The director of the Compañía Andaluza de Danza last night had his deluxe show reserved for him with Grilo brother and sister, Carmen and Joaquín, the Sanlúcar brothers, Manolo and Isidro, pianist Chano Domínguez, dancer María Giménez, the singers David Lagos and Emilio Cabello, guitarists Roque Acevedo and Juan Requena, percussionist Antonio Coronel, and dancers from the corps de ballet of the CAD... All overseen and interwoven, with the classical dancer/bailaor giving a touch of class to everything that was danced and, above all, in seguiriyas, the pas de deux (unforgettable the pieces already offered with Javier Barón, Rafael Campallo, and Aída Gómez) together with Grilo.

José Antonio y Joaquín Grilo

The first friend to appear on stage was Chano Domínguez with his blues flamenco ballad 'Alegría callada', introductory motifs of beauty resolved in the masterly notes of the best flamenco-jazz pianist; continuing with bulerías, José Antonio leapt into the aire to other stylized harmonic games, using carefully selected flamenco movements.

Two couples danced Baron's soleá por bulería 'Un ramito de locura', followed by a tender pas de deux between José Antonio and María Giménez, a dance in red and black, fashionably barefooted, developed around a trumpet.

The fiery tangos choreographed by Isabel Bayón - a debut - are danced by eight women, and that which is provocation in Isabelita, in these women branches off into sinuousness, with an original distribution of dancers on stage.

The most applauded moment came in the seguiriyas: Joaquín Grilo and José Antonio come on stage in parallel fashion (to the evocative voices of Lagos and Cabello), Grilo always downstage; José Antonio in black is his shadow, but Grilo gets the upper hand with his flamenco tricks, which leads to a heelwork facing-off (in a less obvious fashion than José Antonio did with Campallo), intense mobility, with Grilo backing down in the end. It was José Antonio's night.

Manolo Sanlúcar

Delicacy of 'Locura de brisa y trino': Manolo Sanlúcar and, on his left, Isidro Muñoz direct the tenuous second part, first to the sound of soleá and afterwards with the terrible verses of 'Gacela de amor desesperado', which Carmen Grilo sweetly sings ('Alacranes me coman la sien...") without making us think too much of the other Carmen, Linares, which is saying something.

'Normas' brings the second solo turn for José Antonio, who travels over the stage moving and evolving through a long veil of the same color as the guitars ('Azafrán'), although his personal vision with facial interpretation, keeps him from following the compás in depth. Next comes the bulerías with Sanlúcar's mark, and Grilo and María appear amidst the corps de ballet of the CAD, all in a swirling vortex to highlight José Antonio's closing pose.

Enrique Soto
Villavencio Palace, 19:00

Enrique Soto

They came on stage basking in the previous night's glory. Paco Jarana and Enrique Soto were important components of Eva la Yerbabuena's show, whose music was signed by the same person who opened the recital with the earthy minera and, with the singer, breezed through the alegrías with counterrhythms, a specialty of the eldest of Sordera's sons; three spartan, Levantine cantes, with a certain roughness of Rojo el Alpargatero; difficult to limit the soleá to its old forms the way the most characteristically Sordera voice of the four brothers did; tientos-tangos in low gear, a galloping and sure bulerías with a fandango encore in the final stretch of a performance which was dedicated to his father who was present alongside his mother, Lela, and his uncle Enrique. He may not have the power of Vicente nor be as flexible as Sorderita, but this cantaor, one of the best singers for dancing in the world, is owed a debt by the other two for the production of a record.

Luis Clemente
Translated by Estela Zatania