Compania Kaari & Roni Martin

The Raven
The Raven is a tribute to those Spanish flamenco artists who worked in the 1930s and were influenced by surrealism.

My birthday present this year was a modern flamenco dance show by Compania Kaari & Roni Martin at the MD Dance Theatre in Tampere! I have been following Kaari's amazing career for some years now but have never seen her perform live. This year miraculously she had one performance in Tampere just on my birthday with two of her acclaimed choreographies: The Raven and La Femme Rouge.

In 2012 The Raven claimed a triple victory from the prestigious Certamen de Coreografia de Flamenco y Danza Española choreography competition, taking the main prizes for best solo choreography, best music and best costumes.

Choreography: Kaari Martin
Dance: Kaari Martin or Mariana Collado
Music & lyrics: Roni Martin
Musicians: Kaari Martin, Roni Martin, Sanna Salmenkallio, Karo Sampela

It was a breathtaking performance - the program lasted only one hour, but it was packed with intensity. Kaari made every little gesture and expression full of meaning and her husband and Sanna S. accompanied Kaari with their music.

Afterwards we went out for dinner at Frankly's, which was not a success - we would have gotten much better food at home - at a lower price, too. Irish Coffee for dessert at Ohranjyvä faded the food disappointment away.