A flamenco storm

Keren and Avner Pesach are debuting 'Remangar2 Live,' which combines traditional Spanish dance and music with contemporary emotions.

By HELEN KAYE
Keren and Avner Pesach 88 248 (photo credit: Eyal Landsman)
Keren and Avner Pesach 88 248
(photo credit: Eyal Landsman)
In flamenco-talk, "remangar" is that magical moment in which body and soul swoop together, focused for the dance. It's also the name flamenco artists Keren and Avner Pesach have given to their company and their new show. Remangar2 Live opens at Rappaport Hall in Haifa on February 17. It's an 80-minute pure flamenco explosion of solos, duets, vocals and company numbers in which traditional Spanish flamenco effortlessly absorbs our own time and emotions. The dances range from Dreams, in which a man dreams of his true love, performed by the whole company - dancers, singers and guitarists - to Encounter, which allows the awesomely virtuoso Pesach to improvise. The ability to improvise - and to carry the audience right along with the dancer - "is at the heart of flamenco," says Avner Pesach. Keren has lived flamenco since the age of 11. Avner started out as a flamenco guitarist, turning to the dance when he injured a finger. The couple met in Madrid, where both studied at the Amor de Dios Academy, then danced with the Paco Mora company for a year. Two years ago, the Pesachs returned to Israel with their year-old son, Juan Yarden, after 10 years in Spain; they started building their company - all of whose members also studied and worked in Spain. There are six more dancers, three singers and two guitarists. Juan is named after Los Farrucos patriarch Juan el Moreno, who died of a stroke onstage at age 40. The Farrucos were the most famous gypsy flamenco troupe in Spain and "our dream was to study with them," says Karen, so in 1999 the Pesachs moved to Seville and stayed for some eight years. In 2003, Keren was invited to join the company, and she toured the world with it. Oh yes. Little Juan is now three, and dances up a flamenco storm. Aside from the Haifa performance, there will be one at Suzanne Dellal in Tel Aviv on February 24 and one at the Jerusalem Theater on February 26. All performances are at 9 p.m.