DANCE: PACO PEÑA FLAMENCO DANCE COMPANY – A COMPÁS!

PREVIEW BY AMELIA GROOM

Showing the powerful, dark, seductive and fiery passion of Southern Spain’s song, dance and music, Paco Peña will be performing with his Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company in A Compás! (To the Rhythm), opening soon at Sydney Theatre.

A century ago flamenco was completely confined to certain southern regions of Spain, but in recent years it has become known throughout the world as an icon of Spanish culture. It’s a living art embedded in a tradition of song and dance that goes back to the ancient past of its birthplace, Andalucia.

The Andalucians of Southern Spain are a fusion of many different races, cultures and civilisations, and so is their music. It was the gypsies who developed the art form of flamenco, but they drew from musical traditions as diverse as Moorish, Jewish, Caribbean and Arabic.

Highly disciplined but deeply emotional, flamenco seeks to capture human feelings in a strict but very expressive structure, within which the artists improvise their own variations.

One of the world’s great flamenco guitarists, over the last three decades Paco Peña has transformed perceptions of the archetypal Spanish art form, bringing it into the realms of classical music and music-theatre.

Featuring three guitarists, three flamenco dancers, two singers, and one percussionist, A Compás! is about the vital flamenco rhythm ‘ the ‘compas’ ‘ which is like a primal pulse, a heartbeat, a rhythm of the earth. If you’ve ever had an interest in flamenco this is a rare opportunity to experience the genuine thing.

Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company in A Compás!
May 27-31
Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
$47-$94
Bookings: 1300 795 012 or www.sydneytheatre.org.au