Heating Up at Eva Yerbabuena

I first fell in love with flamenco when I was about 7 years old. I would watch a Riverdance video on repeat at my grandma’s house and there would be a random moment when Michael Flatley would bring on the famous flamenco star Maria Pages. I would mimic every move in the living room, pulling a serious face, pretending to be using castanets and stomping my podgy feet firmly on the floor. I had to wait until last summer, however, during a trip to Seville to see flamenco performed live. I found that the love for it was still there and there was so much to enjoy about the performance. I love everything about flamenco, especially the culture. I love that I was eating nachos and guacamole and sipping sangria whilst a woman in the corner of the room rose up to tell her life stories through ridiculously fast tapping feet and fluid swinging arms. I was keen, therefore, to get stuck in at the Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Festival. Not literally, I think my mimicking days are over, but as a spectator and decided Eva Yerbabuena would be a good show to get back that flavour of sangria and burning sun. I had heard she was one of the greats and was thoroughly ready to see her dance. To my joy, Flatley wasn’t needed to introduce her to the stage. Eva was an abundance of flamenco talent who needed no introduction.

The show was an hour and a half without an interval. A perfect set up on a Friday evening as there’s enough time to grab dinner and a drink afterwards without bumping into intoxicated party people falling in and out of Uber’s. The first half of the show was a bit odd. In fact, after five minutes when some rope was being used as a type of whip I regretted my excitement at there being no interval. I think if you spoke Spanish you would have got a lot more out of these parts. I think there was a concept and possibly a story but I couldn’t understand either. There was also some talking in Spanish which made every Spaniard in the audience laugh out loud, but I don’t speak Spanish so sat in silence, bummed I’d missed out on the joke. There were also bizarre sections of choreography, one where a man wore a big skirt which was used as a screen for some projections of refugees, money and starving children. Cutting between images of refugee kids and the production of money was pretty obvious, and these themes of consumerism and injustice weren’t really explored through the dancing that I could see. However, I really admired Eva’s decision to try and incorporate current affairs with flamenco. She’s clearly trying to make it as current as possible and to show her audience that flamenco doesn’t have to be a woman in a frilly dress with red flowers in her hair. Much to my joy, however, the frilly dress came in the second half and where a group of buff hunks had been tapping along in the first half, the last half hour was Eva alone with the fantastic musicians beside her, dancing and tapping in an incredible display of energy and talent.

It’s not polite to reveal a woman’s age, but if you’re interested, Google Eva’s. I couldn’t believe what I found. How could a woman of her age be so energetic, so full of passion and ecstasy? How could her feet move so fast that they literally created a blur? And how could her beautiful arms and hands bend and entwine so fluidly? I’ve just turned 26 and I’m out of breath running for a bus. I love how flamenco doesn’t care about age, body shape, race or gender. It’s wholly inclusive and all you need is that passionate fire within to come out and express itself. Obviously, the superstars are in a league of their own, but I feel that there is no elitism or prejudice with flamenco. It’s more about the story that you want to tell and how you plan on telling it. I add Eva to my list of dancers I’m glad I’ve seen. I thought I would never see Alessandra Ferri, having been too young to catch her in her prime, but here she is, dancing again and Eva is similar. There was nothing in this performance that looks as if she will be hanging up the castanets anytime soon and what a joy this is, as I hope to watch her for years to come.