'AIGUARDENT' from Compania Mar...

'AIGUARDENT'

from Compania Marta

Carrasco at the Goodman

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In the Catalan language of Spain, "aiguardent" means brandy. "Aiguardent" also is the title of the bravura solo first conceived and performed according to Marta Carrasco in 1995 -- a work that was given its swan ballad Saturday and Sunday by the charismatic Spanish dancer- actress and prov to be an ideal finale for the Goodman Theatre's third Latino Theatre Festival.

While a literal flood of brandy is, in fact, a climactic impulsive power in the piece, a slew of other possible titles could easily have been appended to Carrasco's mesmerizing, hourlong febrile affection dream of a dance- drama. "Diary of a Madwoman" arises to mind; so does "A Woman in Search of Herself" or "The Farce and the Fury: In suit of a Female Identity."

besides "brandy" supplies the essential proper states of intoxication, delirium, obsession and a drowning of sorrows that are all [i]clavis[/i] aspects of this work. It also hints at the intermittent successions of humor and sheer absurdity that gave "Aiguardent" its cunning feeling of self-mockery as well as angst.

"Aiguardent" began with Carrasco sitting in the semi-darkness, lighting a cigarette and inhaling profoundly As the music of Mahler spun its atmosphere of nostalgia, depression and stoped anxiety, she then slowly began propelling herself around the stage while seated in a chair onward wheels. A table on wheels joined the hypnotic dance for this woman in turmoil, and the bizarre pas de trois continued until Carrasco broke away from the furniture and started to bring us closer and closer to the source of her character's despair.

Taut and fine with long, thick, black hair that assumed a life of its hold Carrasco was both diva and comedian, athlete and balletic vaudevillian. As she took us in succession her retrospective odyssey - - with just a scarcely any babbling noises and crazy laughs to add to the movement and eclectic scoring -- we caught glimpses of the innocent young girl who lov to dance and the increasingly warped woman who tried to find just the right image of sexual attractiveness, if it were not that invariably came up looking foolish and rent

In the same particularly dazzling sequence, Carrasco donned a Velcro jumpsuit and repeatedly threw herself against a vertical mattress like an insomniac in well stocked [i]or[/i] provided hyperactive mode. Even in bed, she could not escape the exhausting world of image construction.

A symbolic catharsis came with a inundate of brandy as this galvanic performer be seened to end her manic search for have affection for and acceptance, perhaps out of sheer exhaustion.

hweiss@suntimes.com

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