Flamenco Ballet is the most spectacular and visually compelling form of Flamenco. Our Flamenco Ballets have previously and recently proved very successful at festivals, venues and opera houses around the world, for example in 2019 and 2020 Barcelona Flamenco Ballet is engaging on a Chinese tour, with more than 20 performances across 14 Chinese cities including the National Center for the Performing Arts or Shanghai International Dance Center. They have also been performed at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Romania and at the world-renowned Royal Opera House Muscat (Oman), Heydar Aliyev Center (Azerbaijan) or Teatro Reina Victoria in Madrid, Spain.
It is important to remember that the styles presented in Flamenco Ballet are not a new phenomenon. Going back to the dance styles of ‘Classical Flamenco’, performed in a proud, upright and tight manner, the back is held in a very similar position to that of the ballet dancer. Many of the original Classical Flamenco dancers were trained in Ballet Clásico Español (‘Spanish Classical Ballet’) more than in the improvisational language of Flamenco. In this way, the fusion of classical styles of dance such as ballet alongside ‘raw’, passionate forms like flamenco is not completely unprecedented: the parallels between the two have been established since the formation of Flamenco dance.
The ballet corps is usually made up of 4—12 or 4—14 dancers, but it can be extended to 25 or 30 dancers. As a result, the Flamenco Ballet productions can be more intimate and personal, or more of an extravaganza-like display. An example of the former would be 4 Women 4, which, with its self-defined 4 dancers, presents the professional difficulties experienced by women and the rapidly changing family model. This intimate yet intense performance is so compelling thanks to the smaller amount of characters onstage, who are able to express their story more empathetically in the more personal onstage atmosphere.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are productions like Flamenco Suite which, in its larger and more diverse programme, convey a range of different ‘palos’ (Flamenco dance styles). This more vast and monumental type of performance is equally enthralling, as the dancers panoramically lead the audience through a landscape of different forms of Flamenco Ballet. Moreover, the contrast between the evocative solos and the collective choreography is striking and has a powerful effect upon spectators.
There were some very famous Flamenco Ballets which toured the USA in the 20th Century. These were very successful as they conveyed the fascinating combination of the enigmatic captivation of Flamenco, unusual yet beguiling for American audiences, and the popular classical tradition of Ballet, whose elegant familiarity is always appealing for dance fans and novices alike.
Flamenco Agency, which is based in Seville, the birthplace of Flamenco, represents the most outstanding Flamenco Ballet productions in the current Flamenco panorama, both traditional and avant-garde Flamenco.
