Jesús Carmona: UnYdos review – flamenco delivered with flourish and fire

Jesús Carmona opens his show, and the 21st annual Flamenco festival, posed in a square of light against a blacked-out stage, slowly unfurling an arm with serpentine grace and then snatching at the air in a sudden grasp. It’s this ability to play with tension and attack, to suddenly erupt or acquiesce, to shift the energy around him, that marks Carmona out as a great dancer.

He’ll stamp out demons in a burst of wild limbs, his legs fly and flick like La Liga’s best midfielder, but he’s got a core of absolute composure (and beautifully tight spins to go with it). The two-week festival encompasses a wide range of contemporary flamenco, from the traditional to the cutting edge.

Carmona, a former dancer with Eva Yerbabuena, falls towards the purer end of the spectrum, albeit with a modern look and sensibility. UnYdos has no theatrical setup, no thematic investigation, just two dancers (Carmona and Lucía Campillo) and four musicians: a guitarist and three singers/palmeros (handclappers).

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