'Primal Pulse'



Press Exerpts

‘If you only ever see flamenco once in your life, make it this!’

INDEPENDENT on SUNDAY, London

The STAGE, London

‘You know it is going to be a great show if Paco Peña is involved - and his Flamenco Dance Company delivered on cue!’

Londondance.com

HEADLINE: PEÑA’s FLAMENCO FIREWORKS DISPLAY ×××××

Sunday Express, London

‘The slow accumulation of complexity is so unforced that by the uplifting finale you’re scarcely aware that you’ve been given a whole education in flamenco form and feeling.’ ****

THE GUARDIAN, London

‘A Compás which was earning standing ovations at London’s Peacock Theatre last week, is one of his best: serious but seriously entertaining.’

‘A Compás offered a bare stage, a few lights and a few hand picked virtuosi and we could not tear our eyes away.’

TELEGRAPH on SUNDAY, London

‘The dashing Angel Muñoz is outstanding: he performs an astonishing circle of the stage in tiny, meticulous steps, as if gliding. Peña himself, modest genius of the guitar, bewitches us with the beauty of his solos and the delicacy of a duet with an equal virtuoso on castanets, Charo Espino. All the musical numbers are spellbinding.’

THE TIMES, London

SUNDAY EXPRESS, London

‘Despite his own world-famous virtuosity, Paco Peña has once again demonstrated the generosity of spirit and belief in what he does by facilitating such a seamless, perfectly integrated performance.’

BALLET.CO.UK MAGAZINE, London

‘This is a strong company, poised and chic, on the precipice of flamenco modernity. Whether for the flamenco amateur or the connoisseur, this is the company to see.’

THE STAGE, London

FLAMENCO TRIUMPH - Paco Pena and his ensemble recently enthralled the audience at DFP

'A SINGLE word aptly describes Paco Pena’s two-hour performance: ‘Excellante’.

'The intensity of the music moved in waves of crescendos and decrescendos as the different melodic motifs seamlessly merged from one to the next.  It was simply wonderful.'

'The show was not only passionately authentic, but warm with humour and bursting with rhythmic energy... At the end of the evening, it was only expected that Pena and his ensemble received a standing ovation for their accomplished performance.'

The Malay Mail, Kuala Lumpur

'Peña and his troupe of singers, dancers and musicians exude a powerful magnetism that gleams with vitality and - in Peña's current show - underlines the utterly contemporary nature of this archetypal Spanish art form.'

The Age - Australian National Newspaper

"Paco Peña and his dance company played to a packed house that responded with cheers, whistles mid gales of applause to some of the most virtuosic dancing imaginable by Ramon Martínez."

One of the most striking aspects of the dancing of both Muñoz and Martínez was a phenomenal skill in executing pirouettes, spinning around at speed with the sort of finesse that would leave many an aspirant to flamenco glory - and classical ballet for that matter- burning with envy.

The West Australian

'Led by, Paco Peña — who could be credited with taking flamenco to the masses in much the same way as Luciano Pavarotti did for opera — the extraordinarily-talented ensemble kicked off its tour of Australia and New Zealand to an enthusiastic and appreciative packed house.'

Two passion-fuelled hours and 12 heart-stopping performances later, it was time to bid farewell to the Spanish troupe… Thunderous applause and foot-stomping reverberated around the venue.

Wanneroo Times, Australia

'The insistent clarity of rhythms from each performer is delivered without falter through soles of feet and palms of hands, deep throat calls and fleet finger-clicks, in a staggering variety of beats, syncopations and dynamics.'

'Their encore brought them right back among us, for a wonderful song from Maria del Mar Fernandez, ending in a hilarity of cross over song and dance that will linger long in the memory.'

The Wellington Post, NZ

Music 7, KL