Sara Draper calls her Al Andalus! The Legend a “dance epic,” and rightfully so. The show includes flamenco, North African and modern dance, along with singing and recorded narration, to tell an “interethnic” love story set in the golden age of medieval Spain, where philosophy and scholarship flourished. For half a millennium, the Andalusian community of Spain was under Moorish rule, and Muslims, Jews and Christians all got along nicely, thank you very much.

The show’s music includes original works by Sharon Joy (recorded by local musicians including Isabelle Ganz and Khaled Al-Jamal) and a compilation of recorded sacred and secular music from Arabic, Sephardic and Spanish medieval and contemporary sources. And here’s the coolest part of all — since the brand-new production is still in what Draper calls “phase 1,” the audience is invited to stay after the show and offer feedback, which will be taken into consideration as the company revises the performance for a more finished production next spring.

This article appears in Aug 9-15, 2007.