The second evening of the Florida Fort Myers Fringe Festival 2023 was on fire on Friday, June 2nd at the Alliance for the Arts. Flamencodanza! premiered at the Foulds Theatre at the Alliance for the Arts.

What a fabulous way to start a Friday night and the weekend! Flamencodanza! was presented by Aylin Bayaz and Raul Mannola. The pair ventured from Madrid, Spain to bring a performance packed with passion, elegance, inspiration and breathtaking beauty.

The evening opened with Mannola in a soft spotlight making magic happen on the guitar. You have never heard one play with such finesse and ease. The music he creates is mellow, soothing and inviting,almost haunting as it transports you away to somewhere in Spain where you are now one with the music. This trance continues on as the music begins to build with intense multi rhythms and a heartbeat of its own. We are then introduced to Bayaz as she enters the space. She exudes elegance, passion and fire. The way she owns the stage has a way of entrancing the audience and entices them up into that space with her. Bayaz’s dancing bewitches and seduces the audience. The intimacy of the performance space pulls the viewer almost into the performance and gives one a close up view of the intensity of the collaboration between Bayaz and Mannola. The magic of the music and dance allow the audience to take a breathtaking journey. Nancy Burnham www.broadwayworld.com

Hollywood Fringe review by actor, director, writer and producer Adam Lizarre-White:

It was simply incredible! The dancer was an absolute artist, skilled, charismatic, beautiful and dynamic. The guitar player was masterful, relaxed, and alternating between, featuring his playing, when the dancer was off stage, and perfectly complimenting her, in synch with her, both leading her and following her, when she dramatically appeared on stage, for each piece. She was inspiring. Her feet not only were beautiful to watch, not only acted as the “drums” to her partner’s guitar, but they seemed to bring us back in time, to the roots of the music, the roots of the language, the roots of the culture. You could not take your eyes off her. It was also just the right length of time for the experience, musically, visually, culturally. GO! 

Review by art critic Ernest Kearney, Hudson Theatre, Hollywood, L.A. “Aylin Bayaz is a bailaora (dancer) of great skill and true tiene tablas (performer of experience.) She epitomizes what I love about Flamenco; that it embodies gracefulness and strength, described as “garra” meaning “force” or “guts,” though the literal translation is “claws.”What bailaoras strive for, and Bayaz achieves, is sensuality infused with vitality, with life.” PLATINUM Medal for Flamencodanza by TVO in 2022, 2023.