Paula Comitre Performance with Sumie Kaneko and Niño de Elche

Tangos, tientos-tango, or extremely slow tientos song
Thursday, March 20 at 6:30pm

Join us for a performance by ex-flamenco cantaor Niño de Elche, dancer Paula Comitre, and shamisen musician Sumie Kaneko. Comitre, Kaneko, and Niño de Elche will animate the histories explored in Sadopítna, o sea, antípodas, puesto del revés y boca abajo (Sedopitna, or antipodes, turned inside out and upside down), 2023–ongoing, a sonic and sculptural work by Pedro G. Romero and Niño de Elche on view at CARA through May 18, 2025 as part of the exhibition continents like seeds.

Drawing upon the droning cadence of the tientos-tango, the artists will gesture toward the still, slow, and earthbound practices of Japanese dancer and choreographer Kazuo Ôno (1906–2010). Ôno was a significant figure in the avant-garde performance of Butō, which emerged in the late 1950s as a subversive response to Western influences in post-war Japanese theater and dance. Comitre and Niño de Elche will honor Ôno’s admiration of La Argentina, a famous flamenco dancer whose 1929 performance at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo informed Ôno’s decision to leave the Japanese College of Athletics, where he was training as a gymnast, to devote his life to dance.

IV. “TANGOS, TIENTOS-TANGOS, OR EXTREMELY SLOW TIENTOS SONG OF THE MAESTRO KAZUO ÔNO, WHO HAD BEEN A DISCIPLINED GYMNASTICS TEACHER AND WAS MOVED TO START DANCING WHEN HE SAW ANTONIA MERCÉ ‘LA ARGENTINA’ PERFORM IN TOKYO, AND WHO ENDED HIS CAREER WITH LA ARGENTINA SHÔ, DEDICATED TO THE SPANISH DANCER WHO HAD INSPIRED HIM—KAZUO WAS ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE WAR IN CHINA, NEW GUINEA, AND THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN AUSTRALIA ONLY BY REMEMBERING LA ARGENTINA!—WITH THE HELP OF HIS FRIEND AND ACCOMPLICE TATSUMI HIJIKATA, WITH WHOM HE HAD STARTED TO DEVELOP BUTŌ DANCE AS A WAY OF CONFRONTING THE HORROR OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI AND THE HELTER-SKELTER ORDER THAT FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY BROUGHT INTO THE WORLD.”

Paula Comitre (b. 1994, Spain; lives and works in Seville) began her professional career at the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía under the direction of Rafaela Carrasco. After leaving the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, she became part of the cast formed by David Coria and the company of Rafaela Carrasco. At the beginning of 2020, she joined the show ¡Fandango! by David Coria & David Lagos. In February, she premiered her first show Cámara Abierta at the 24th Festival de Jerez, winning the Revelation Award of the festival, and in September, she did the same with the show Electroflamenco 3.0 by Artomático at the Bienal de Flamenco in Seville, where she was awarded the Giraldillo Revelation Award. In February 2022, she premiered her second show Alegorías (El límite y sus mapas) at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris–the co-producer of the work. In May 2022, she premiered her small-format production Cuerpo Nombrado, and in 2023, she was an artist in residence at the Cité Internationale des arts in France, where she created her latest production, Après vous, Madame. In October 2024, she embarked on a new professional journey by collaborating on the show Alter Ego alongside Alfonso Losa.

Sumie Kaneko is a Yamada school licensed koto and shamisen player and vocal artist. Not only a master in the traditional repertoire of these ancient instruments, she has also pioneered their use in jazz and experimental music, through solo and group performances worldwide. She is renowned for her ability to collaborate with a diverse range of international artists: Pulitzer Winner Paula Vogel, composer Evan Ziporyn, taiko artists Kenny Endo, saxophonist Lew Tabackin. In 2024, she performed Dai Fujikura’s shamisen solo piece “Neo” for The American Ballet Theatre’s company premiere at David H. Koch Theater in New York City.

Niño de Elche (b. 1985, Spain; lives and works in Madrid) and Pedro G. Romero (b. 1964, Spain; lives and works in Seville and Barcelona) are Spanish artists whose collaborations examine and reframe the traditional forms of flamenco music. Trained as a cantaor (flamenco singer), Niño de Elche pushes the boundaries of the art form by incorporating spoken word, electronic music, and multimedia elements into his performances. Romero is an accomplished visual artist and filmmaker who has collaborated extensively with Niño de Elche. He creates immersive and thought-provoking audiovisual experiences that explore themes of identity, culture, and societal norms. Taking inspiration from a variety of cultural contexts, together they create a flamenco that is both familiar and inverted, signifying the world seen from an alternative perspective.