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Flamenco is more popular than ever. But is it really a fiery glimpse into another world - or just a lot of stamping? Judith Mackrell investigates

Thursday February 9, 2006
The Guardian

At night, London's Hanway Street transforms itself from a grubby side alley into a kind of Spanish mini-break. Even on a wet Friday in January, heat radiates from its tiny cluster of bars and restaurants as punters queue for San Miguel or relive their holidays over plates of tapas. But Visar Pacarada, manager of Costa Dorada, admits that it is on the nights when live flamenco is on offer that the crowds in his restaurant are biggest, and the atmosphere sparks.

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The British love flamenco. While some of Pacarada's customers admit they enjoy his flamenco cabarets simply as a background buzz, a novelty atmosphere, to a regular like Graham Shooter they are the focus of the evening. "To me, these dancers seem really authentic. There's a passion there. It's not like anything British." And when Shooter confides that flamenco makes him feel that he's getting "an insight into the real Spain", he joins a very long line of British romantics who see this dance as an expression of the Hispanic soul.

(leer +) [vía the guardian]