What Antonio Canales lacks in youthful agility he makes up for in showmanship, and many changes of clothes. As the lead dancer in this year’s flamenco gala, we actually see more of him than advertised, due to the last-minute injury of rising young talent Jesús Carmona. But if the show feels unbalanced as a result, Canales offers some superbly old-school compensations. At 53, he knows exactly how to calibrate a slow burn of tapping, teasing footwork, toying with his audience before he throws his bulky body into big dramatic shapes. He tosses back his hair, growls out the lines of a poem and weaves a surprisingly delicate magic with his hands. It’s a performance of flagrant charm.
The second male principal is Carlos Rodríguez. He’s a dancer of exceptional finesse, bringing a streamlined precision to his footwork, and a balletic fluency to his pirouettes. Yet the drama of his performance looks forced: when Rodríguez passes his hands repeatedly over his face and chest, it’s as though he’s smearing a layer of emotion on to his dancing, rather than actively feeling it.
Karime Amaya is the evening’s only lead woman, and while her dancing is less showy it communicates a more potent inner force. Performing the closing seguiriya, she brings an elemental gravitas to her fast spiralling turns, to the gravelly thrust of her footwork and to the small, urgent movements of her head. But as powerful as Amaya is, the evening really flies when the dancers all combine forces with their six musicians and singers. Even though the latter’s sound is gratingly over-amplified, a lovely anarchic gaiety emerges when the entire cast are clapping, singing and dancing together. It’s in these communal moments that you feel the genuine gala buzz.
• Until 1 March. Box office: 0844 412 4300. Venue: Sadler’s Wells, London.
