It starts with two guitarists dressed in black with story-telling shoes. They sit and we hush. Then with a knowing look at each other, their fingers begin our passionate musical journey. Arte Kanela Flamenco have come from Melbourne specifically for the inaugural Hawkes Bay Arts Festival and are hailed as Australia’s most exciting force in the Flamenco music scene. Led by the talented team of brothers Richard and Johnny Tedesco, with them tonight is also a drummer and another dancer. A Woman. 

The drummer appears and sits at his kit. We are treated to a small taste of snare with slight jazz overtones integrating the passionate melodies of the guitars. Johnny Tedesco appears, also dressed in black, and wearing his heeled shiny black patent leather boots. Then he begins. His footwork is fast, rhythmic, syncopated, dynamic, and hypnotising. The woman appears wearing the first of three different costumes she will treat us to throughout the show. 

They dance together face to face, answering each other’s gestures with their own. He has an intensity that flares his nostrils, she has a muscular grace that liquefies her torso. It is like watching a naked flame dance in an open fire. His movement language is bolstered with accents from the guitars and drums which his head, arms, hands, and feet acknowledge and answer. She, also speaks with her body and her feet answer the call of the musicians, sometimes furiously. 

There is an intense intimacy between the musicians and the dancers. Sometimes it seems the dancers are telling the musicians what to play and sometimes it seems the musicians are calling the dancers. Either way, the layers of what we are seeing and hearing is a complicated abundance of syncopated rhythm and passion. The musicians and dancers alike, are all communicating with their eyes, their smiles, their movements, and their music. 

The dancers seem like magicians, their hand movements plucking in mid-air, winding around themselves, opening and closing a jacket, lifting and flourishing a skirt. I feel it is possible to see the echo of deep historical roots this dance form has from the depths of Indian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures. 

The audience relish this passion and as we stand and ovate with returned energy and passion, we call “ENCORE….ENCORE….” They give us the gift of one more. We are satisfied, and left wanton. Delicious.