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Review: Solera (Sadler's Wells)

Review by Sam Waite

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

It’s been sent that art is universal, that it transcends language. Dance and visuals arts translate their meaning with no words at all, operas in several languages have become enduring classics, and the likes of Blackpink and Bad Bunny demonstrate on a mainstream level that language needn’t be a barrier. So it makes sense that flamenco, an Andalusian artform spanning music, song and dance, has drawn in significant crowds with the Paco Peña Company’s Solera making its return to Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

 


Named for and inspired by a wine blending process in which “young juices” are continually mixed with older wines to create a consistent quality, Solera aims to establish a combination of the new and the old, of young up and comers with established artists. The evening’s first half is an entry point, with the performers seeming off-the-cuff and newly entering the world of Solera, while after the interval it all takes on a more polished sheen, that playfulness and room for error now swept aside.

 

While this is a strong concept, the execution ends up feeling disjointed. The effect is that sometimes the show feels like a piece of storytelling following these young artists as they work their way up the ranks, but at other times as if we were allowed into an informal rehearsal earlier in the night and are now watching the finished production. Director Jude Kelly, CBE, proves herself able to handle both of these disparate acts and to bring a clear energy and sense of place to both, but as much as her work defines each half it can’t quite smooth over the disconnect.

 


Company namesake Paco Peña appears onstage as one of a trio of guitarists alongside Dani de Morón and Rafael Montilla, all of whom play magnificently and deliver their musical contributions with passion and presence. Completing the instrumentalists is Julio Alcocer, whose percussion is particularly compelling and brings a dramatic quality where called for, as well as providing infectious and arresting rhythms for both the more fun-filled and more serious moments onstage.

 

Also bringing passion to the stage are a pair of vocalists, Inmaculada Rivero and Iván Carpio, who deliver songs both alongside and separate to the dance numbers. Both of these artists sing with full-throated passion and emote wonderfully, though these emotions can at times come across as one-dimensional and the dynamics of the performance could be more varied. Still, they sing well and their passion lends itself nicely to the set-up, in which the company continually support one another, particularly during the rehearsal-like first act.

 


The final element of the company is, of course, the dancers. Angel Muñoz, Adriana Bilbao and Gabriel Matias appear in both solo and group routines which focus more on precision and fluidity that grandeur of movement or showing off their flexibility. Though impassioned, and performed by clearly talented dancers, Fernando Romero’s choreography does fall back often on the same movements, the same steps or placement of the arms, which in an overlong two-and-a-half-hour production becomes increasingly noticeable.

 

This is not to say that Romero is anything but a talented choreographer, mind you, with some truly striking moments and an impressive fluidity of movement and command of placement in much of the work. Lighting design from Tom Wickens works well to highlight this in the second half, with dramatic spotlights and sharp cuts to black allowing for some exciting, genuinely arresting onstage moments. Conversely, costumes from Cariola, Linda Rowell and Elvira Peña serve to enhance the more informal first act, with joggers and puffer jackets letting us into an arrival to work, and into the psyche of artists who are there not to impress a crowd, but to find new expression and joy in working alongside one another.

 


Although it has its shortcomings, particularly a length it can’t quite sustain and a transition between acts that requires additional reading to properly follow, there is a real joy behind Solera that makes rooting against it impossible. With the world seemingly at constant odds and the cultural works of other nations and peoples an ever more valuable resource, this access to flamenco in all its expressions is not to be overlooked, and Sadler’s Wells’ continued commitment to championing all forms of dance, in particular, is to be commended.

 

Solera plays at Sadler’s Wells Theatre until April 4th 

 

 

Photos by Ghassan El Moussa

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