Flamenco Festival 2014

Friday: Gala Flamenca: Antonio Canales, Carlos Rodríguez, Karime Amaya, Jesús Carmona

One of the greatest flamenco masters, Antonio Canales, will be joined by Carlos Rodríguez, known for his bold mix of contemporary dance and traditional flamenco; the riveting Karime Amaya, who has earned praise following in the footsteps of her great-aunt, the legendary Carmen Amaya; and the young sensation hailed as the future of flamenco, Jesús Carmona.

Saturday: Ballet Flamenco Eva Yerbabuena: 'AY!' and 'Lluvia'

Enthralling audiences with her explosive footwork, graceful movement, and innovative choreography for more than 15 years, but mostly appreciated for her duende, the soulfulness and emotional depth that is the hallmark of great flamenco dancers.

The Flamenco Festival is a series of flamenco or flamenco influenced performances including dancing, instrumental performance, and singing. This is the 16th year of the festival (if memory serves me correct) and this year in New York the series goes on for around two weeks.  We went to two performances at New York City Center on Friday and Saturday evening.

A little background on flamenco: This is type of folk performance art that originated from southern Spain with traditional Gypsy roots. It is a combination of dancing, singing, guitar playing, and handclapping.

The Friday performance was more what I expected - fancy and mind blowing footwork. They also had a improv jam session at the end which was very original and energetic. The Saturday performance gave me the impression that it was interpretive modern dance (whatever that means) incorporating flashes of flamenco footwork and accompanied by flamenco guitar and singing.

Reference: http://www.spainculture.us/city/new-york/flamenco-festival-2014/