A Compas!, Sadlers Wells Peacock Theatre, 11/05/06

Last night realtan_dannan, childeric and I went to see the flamenco show A Compas! (To the Rhythm) from "flamenco legend" Paco Peña and his company. I can see why he's a flamenco legend as it was really really good. Peña is a guitarist and leader of the flamenco company, which last night consisted of two male dancers, a female dancer, two other guitarists, a percussionist, a male singer, a female singer and another woman who played the castanets in a way I never managed with my toy ones!

I've always wanted to see a flamenco show. I had many holidays in Spain as a child and always yearned for a flouncy polka dot dress like the costume dolls I collected. I was absolutely captivated for the evening, but it wasn't by the female dancer as I'd have expected, who actually left us all a bit cold, but the two male dancers, who were just amazing. They didn't just dance, their stamping and tapping heels kept and set the rhythm and they were so passionate and yet elegant.

I loved the music too, lots of Arabic wailing, guitars and percussion. My favourite bit was when they put down the guitars and did a percussive set slapping a table, hitting bits of metal (I was reminded of Neubauten's improvisations at the supporter's event at the Palast der Republik) and stamping and clapping.

At the end everyone had a bit of a dance and the two women who had sung and played the castanets proved to be very sexy and elegant dancers. Realtan said she thought the woman with the castanets had probably once been a truly great dancer but had perhaps retired with an injury. They both had more impact in a few minutes than the younger female dancer did in the rest of the show.

I want to dance flamenco!

It's on for two more nights if anyone is interested. There are better reviews here (Independent) and here (Guardian).