Olga Pericet – The Thorn That Wanted to Be a Flower, or The Flower That Dreamed of Being a Dancer – London
★★★★★ The Cordoban star Olga Pericet’s poetically titled show revealed, wonderfully, a personality too big for flamenco to hold.
Mercedes Ruiz, Eduardo Guerrero and María Moreno – Gala Flamenca – London
★★★★★ As the gala’s artistic director, Liñán brought together four great talents (three dancers and a singer), backed up by an outstanding group of musicians…
Rocío Molina – Fallen From Heaven – London
★★★★✰ Fallen From Heaven (Caido del Cielo) is referenced as the celebration of being a woman, and it is certainly all about one woman.
Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras – Sombras – London
★★★★★ Baras’s improvisations were not outpourings of emotion, but concentrated bursts of pure skill, passionately channelled.
Sadler’s Wells Sampled, 2019 – London
★★★✰✰ Once a year Sadler’s Wells puts on Sampled, a pick and mix of the types of dance you might see at the venue. The front stalls seats are taken out, and standing in that area is only a fiver, with cheap tickets in general.
Compañía Rafaela Carrasco – Born a Shadow – London
★★★★✰ Born a Shadow: Compañía Rafaela Carrasco’s inspired show had a powerful narrative drive.
Ballet Flamenco Jesús Carmona – Ímpetus – London
★★★✰✰ Ímpetus promised a mix of modern ballet with traditional flamenco, a show shaped by new interpretations of classic Spanish music…
Gala Flamenca La Chana – Goddess of Compás – London
★★★★✰ Rarely have I witnessed a prolonged standing ovation midway through a show but it happened here to acknowledge the legendary gypsy bailaora from Barcelona, known as La Chana.
Úrsula López, Tamara López & Leonor Leal – Painter & Flamenco: J.R.T. – London
★★★★✰ In each section of Painter and Flamenco the dancers personify not only the spirit and energy of de Torres’ portraits but also the poetry of his art.
Gallery – Gala Flamenca La Chana at Flamenco Festival London 2018
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Gallery – Úrsula López, Tamara López & Leonor Leal in Painter & Flamenco: J.R.T. – Flamenco Festival London 2018
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
María Pagés Compañía – Yo Carmen – London
★★★✰✰ Yo Carmen was originally billed as a radical reimagining of Bizet’s opera and that’s not exactly the case. Don’t go along to this thinking that you will see any representation of the story with gypsies and bullfighters, or any male characters dancing.
Carmen Linares, Arcángel & Marina Heredia – Tempo of Light – London
★★★★★ This was flamenco puro in its most fabulous form, dominated – as it should be – by the voice, led by three of the most celebrated of today’s star flamenco singers. It doesn’t get much better.
Compania Manuel Liñán – Reversible – London
★★★★★ Liñán is one of flamenco’s great innovators; driving the art forward through the twenty-first century…
5 Questions to Manuel Liñán, Flamenco dancer and choreographer
Manuel Liñán will be very busy during this year’s Flamenco Festival London. He is directing the annual Gala Flamenca (23-25 February) and also his company will close the Festival…
Eva Yerbabuena – Apariencias – London
★★★✰✰ The show is divided into six segments that feel like short poems, each looking to explore a different idea about identity and appearance.
Israel Galván – FLA.CO.MEN – London
★★★✰✰ The Seville-born dancer Israel Galván is the most avant-garde flamenco artist performing today, constantly taking the art form apart, ruffling feathers and exploding preconceptions.
Gallery – Eva Yerbabuena in Apariencias, London Flamenco Festival 2017
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Gallery – Israel Galván: FLA.CO.MEN, London Flamenco Festival 2017
Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Compañía Manuel Liñán – Nómada – London
At the conclusion Liñán stalks over to the edge of the stage and looks at the front row of the stalls as if to challenge all comers to take him on.
