If you think flamenco is all castanets, frilly skirts and flowers in the hair, think again. That’s for tourists. As the annual flamenco festival (here again in June) has demonstrated over the years, it comes in many forms, interpretations and deconstructions. It evolves with each generation. It is folk dance and modern dance rolled into one. And if you see Paco Peña’s name on it, it’s a must-see.
Back with the same cast after a two-year hiatus, Paco Peña’s Flamenco Dance Company of three dancers, three guitarists (himself included), one percussionist and two singers is here again with its Solera concept of fine wine created by mingling the new with the old. It is an apt tag-on to the end of the Elixir Festival, of older dancers exchanging experiences with the next generation. It produces a rich blend.
Director Jude Kelly, who has worked with Peña since 2009, brings her stage experience to it, shaping the evening into two halves, the relaxed ‘rehearsal’ hour in work clothes and the performance hour, separated by an interval. And do we need that breathing space after the intense pulse of complex music and thunderous feet in unison and counterpoint.
Alternating percussive sound and thrumming guitar strings with singing numbers, the ensemble supporting the dancing, it is a musical concert in effect. The first half lists eight chapters (numbers in essence) in the programme, from the arrival in street clothes, all on their phones, ready to create, to the leaving after an exhausting workout. It’s a warm up of flamenco’s nuts and bolts for the professional, stylised second-half presentation in sleek outfits.
Dancer Angel Muñoz, now heading for fifty, shows the flashy young Gabriel Matias and elegant supple Adriana Bilbao how to embody the music. You can dance, but can you live it… he lives it in the moment with his whole being, face, soft upper body and balletic arms, strong feet beating sly rhythms. He is the music and the passion. Watch the music course through his body like electricity, and understand the epic narrative, love, conflict, drama. Personality will out.
Peña, now in his eighties, quietly leads the guitarists Dani de Morón and Rafael Montilla—I wish he weren’t so self-effacing. And the percussionist Julio Alcocer is given his own spot in the limelight—he is fabulous. The beat is all, the body is a beatbox and the camaraderie is a joy to behold even in rivalry.
Maturing nicely, like good wine, they make a delicious vintage. The singers, the older Immaculada Rivero and the younger Iván Carpio, spill their emotions loud and clear, maybe too amplified—their voices need little amplification—as the dancers interpret these soulful songs. In a way, it’s not unlike watching street dance battles. A duel between dancers, between musicians and singers, it’s competitive yet they are all in it together.
Seven numbers are the end product, in theory, of what came before in the ‘rehearsal’ room. Now, smartly dressed, they illustrate flamenco’s ardour, its raw musicality, the dances of yesterday and today, the evolution of flamenco. And do I detect a reference to the On the Town sailors in the unisex dance trio in identical white outfits number?
New rhythms, new bodies, new responses, but the heartbeat is constant. It ends with an encore, as always—singer Immaculada Rivero’s mature feet have the final say. It takes years to create fine wines. The old need to be invigorated, the young shown the way, the mix finely measured, as tonight demonstrates.
It is a wonder to behold. I can’t sit still, watching the emotional and physical reaction to music from the soul. A generous offering, a rich offering, I go home drunk on the experience.
Memorias, a film by Ben Williams featuring Paco Peña in his hometown in Córdoba, Spain, is now available on Sadler's Wells Digital Stage for free as part of the Elixir Festival (10–20 April). And you can catch up with Solera at the Brighton Dome this autumn, 15 & 16 November 2024—it’ll warm the cockles of your heart.