Straight from the soul: flamenco artists explore their art on dvd, video and in print.

Flamenco Women

Directed by Mike Figgis

New River Media

52 minutes. VHS, $18.95; www.amazon.com

At the beginning of this film, Mike Figgis, the Oscar-nominated director of Leaving Las Vegas, says that flamenco is about life and the inevitability of death, seen through the powerful figures of its women. Flamenco Women (1997) features two powerful figures: Eva La Yerbabuena and Sara Baras. Unlike the play at the outer edges of control that characterizes great Gypsy dancers like Manuela Carrasco and Juana Amaya, these two are silky smooth, light, and feline. They are both intensely introverted; their movement is studied, spare, and distilled. Steeped in the traditional forms, they move one step away from the grittiness of their roots to a celestial sphere where they burn coldly.

The film is a window into the rehearsal process of these stars. We see the nerves and the pressure, the mundane labor of costume fittings and setting choreographies, the dialogue between dancers and musicians--and the spark of genius that makes the performance come to life. There are comic scenes of Baras and the two guitarists trying to figure out the rhythm of a step, plus wonderful improvisational moments such as Yerbabuena dancing "por tangos." We sense the vanity and rivalry between the dancers, and also the sweetness of collaboration. The final show is very "fashion," with bizarre costumes and a glamorous audience. But the flamenco energy is very real.--K. Meira Goldberg

Flamenco

Directed by Carlos Saura

Produced by Juan Lebron

100 minutes. DVD, $24.95;

www.dancehorizons.com

Carlos Saura's Flamenco (1994), a collection of performances by the best flamenco artists of our time, is a passionate exploration of the flamenco world. Farrueo, with his potbelly and mesmerizing gaze, tames his audience like the horse trader his father was. Still nimble and stately in his signature jumps, eschewing all adornment in favor of a bare-knuckled, stripped-down Gypsy style, he dances with his grandson, Farruquito, the crown prince of the family's dance dynasty. Mario Maya, who melds traditional flamenco with the gestural poetry of the 1970s avant-garde, performs his quicksilver portrait of a persecuted Gypsy. His daughter Belen Maya, equally mercurial, dances with an innovative style that has influenced a new generation of dancers. Manuela Carrasco, in all her glorious beauty, dances a solea (solitude) with divine ferocity. The craggy-faced Agujetas looks desolate and wild as he sings about being cast aside like a piece of broken furniture. The great Fernanda de Utrera, humble and gracious, asks poignantly whether her singing is acceptable. This is a film to be owned and enjoyed, studied and treasured.--K.M.G.

Becoming the Dance: Flamenco Spirit

By Teodoro Morca.

Costa Rica: Servicios Generales de Publicidad, 2004

160 pages. Illustrated. $30; www.morca.com

This new, expanded edition of Teodoro Morea's testament to flamenco, first published in 1990, is a lovingly written book. Punctuated with photographs of varying quality, zig-zagging from personal reminiscences to technical advice, in need of more accurate editing, it is, nevertheless, well worth reading, for it traces a fine dancer's journey through his craft and through his duende. As Morea writes, "Duende means spirit or soul. It is a fiery inner demon, one that when released, can possess not only a performer but the onlookers." While essentially a guide for students of Spanish dance, especially flamenco, the book proclaims the author's passion for his art.

There are touching autobiographical fragments. Morca, of American and Hungarian origin, began as a garage mechanic. A visit to a Spanish dance concert made him shift from carburetors to coplas. A trip to Spain put him into contact with Pilar Lopez, who was noted for developing male dancers.

His first wife, Isabel Grijalva, was a major influence and his dancing partner for 25 years. In 1995 she died in his arms during a rehearsal. Perhaps the most affecting episode in Becoming the Dance is his attending a party not long after her death and suddenly rising to dance a seguiriyas, or mourning dance, with tears streaming down his cheeks.

There is much repetition from section to section, and Morca persists in likening flamenco to therapy. But he offsets this prosaic image by reminding the reader that flamenco is "the unselfconscious joy, sorrow, passion, pain, growth, love, fear of not living--the one who you are."--Doris Hering

Mariana Pineda

Directed by Llius Pasqual

Sony Music Entertainment 

120 mins. DVD, $28.47;

www.flamenco-world.com

Lifting her arms skyward, the beautiful Sara Baras thrusts out her chest and fiercely stomps her feet, embodying the tragic Mariana Pineda, the complex heroine of her most successful theater piece. Baras conveys both the gentle and powerful aspects of the character with subtle shifts of weight and flutters of her hands. Since forming her company in 1997, Baras has alternated between producing dance-dramas based on historical events and evening-length explorations of various flamenco styles. She based the romantic Mariana Pineda on the story made popular by the poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. The tale is about a woman who was killed in 1831 under the reactionary regime of Ferdinand VII for embroidering an opposition flag and refusing to betray her lover.

Aided by director Lluis Pasqual and composer Manolo Sanlucar, Baras has transformed the tragic story into dramatic solos and duets full of emotional turmoil. Like most flamenco choreographers, she is stronger in creating dances for herself, than when devising movement for her ensemble. What makes this DVD such a pleasure is seeing close up her eloquent hand movements, intricate footwork, and the sinuous twists of her body.--Valerie Gladstone