This new production reunites Paco Peña and his long term collaborator, director Jude Kelly, for an exploration of artistic wisdom and the fearlessness of youth in search for new expression. SOLERA features both young and mature performers, demonstrating that age is an essential element in the process of turning raw artistic talent into a refined art-form.

Andalucía, in Southern Spain, has for many lifetimes produced fine wines in a system that stacks oak barrels in several layers. Young wine enters the highest barrel and given time flows down, nurturing its best qualities, until what remains is a delicious wine that can only be achieved with age. The mature solera of the older generations enriches and refines the best qualities handed down to the young. Flamenco is not a written tradition, but one handed down from one generation to the next, constantly striving to find different ways to express; the best of performances will incorporate part of what has been created before by the great practitioners of the past.

Image description: An image of a flamenco dancer shown only from shoulder to knee: a tight red sleeveless dress outlines a slim body, falling from below the hip into tiers of ochre ruffles. The right arm extends out to the left, the wrist bent down at ninety degrees, fingertips tensely spread. The wall behind is richly marbled in rose, copper and black.