Flamenco Express Live

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Flamenco Express
The New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. 31 October 2005.

Flamenco refreshes the parts than other dances cannot reach…or so it seems from the response of the audience who witnessed Flamenco Express perform in Staffordshire.

Post-performance people watching bore witness. Fingers drummed tables, hands tapped out rhythmical patterns on the bar, two couples, infused by the flamenco spirit, practised paso doble variations and a number of middle-aged ladies could not resist giving their ‘stamp’ of approval as they left the auditorium. It touches a primal instinct in us all – the rythym of life, with its complex contra beats - an electrical fusion of sound, movement and speed. Flamenco Express put in the plug and switched us on.

It was not what I would call a showy performance. Three female dancers in simple attire, two guitarists and two singers recreated the intimate surroundings of the Tablao, a club-like setting within the round of the theatre. This proved an intimate experience, observing the performers from an outer globe – 360 degrees of firecracker footwork and dispossessed arms and hands – as if generated by a force separate to the movement of willowy bodies.

We sat transfixed from the opening martinete, with its deliberate footwork and posturing conjuring up the forge environs which fired its origins, to the high-spirited bulerias por fiesta leaning towards improvisation from each of its dancers.

In between, we witnessed a solo alegria, from Gemma de la Cruz and two entrancing solos – each indelibly marked with the personalities of performers La Joaquina and Rosa de las Heras.

The layers of Flamenco – dance, song and guitar – were each given their moment in the spotlight. Two amazing guitar solos from Chris Mullet and Jesus Alvarez made string instruments sing with impossible precision. While Ana de los Reyes and Mateo Solea provided a vocal tapestry rich in its scale and dexterity.

Flamenco Express has been touring since 1996 and performed more than 250 shows in between educational workshops, classes and specialist choreography for organisations including the Royal Shakespeare Company and Italia Conte School. But each of its performances is different, as they explained.

“Flamenco is about telling a story, a conversation on stage, but each is infused with the personality of the performer. As guest performers and members of the company change, they bring with them something new and unique. No performance is ever the same.”

And with this, I have to agree. We witnessed stories unfold and took away a little of the spirit which brought them to life.

Picasso, a great exponent of Flamenco, particularly through his later work in ceramics, would have appreciated the symmetry – returning a little of life’s energy to a theatre on the edge of the Potteries.

Dancing Today - Dancing Times
December 05
Alison Gallagher-Hughes

Flamenco Passion
For one night only in March the Hackney Empire was host to Flamenco Express and came alive to a very Spanish Experience.

Flamenco Express are a group of people who come together from time to time, touring Britain and Europe to perform an art form that is an essential and all-consuming part of their lives. The force that drives them is known as ‘duende’ – the inner spirit released in performers’ emotional involvement with their art.

Real flamenco is a direct result of the gypsy Diaspora. It is a call for optimism and for an appreciation of the sensual pleasures of life, while at the same time recognising the sad struggle that brought them in the end to the Andalucia, home at one time to a flourishing polyglot civilization. Flamenco combined their own roots in India with Spanish and Arabic influences and it survived many forms of repression to become an ultimate expression of freedom. Unlike the sterile tableaux that are presented to gullible tourists, authentic flamenco never fails to inspire an educated audience.

The group are mainly Spanish, but La Joaquina is from South London and one of the guitarists Chris Mullett is also English. Tomas Arroquero, a dancer, is from Australia but of Spanish descent. Although a diverse group, their biographies indicate they have all studied and performed with some great names in Spain and the end product is as good as any you will see there.

Flamenco is a fusion of elements and styles. Foreign audiences tend to think of it as a dance form only, but in Spain the music and the singing, sometimes without music, are just as if not more important. This group excelled in all three. The singer Mateo Solea who made his debut at the age of 14 was particularly good. The program had a balance of the happier expressions of flamenco known as ‘alegrias’ and the ‘soleares’, one of the oldest forms of flamenco especially in the singing, expressing deep sadness and loneliness. The finale of Fiesta por Buleria by the entire company was spontaneous, but its outward liveliness still maintained the deep inner core touching on sadness which is essential to good flamenco.

N1 magazine
March 05
Doña Esperanza Bravo Caballo

Flamenco Express..

Delighted the audience, who rewarded them with rapturous applause and encores.
Dance Europe

This feisty flamenco company deliver the finest in flamenco, plus sizzling soloist La Joaquina
Time Out

..utterly riveting variations of firecracker beats...tumultuous fervour ..indelible gracefulness.
The Stage

An unforgettable evening
Anglo Spanish Journal

This is a fiery ensemble production where every spark of personality is kept alight and creative diversity is given the space to breathe but remain faithful to flamenco's roots.
King's Lynn News

What was surprising, however, was the sheer power and energy displayed by the dancers during this vibrant celebration of Spanish culture. Forget the sterile, regimented flamenco so often served up to tourists: this was the real thing, and to say that it packed a punch is an understatement.
South Wales Evening Post

Flamenco Express transported the audience to an imaginary Spanish haven during a musical journey laced with passion, grace and immense artistry. The cold, grey and windy weather outside seemed a million miles away.
Harlow Star

'Wild and untameable'

Comprising two musicians, a singer and five dancers, the performance had an air of spontaneity and one felt that the artists were improvising, reacting to the mood of the audience rather than adhering to any set regime.

The tremendous voice of Manuel de a Malena - billed as 'The James Brown of flamenco' - added a distinct weight to the evening. But for me, the leading guitarist*, whose fingers coaxed the most moving sounds I have ever heard anyone wrest from a guitar, provided the most brilliant musical contribution. His solo in the second half was pure heaven.

Leading the dancers, La Joaquina, tiny, urgent and intense, explored a vast emotional vocabulary, and juxtaposed vulnerability and tenderness with violence and aggression. Her feet rattle off tempestuous beats, her sinewy arms snake angrily and her taut body is totally driven by her feelings. Wild and untameable, there is certainly no empty prettiness in her dance.'

© Emma Manning The Stage 30.4.98
* Tito Heredia


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