. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 395-5135

Get Your Hands Dirty

Did you know Santa Fe groups Alas de Agua and Three Sisters Collective came together to take over a plot of land down there at Reunity Resources Farm? Well, they did, and we can tell you firsthand there’s something really satisfying about popping by the so-named Full Circle Farm to repot plants with the folks who make up those orgs. Three Sisters hosts the upcoming Native Nights, an chance for Indigenous people to learn about how they did it and how they continue to do it. Bring some gloves and a hat, maybe, and also some snacks, because you’re gonna get down and dirty. As for that feeling of accomplishment that comes after? Golden. Just don’t throw your weight around with the experts—they know what they’re doing. (ADV)

Native Nights @Full Circle Farm: 6 pm Monday, July 11. Free (Indigenous exclusively, please). Full Circle Farm, 2080 San Isidro Crossing, threesisterscollective.org

Brio on the Rio

Something in Con Brio’s musicality sounds very West Coast—which makes sense seeing as they’re a San Francisco band gracing us with their presence. Named for the Italian phrase meaning “with spirit,” they’re a blend of R&B, soul and funk with an energy that might rank as one of the highest to ever hit the Plaza Bandstand. And though Con Brio’s a little bit old-school, don’t worry, youths, they sound plenty modern, too. Local act Sille, the project of one Peyton Ellis, opens the show with classic jazz vocals. We recommend getting there a bit early to avoid the catastrophe that is parking downtown and to find a suitable spot on the Plaza to spread out. (RG)

Con Brio and Sille: 6 pm Tuesday, July 12. Free. Santa Fe Plaza, 63 Lincoln Avenue. ampconcerts.org