Flamenco vivo

Every Thursday during the summer there's a free concert in Lézignan, and yesterday evening it was Luis de la Carrasca's flamenco group. I got there early (because the time was wrong in the brochure) and already what seemed like half the gipsy population of Lézignan was queueing up outside, which seemed like a good sign. The courtyard of the Maison Gibert was soon packed, standing room only. I don't think I've ever seen such a concentration of bad dress sense, unsupported embonpoint, fluorescent lycra, and wrinkled, leathery flesh bursting out of boob tubes (not a good look when you are 70). And that was just the audience; the flamenco dancers were positively restrained in comparison.

The first part of the performance was given by the pupils of a dance class that had run for the previous three days, their ages ranging from five to 50. Even the tiny ones performed very creditably; one six-year old performed a lengthy solo, swirling and stamping with the best of them, and wearing the severe expression of a true flamenco dancer, to simultaneous laughter and enthusiastic shouts of "Olé !" from the audience. It was quite difficult to get her off the stage -- a star is born I think :)

So almost anyone can dance sevillanas reasonably well after only 6 hours of class, but real flamenco is a different matter. De la Carrasca's group was superb: gravelly-voiced Carrasca himself, guitarist José Luis Dominguez, and two dancers, one male and one female. I didn't manage any good photos of the male dancer, Kuky Santiago, but he was brilliant and had the audience on their feet for a standing ovation. You certainly wouldn't believe that he was born in Belgium. He's been dancing since he was three, he's exceptional and he knows it; he lapped up the applause with dazzling smiles and frenetic stamping. You can get an impression of his style from this video, but nothing beats seeing and hearing flamenco live. I still remember the shock of the noise the first time I went to a live performance.