Have you ever seen a live flamenco show in front of you, guitar and singing, feet stamping and the dancers pulling dramatic poses and tapping their feet one thousand times a second? No, I hadn't until last week and now I want to see more! I went to see a show called 'Emociones' at the Flamenco Theatre, Teatro Alfil in Madrid, a staged flamenco show in a small theatre. There were five artistes and all had their own solos, one guitarist, two singers and two dancers. They all joined in the floor stomping though, and the occasional impromptu 'ole'!
I had no real idea what to expect from the evening. I've only ever seen snatches of flamenco dancing on TV shows or in films, never a full dance or a full show. It started with the two singers singing unaccompanied and then the guitar joined them before the two dancers came out to join in the fun. I've got no idea what the songs were about but they sounded dramatic and would've been about love and loss - what else could they be about? Then the dancing started, the lad in a suit and the woman in a red frock with a great train she had to keep kicking expertly out of the way of both their feet.
As the show built and built the tension and excitement increased right across the audience - including me - so when the lights went out at the end loads of people jumped to their feet to give a rousing appreciative applause. It was fantastic. It was thrilling! Passion was dripping off that stage and I could see the sweat on their faces and clothes, that was a full-on performance. I went to the middle performance out of three that night and I have no idea where the energy comes from. They left me wanting more.
Sadler's Wells stages a festival of flamenco each summer and next year I'll be there. This is life-affirming stuff, people, and we all need that.
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