Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London
★★★★
 

IF the first night of Sadler’s Wells’ annual Flamenco Festival is anything to go by, then the rest of it will be a rare treat.

Dancer and choreographer Sara Baras celebrated not just the opening of the two-week programme, but 25 years of her own dance company in the field of “flamenco ballet.”

To the uninitiated her precise, melodramatic movements and lightning dance steps seem pretty much as flamenco as you can get — yet there’s also an undeniable ballet-like grace to everything she does.

Her four-act show, titled Vuela (“fly”), pays tribute to the virtuoso guitarist Paco de Lucia, running across 15 pieces of flamenco music and with support for Baras from a delightfully coordinated seven-strong dance company.

To anyone without a working knowledge of Spanish or the ins and outs of flamenco, much of what goes on is a mystery, particularly in terms of a plot-line — if there is one.

But it’s all about the emotion, really, and there’s plenty of that. Bara’s interaction and understanding with her musicians, notably the violinist Alexis Lefevre and the singer Matias Lopez, is extraordinary.

This is not just entertainment, it’s something much deeper — a whole culture wrapped up in one, with centuries of folklore layered upon each other. Bara and her compatriots are dancing and playing as much for themselves and their ancestors as for the audience.

The quality throughout is superb, from the heartfelt, vein-busting singing of Lopez and May Fernandez to the pulsating percussive elements led by Rafael Moreno, which even extend to the flapping and flailing of the dancers’ fans. The lighting, too, is exceptional, allowing the dancers to appear and disappear on stage almost unnoticed.

With a bit of carefully choregraphed freestyle to finish off, the only possible outcome at the end is rapturous applause, which Baras accepts with nearly as much emotion as she’s put into the show. Olé! 

Flamenco Festival runs until June 8. Box office: (020) 7863-8000, sadlerswells.com.