Music very important for flamenco footwork

Jesús Muñoz is always looking for something different. A way to grow. A way to present something differently.

The flamenco dancer pushes himself and Valeria Montes in the latest offering called, “ERA.”

“We started this show as soon as October was done,” he says. “It takes a long time to develop the ideas. Usually it takes about eight to 10 months.”

Muñoz says the premise to “‘ERA’ is like when one has a feeling that plunges from the past to the present and wanting to take that leap.”

In that leap, Muñoz is bringing along six players who perform music alongside the dancing.

“It’s different because these players haven’t performed together before,” he says. “Many of them are coming together right now and getting everything ready.”

Muñoz says the music is important to “ERA” because it gets deep inside you and makes your bones throb. He says in that single moment when a note meets deep, delicious, rhythm over time — and it’s so internal, you can taste it, you can feel it burning behind your ears and tingling up the back of your neck as it pulses.

“Rip-rhyming melodies will fill your ears as musicians are accompanied by the intricacies of that signature sped-up, half-time, hip-infected footwork,” he says. “I get to the point where I want people in the audience wondering if we can dance some more because we’re going so hard. It’s a difficult thing to push ourselves to do.”

Muñoz is amazed at how well the show is coming together. He says as a presenter and co-producer of the show, there has been a lot more pressure.

“All of these elements are added to my job,” he says. “It’s difficult just being a dancer. But adding all the other responsibilities makes for more work. We’re trying to keep the integrity together for the entire show. From dancing to how it’s presented.”