Benise - Nights of Fire!
BENISE - NIGHTS OF FIRE!
The Emmy Award®-winning
World Music and Dance Stage Production
Daytona Beach, July 25, 2009… Experience the passion and heat of Old Havana through music, dance, and explosive production numbers at Benise - Nights of Fire!, presented October 28 at 7:00 PM at The Peabody Auditorium.
Benise – Nights of Fire! is a hot and spicy musical journey through the charming cobblestone streets of Old Havana. Nuevo Flamenco blends with tropical Afro-Cuban rhythms, salsa piano, and Havana Horn as we discover the romanticism of paradise lost… Cuba!
2009 marks the year Spanish guitarist Benise unveils his Emmy award-winning, electrifying, multi-cultural stage show Nights of Fire! Airing nationwide on PBS and backed by a stage full of musicians and elaborately choreographed dancers, Nights of Fire! captures world music at its best, with a show that appeals to the hearts and souls of people of all ages, cultures and musical backgrounds.
Nights of Fire! is an unprecedented and spectacular adventure through Spanish Flamenco, Cuban Salsa, African Tribal Rhythms, Argentinean Tango, and Brazilian Samba, bringing a new level of originality to live performance. As composer, guitarist and creative force behind the event, Benise (pronounced Buh-nes-say) says the show’s ambition is “to take people on a musical journey. I wanted to push the boundaries of traditional Flamenco/Spanish guitar while combining the elements of dance and theater. This show is a celebration of culture--the culmination of all the shows we’ve done over the last five years.”
Launching nationally on PBS, Nights of Fire! blends Benise’s innovative vision with the creative minds of director Amy Tinkham (Paul McCartney, Dixie Chicks, Madonna, Britney Spears), Brazilian-born choreographer Alex Magno (Madonna, Ballet Hispanico, Academy Awards), and costume designer Erin “Topaz” Laurue (Blossom, Grounded for Life and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno), whose breathtaking, couture costume design for Nights of Fire! won an Emmy Award® for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety or Music Program, above fellow-nominee Dancing with the Stars. Benise reports that “the response from people all over the country has been overwhelming.”
Throughout Nights of Fire!, the traditions of music and dance are reinvented by Benise’s performers on a lavishly decorated stage.
The dancers in Nights of Fire! were carefully handpicked from a global pool of some of the most brilliantly diverse talent to be found. Traditional Flamenco dancers, De La Guarda performers, and Broadway performers have all joined forces to make up Benise’s female dancers, “The Gitanas.” Breathtaking couture fashion and innovative staging and choreography give Spanish dance a fresh and luminous makeover.
“This is a great show for the whole family; I really think we have something for everyone,” says Benise. “I hope people will be inspired--by our story, by the music, by the production--and have the passion to follow their own dreams.” Looking ahead to future tour dates, Benise adds, “I can’t wait to travel to new cities, meet new people, and play every night -- it’s what I live for.”
TICKET INFO:
Tickets for Benise – Nights of Fire! can be purchased at the Peabody Auditorium Box Office, 600 Auditorium Blvd., Daytona Beach, www.peabodyauditorium.org, by calling (407)839-3900, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or at any Ticketmaster outlet. Ticket prices range from $45 - $35, plus service fees. For additional information, please call the box office at 386-671-3462.
