No fancy fluff | Puerto Flamenco - Siéntese

March is always an exciting month in the flamenco calendar, marking the annual pilgrimage of students and enthusiasts to the South of Spain for the Festival De Jerez, a two-week-long celebration of flamenco culture in Jerez De La Frontera, including courses and shows by the brightest and best on the scene. But for those Maltese who had to stay home this year, there was a rare treat in the form of the Seville-based Flamenco troupe Puerto Flamenco's latest production - Siéntese.

After a year spent touring Europe and Australia, the troupe - directed by Francesca Grima and Andrej Vujicic - returned with a new line up, featuring the cream of Seville's famous tablao (or flamenco theatre-restaruant) El Arenal.

Siéntese means 'be seated' in Spanish, and the show is an homage to the tablaos of Seville, which provide an arena for the artistic development of dancers and musicians alike. The relatively small Manoel Theatre was transformed magically into one such space, the set recalling a typical tablao - two round tables and a few chairs - with one departure: a backdrop of chairs suspended mid-air.

This last detail speaks of Puerto Flamenco's attitude to the genre. Currently, flamenco walks a line between a traditional style on the one hand, and more recent trends which incorporate a variety of influences on the other. While in traditional peñas and tablaos, flamenco clings to its gipsy roots, elsewhere, the art has moved from being grounded in communal tradition to a more theatrical art of self-expression.

An increasingly globalised art form which seeks to communicate with an ever-widening audience, flamenco is often fused with a number of styles, such as contemporary dance or Jazz. Puerto Flamenco have shown themselves to be concerned with both these aspects of flamenco.

Their last show, Ring, for which they had a circular set built, showcased this notion perfectly, the space at once providing the intimacy and possibility for artistic exchange of a traditional flamenco juerga, even while exploring the conceptual space of a 'ring' in all its varied meanings, and allowing for a dialogue between flamenco and different genres, such as funk and jazz.

With Siéntese, flamenco is stripped almost bare. Theatrics taking a back seat, we are transported to a traditional tablao, with flamenco at its most basic: a dancer, communing with singers and musicians, giving to the show a sense of immediacy. Of course, Puerto Flamenco do this their own way, with effortless style. Once again, they brought their blend of full-throttle flamenco, clever rhythmic play and pure passion to the stage - and it was enough to get even a usually relatively conservative Maltese audience cheering and whooping ecstatically.

The dancers took centre stage in this show, each of the three presenting a very different style. The Maltese Francesca 'La Chica' Grima opened the show with a Taranto, the sensuality and charm of her style of flamenco winning the audience over with ease.

Next was the young and uber-talented Moises Navarro, who has performed with Rocio Molina and recently joined the company of legend Eva la Yerbabuena. He entered with guns blazing to perform his Romance, stunning the audience with his fiery performance. Finally, Antonio Castro 'El Antoñete', who is also the artistic director of 'El Arenal', danced with a more understated and elegant style, yet delivered no less passionately than the other two. The three dancers were supported by the two powerful voices of Moi de Morón and Trini de La Isla, the playful guitar of Ruben Romero, all driven by Andrej Vujicic's artful beats, adding a trademark groove to the proceedings.

Once again, the members of Puerto Flamenco displayed what keeps them endlessly interesting as artists, and inspirational as people: their relentless drive towards an art which sincerely expresses the self. Here, there is no need for extravagant theatrics, or fancy fluff. One gets the feeling the show would go on, whether the audience decide to take their seats or not.