Flamenco Festival, Sadler’s Wells, London
June 4, 2024
Rocío Molina opened Sadler’s Wells’ 2024 Flamenco Festival with a short nuevo work that, if nothing else, demonstrated how far flamenco has come in the last couple of decades as it has bestridden international stages.
Guitarists Óscar Lago and Francisco Vinuesa work their socks off, although they are poorly served by the sound. Over-amplification makes it deafening with any subtlety and delicacy lost in the booming harmonics. The same is true of the zapateado, every screech of shoe nails sounded like fingernails down a blackboard; and the fast footwork, there is no other, creating the unsettling sensation of being machine gunned.
Photo Pilar Lozano Iglesias
One guitarist becomes two and two become one. They even manage to work their tuning into a theme. They duel and co-operate, the warm colours of the body of the instruments contrasting with the monochrome background projections of water and providing some relief in the first third of a performance that is almost all in the dark.
Molina also eschews nuance, appearing in dull grey and black, and wearing a black, shiny hat that reflects light and makes it appear as if she is sporting a trio of headlamps, partially blinding the audience in the process. She poses and twitches, the choreography, more kabuki than flamenco, bursting into frenetic gesticulations. Footwork, as technically good as it was, lacked all light and shade. Extreme backbends are repeated endlessly.
The second section at least nods to the traditional with a bata de cola and some relief from the gloom as Molina appears silhouetted against a blue background. She has a willowy figure yet her arms remain spiky. Grace, meaning and depth are all lacking.
It ends with more fabulous guitar playing as Molina appears, dressed rather bizarrely as some kind of black and red insect. Have we strayed into Kafka? There’s more jagged dance before she peels her full face mask off.
No one could deny that Al Fondo Riela was a striking opening to Sadler’s Wells’ flamenco festival. In these days of global reach and fast communications, flamenco is not the only art form that needs to innovate or risk being preserved in aspic. While it left me feeling empty, the audience lapped it up, although it is hard to discern sincerity these days when everything educes shrieks, whistles and a standing ovation.
Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Festival continues to June 15, 2024.