When dance professors Paco Antonio and Ray Backlund put together a dance concert – as they have for the “Rhythm Nights” concerts this month – they look not only for a range of dance forms, but also emotions. “I like a big variety,” Backlund said in this interview with Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin. “I look for songs that say something to me, and that’s what I use – whether it’s dramatic or very soft or sad.” “Rhythm Nights” will feature two NMSU DanceSport teams and the Flamenco and Spanish dance troupe Sol Y Arena, which is led by Paco Antonio. “We’ll go from a tango, to a Viennese waltz, or even a pasodoble – which is very similar to the flamenco,”Backlund said of the DanceSport teams. “I think it makes a really good show.”
Paco Antonio said that the Sol y Arena dancers also perform a broad range of work, “from exciting, joyful expressions to sadness, because it’s really the history of the Flamenco people. You’re going to see a complete cross-section of these forms.”
Rhythm Nights concerts take place Friday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday at both 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Rentfrow Hall on the NMSU campus. Listen here for more about the relationship of emotions to dance, how the concerts are developed, and more:
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