LEGENDARY flamenco guitarist Paco Pena sent sparks into a dank November evening with a fiery fiesta of virtuoso music, dance and song.

Flamenco Sin Fronteras sees the maestro turn his attention to what happened to the Spanish tradition when it cast up against the shores of Venezuela in the 1900s.

It opened without fanfare with a languid solo by Pena, starting in darkness and then picked out with a spotlight. As if spontaneously stirred into action, a male dancer squeezed passed him to start a thrilling dance of tightly-focused passion, each move of the arm of heel a study in precision.

Simply staged by Liverpool’s Jude Kelly, the six black clad Spanish musicians formed a quarter circle on the left and their Venezuelan counterparts in white on the right, on wooden chairs against a plain black curtain. With smiles and encouraging words passing between them it gave the impression of a local gathering at a village hall.

The first half saw sequences by Spanish performers alternate with sets by their Venezuelan counterparts. After the regal Charo Espino performed, all meltingly fluid arms and fingers striking poses, came Venezuelan Daniela Tugues whose more expressionist movements suggested birds and washing clothes to the mellow, Caribbean-infused sounds of the maracas, bandola and mandolin.

Picking out highlights was almost impossible.

One was a routine by Angel Munoz who danced to nothing but the sound of his own drumming heels and finger clicks. It was mesmerizingly intense. Another was an African drumming solo which worked up into such a pounding frenzy of fingers, palms and even feet on instrument, movement passed into a blur. The shawl-clad female singer was a joy – every blistering note accompanied by a warning waggle of the finger.

The second saw the two halves meet and meld together, with even a light-hearted stand-off between the two groups, egging the other on to try their hand at the other’s forte.

Emma Pinch