India Flamenco – A Gipsy Tale

Aug 26 2019 | By More

★★★★☆  Absolutely fascinating

Alba Flamenca (Venue 237): Fri 2 – Sun 25 Aug 2019
Review by Federica Balbi

Three women, three styles and three different sensualities – combined with their shared joy for dance – are the main ingredients of this stunning production.

Flamenco had its remote origins in India, and Indian, Gipsy and Flamenco dancers are here to prove it in India Flamenco – A Gipsy Tale.

Maria del Mar Suarez, Iraya Noble and Anurekha Ghosh. Pic Paúl G. Andreu

Anurekha Ghosh, Iraya Noble and the acclaimed Maria del Mar Suarez reunite to dance together on the stage of the flamenco school Alba Flamenca. Along with the singer Alvaro Romero and guitarist Socrates Mastrodimos, they create an incredibly international team that gives life to this mesmerising performance.

The thread of the piece lies in the story of the mythical Indian emperor Kamiro. He gave his people a magic mirror to look through, to find the places to go and spread their joyous culture. The people soon started travelling and stopped for some time in the Middle East, where they found costumes compatible with theirs. After a while, they went on in their travel across Europe…

the ritual element

It’s unbelievable how three so different dance styles can exist together on the same narrow stage and the same rhythmic music. First Gosh, who has come all the way from India to perform the Kathak classical dance. Her movements reveal the ritual element, and her hands, whose gestures usually tell the stories of the gods, start representing Kamiro’s legend.

Anurekha Ghosh. Pic: Paúl G. Andreu

Then, it’s the turn of Noble’s belly dance, performed to Gipsy music, and of Suarez’s tragic flamenco. The dancers are involved with great emotional intensity in their pieces, which merge in the end, when all of them dance together. In that moment, similarities and points of contact appear under your eyes, together with the mystery and beauty of this lost story.

There are a few small issues, for instance the empty stage for the opening section – as the story is told – and the amplification and volumes are not always at their best. Nonetheless, the performance captures its audience with its story of the meeting and the mixing of cultures and it is certainly a success.

Running time: 1 hour (no interval)
Alba Flamenca, 74 East Crosscauseway, EH8 9HQ (Venue 237)
Friday 2 – Sunday 25 August 2019
Daily at 5.30 pm
Tickets and details: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/india-flamenco-a-gypsy-tale

Company website: https://albaflamenca.co.uk/
Twitter: @indiaflamenco

ENDS

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