Owen had been keen to attend Sadler's Wells 2020 Flamenco Festival but then the world intervened. Twirl forward two years however...
Sadler's Wells pack a lot into their annual festival of Spain's iconic dance style; there were thirteen events spread over their two stages so choosing what to see was a bit of a crap-shoot but we chose two marvellous companies.
An easy pick was Compania Jesús Carmona in THE JUMP. This was the Catalan maestro's exploration of masculinity and Carmona and his six dancers gave us a whirlwind trip into the male psyche with astonishing dexterity and passion - Jesús Carmona took centre stage and was fascinating to watch as he melded traditional Flamenco dance into a new form, accompanied by a full-throated male singer and two onstage musicians.
A few days later we saw another pioneer of using Flamenco traditions to tell more personal stories with the jaw-dropping Compania Maria Páges; watching Maria and her eight dancers was like being faced with the world's strongest hairdryer on full power! In AN ODE TO TIME which she created with her collaborator El Arbi El Harti, Maria - with her two powerful female singers and five onstage musicians - presented a variety of colours and moods but all encompasing her as a strong and powerful centre of attention. At times, I felt that this must have been what it was like to see Isadora Duncan perform: from her first appearance in a full Flamenco vivid red dress with a dangerous leg that flicked her train back when it sometimes had the temerity to not stay in it's place to her sinuous arm movements, moving in time to her castanets even when played behind her back. She started dancing with a large shawl which was impressive enough but she was then joined by her four female dancers, turning the Sadler's Wells stage into a rolling sea. Towards the end the mood turned more somber as she looked back at the savageries of the Spanish Civil War, the torment that never ages with time.
Hopefully Flamenco will stamp and twirl it's way back to Sadler's Wells next year... as well as La Divina Pagés.
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