SOLERA
Sadler’s Wells Theatre
★★★★★
“An intoxicating blend of tradition and modernity”
For Paco Peña, and his renowned Flamenco Dance Company, there is no division between the old and the new. His show, “Solera”, which returns to Sadler’s Wells for the third time takes its title from the Andalusian system of aging wine in which vintages of different ages are blended. Peña views the art of Flamenco with the same reverence and respect ensuring the perfect balance between the hard-won quality of tradition and the freshness and fearlessness of youth.
The company assembled for the show crosses the generations and is fairly small in size, although the sheer wealth of talent is extraordinary. Peña is joined onstage by two fellow guitarists, Dani de Morón and Rafael Montilla; two singers (Immaculada Rivero and Iván Carpio); three dancers – Angel Muñoz, Adriana Bilbao and Gabriel Matias and percussionist Julio Alcocer. Within minutes we feel we know each of them personally – their individualism standing out, and yet also complementing each other by blending in with the theatricality of the performance.
From the outset tradition is defied. The sounds of traffic are heard while a harsh backlight reveals the cast on their daily commute, phones glued to their ears. They disperse and reassemble in the rehearsal room. An air of random informality is brought into shape by the strict and intricate rhythm of Alcocer’s percussion. In silence, the performers meet and greet, shed their overcoats and their inhibitions and merge into harmony. The guitars join in, the dancers respond and the singers react. It is a three-way conversation between rhythm, music and movement. A call and response, with an unbreakable and hidden connection between every cast member. Virtuosity is the vanguard, but emotion is the cutting edge. Intricacy and passion collide in perfect harmony.
The elders inform the younger members while the young ones inspire their forebears. The flamenco guitar prompts the movement and the footwork and vice versa. It feels like a jam session in places, but the concentration never slips even when a character relaxes to watch another’s routine. There are moments of calm, moments of fun and moments of undiluted brilliance. The dancers’ ‘Escobilla’ (impossibly fast footwork) is breathtaking. Even the simple art of walking in and out of the light becomes an artform in these performers’ hands (or rather feet).
The first act represents the rehearsal, while Act Two is the performance. The tone shifts, and the lighting switches from monochrome to technicolour. Blades of light replace the general washes. The costumes are sumptuous, but formal. Ballgowns and suits. Not a flamenco dress in sight, nor a castanet. Eight set pieces follow, but we’re not counting as they seamlessly combine into a continuous flow. Peña, the true master, allows de Morón and Montilla their moments in the spotlight, but when the three guitarists come together the effect is spectacular. There is no leader of the dance. Solos, duets and trios oscillate under Fernando Romero’s choreography. We sometimes feel the footwork and the finger-picking guitar work are in a duel, but there is no competition or conflict. Every element of the performance is orchestrated to perfection, and held together with the gorgeous thread of the evocative Spanish singing voices. Director Jude Kelly, who has worked with Peña for over twenty years, gets to the heart of this feeling of unison.
One would be happy to spend two hours watching the musicians perform alone; or the dancers unaccompanied, or the singers delivering a private concert. But to have all three artforms thrown together like this is exhilarating. An intoxicating blend of tradition and modernity, the old and the new, the mature and the fresh, the talent and the emotion. Quite simply – unmissable.
SOLERA
Sadler’s Wells Theatre
Reviewed on 2nd April 2026
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Elliott Franks
