I’m a bit late with this one, having seen it last week but sometimes life rushes up on you, blows past and leaves you in it’s wake trying to tidy up the pieces. Anyhoo, we were back up in the gods of Sadlers Wells for the second Flamenco show of the weekend, Abolengo by Farruquito. Hailed by the New York Times as ‘one of the greatest Flamenco dancers of the century, Farruquito was a return to Flamenco Puro, compared to Friday nights excursion into Flamenco Ballet.
He did not disappoint. The very image of Latin masculinity in shiny shoes, Farruquito clutched his jacket while his feet skipped and stomped with all the power and pomp of a prize bull. He flew around the stage, gesturing imperiously to the rapturous audience, again including a healthy dose of Spanish, throughout the show. Complimented by three male singers, and Encarnita Anillo who drew some of the most enthusiastic clapping of the night when she hitched up her skirts and stamped back to her seat with the lone female dancer, Karime Amaya, who herself was amply on par with the hot footed Farruquito, and I would have to say is probably one of the greatest dancers I have seen in my few years of attending the festival. She had a number of solos throughout the show, and seemed almost to raise the bar in each one. The stage was set up with a couple of tables where the singers and guitarist moved between, giving the stage to Farruquito and Amaya to display their virtuoso abilities.
At the end Farruquito gave a halting speech in English, before the vocal Spanish crowd soothed him into his native Spanish, which mean the only words I understood were ‘London’ and ‘heart’, but the crowd seemed to appreciate the sentiment, and me, I thoroughly enjoyed the show.
I got Karima and Encarnita’s names from this much better review by Donald Hutera here
The Flamenco Festival is on until the 27th, details here
a strange kind of peace 