Ballet Hispánico New York
CARMEN.maquia
Company Premiere: 2014, Ballet Hispánico New York
World Premiere: 2012, Luna Negra Dance Theater
Choreography by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano
Music from Various works by Georges Bizet, performed by the Slovak Philharmonic, Praha
Philharmonic, and the Arte Ensemble. Carmen Fantasy, by Pablo de Sarasate, performed by
the Apollo Symphony Orchestra
Set Design and Construction by Luis Crespo
Costume Design by David Delfín
Lighting Design by Emilio Lavarías
CASTING
Carmen
Amanda Ostuni
Don José
Dylan Dias McIntyre
Micaela
Francesca Levita
Escamillo
Thierry Blannchard
Ballet Hispánico
The Company
Artistic Director & CEO
Eduardo Vilaro
Founder
Tina Ramirez
Company Artistic Associate
Rodney Hamilton
Ballet Mistress
Nicole Duffy
Chief Managing Director
Patrick Muhlen
The Company
Amanda Bacallao, Mia Bermudez, Thierry Blannchard, Antonio Cangiano, Madison Carrión, Arianna
Carson, Taylor Garcez, Francesca Levita, Matthew Mancuso, Dylan Dias McIntyre, Andrea Mish,
Amanda Ostuni, Jerard Palazo
Company General Manager
Karl Rader Watson
Wardrobe Director
Natalie Shoch
Lighting Supervisor
Dominick Riches
Stage Manager
Chloe Marie Lupini
Major funding for Ballet Hispánico New York is provided by the Arnhold Foundation, Jerome L. Greene
Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Thompson Family Foundation, Frances Lear Foundation, Howard Gilman
Foundation, and Shubert Foundation.
MetLife Foundation is the Official Tour Sponsor of Ballet Hispánico New York.
Ballet Hispánico New York is grateful to Artistic Sponsor Andrew Martin Weber for generously supporting
the restaging of CARMEN.maquia.
Public support Ballet Hispánico New York is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the
support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the New York City Council under
the leadership of Speaker Julie Menin.
Crediting and Cast Information - SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Eduardo Vilaro is the Artistic Director & CEO of Ballet Hispánico New York. He was named the Artistic Director in 2009, becoming only the second person to head the company since its founding in 1970. In 2015 was also named Chief Executive Officer. Vilaro has infused Ballet Hispánico’s legacy with a bold brand of contemporary dance that reflects America’s changing cultural landscape.Vilaro’s philosophy of dance stems from a basic belief in the power of the arts to change lives, reflect and impact culture, and strengthen community. He considers dance to be a liberating, non-verbal language through which students, dancers, and audiences of all walks of life and diverse backgrounds can initiate ongoing conversations about the arts, expression, identity, and the meaning of community.
Born in Cuba and raised in New York from the age of six, Vilaro’s own choreography is devoted to capturing the Latin American experience in its totality and diversity, and through its intersectionality with other diasporas. His works are catalysts for new dialogues about what it means to be an American. He has created more than 50 ballets with commissions that include the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Grant Park Festival, the Lexington Ballet, Chicago Symphony, Muse/ique, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A Ballet Hispánico dancer and educator from 1988 to 1996, he earned a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College Chicago and then embarked on his own act of advocacy with a 10-year record of achievement as Founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago.
The recipient of numerous awards and accolades, Vilaro received the Ruth Page Award for choreography in 2001, was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame in 2016, and was awarded HOMBRE Magazine’s 2017 Arts & Culture Trailblazer of the Year. In 2019, he received the West Side Spirit’s WESTY Award, was honored by WNET for his contributions to the arts and was the recipient of the James W. Dodge Foreign Language Advocate Award. In August 2020, City & State Magazine included Vilaro in the inaugural Power of Diversity: Latin 100 list. In January 2021, Vilaro was recognized with a Compassionate Leaders Award, given to leaders who are courageous, contemplative, collaborative, and care about the world they will leave behind. In May of 2024, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree from his alma mater, Adelphi University, and been recognized by Crain's New York Business as a Notable Latino Leader and Notable Leader In Philanthropy.
A Legacy of Artistic Excellence
Ballet Hispánico New York is the nation’s leading American Latino dance company and the largest cultural institution of its kind in the United States. For over five decades, it has been a beacon of artistic excellence, celebrated for its bold repertory and exceptional training programs. The Company has commissioned over 100 original works, performed on the world’s most prestigious stages, and inspired generations through performances, education, and community engagement. Recognized as one of America’s Cultural Treasures by the Ford Foundation, Ballet Hispánico New York continues to redefine what it means to be an American dance company.
At the helm is Artistic Director & CEO Eduardo Vilaro, a former Ballet Hispánico dancer and acclaimed choreographer who assumed leadership in 2009. Under his dynamic guidance, the Company has entered a new era—broadening its artistic scope, deepening its repertory, and elevating its distinctive movement language. Vilaro carries forward the founding vision of Tina Ramirez, who launched Ballet Hispánico in 1970 to celebrate the beauty of Latino cultures through dance. The company has garnered widespread acclaim, with The New York Times noting, “Many companies pay lip service to nurturing talent, but Ballet Hispánico has devoted significant resources and care to cultivating emerging artists.” Today, Ballet Hispánico New York stands not only as a cultural institution, but as a movement—pushing the boundaries of performance while honoring the traditions that shaped its legacy.
CARMEN.maquia Synopsis
Prelude
A solitary figure emerges in silence. It’s Don José. Imprisoned in both body and soul, he relives the aftermath of a fatal passion. As he paces the dim cell of his conscience, Carmen appears—not in flesh, but in memory, in ache. The past is inescapable.
Act I
The Factory Floor
Outside the cigarette factory, the Cigarreras spill into the light, their chatter mixing with the haze of tobacco and fatigue. Guards linger, dozing and joking. Don José arrives, a figure of rigid order, shattering their ease. A soldier among dancers.
The Habanera
A changing of the guard—and the air shifts. Carmen, irresistible and indifferent, catches sight of Don José. She dances. What begins as flirtation becomes doctrine: her creed of freedom, love without chains. The onlookers are caught in her gravity. So is he.
The Letter
Micaela arrives—prim, dutiful, and bearing a letter from Don José’s mother. The contents call him home, to honor, to marriage, to a quieter fate. He reads, torn between the woman he was promised and the woman he cannot forget.
The Fracture
Tensions boil over within the factory walls. A violent altercation erupts—Carmen at its center. Though the fault is unclear, she is blamed. Don José, following protocol, arrests her. But on the road to jail, seduction triumphs over duty. She escapes. He is punished.
The Cell
Now incarcerated, Don José slips into visions. Carmen multiplies around him, dancing through his fevered imagination.
The Streets
Carmen and her friends stroll through town, trailed by desire. Soldiers vie for her attention, she creates a tornado of arguments, gossip, and debauchery. But her mind drifts to Don José and the handkerchief she stole from him. She fingers his handkerchief and admits—perhaps, against instinct—that she may have loved him.
The Arrival
Escamillo, the celebrated toreador, makes a triumphant entrance. The crowd swells with admiration—Carmen included. Their flirtation is theatrical but layered with curiosity. He leaves, confident she will follow. She stays, uncertain if she already belongs to someone else.
The Return
Don José is freed. Carmen runs to him. For a moment, all is bliss. But when military orders intrude, Don José hesitates. Carmen is incensed. She demands devotion without question. He abandons duty—for her.
Act II
The Mountains
Micaela ventures into the mountains in search of Don José. She finds him amidst a band of gypsies—Carmen among them. Escamillo returns and resumes his courtship. Carmen yields, if only for a moment. Don José watches. Something breaks.
The Cards
The Cigarerras sit in a loose circle, giggling as they pull cards and tell one another’s fortunes. Then Carmen arrives. She says nothing—only lets out a sharp, serpentine hiss. The sound cuts through the air. In an instant, the group scatters. Alone now, Carmen claims the deck. She draws death. Separation. Finality. She shudders but shrugs it off. Her freedom remains a louder voice than fear.
The Duel
Escamillo and Don José cross paths. Tensions rise. Words are thrown like knives. Blows follow. Carmen is the ghost that haunts them both. No victor emerges—only wounded pride.
The Revelation
Micaela finds Don José again. She pleads for a return to the life they planned. But Don José is haunted—by Carmen, his choices, and his undoing. Micaela reveals the final blow: Carmen has chosen Escamillo. The truth ignites something fatal.
The Wedding
Escamillo calls everyone to gather and celebrate his triumphant wedding to Carmen. Joy hums through the crowd. Then, Don José appears. The celebration stills and the atmosphere tightens. Don Jose confronts Carmen. “You are mine,” he says. Carmen stands her ground. “I’ve moved on.” What follows is not a quarrel, but a reckoning. He lunges. She resists. And then—it happens. Carmen falls fatally struck.
What he could not possess, he has destroyed. Love has turned to violence, and desire to ruin.
Stephan DeMicco and Jeanne M. Fox
Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. For information on events, go to MiddlesexCountyCulture.com
