Form and Fire at Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Festival, 2026: A review of Esther Merino’s En Tierra de Hombres and Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía’s Tierra Bendita

The performance of Tierra Bendita, by the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, at the Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Festival, 2026. Image credit: Teresa Montellano

In Esther Merino’s En Tierra de Hombres, a suite of songs, flamenco courses through the body like fire, burning without consuming. 

As Merino sang over the course of an hour, her voice reached across anger, love, and despair. Her hands and face moved to fit each song, following her voice—her hands trembled; she shook and flung her palms apart, screwed up or averted her eyes. Sometimes the conclusion of a song brought Merino to her feet, a dancerly flourish to the music itself. Her body became an extension of each piece, its conduit. Merino embodied her pieces. My only complaint, here, was that she—comfortable at the centre of Lillian Baylis Studio, columnar in a shimmering dress—was such a poised performer that I could not entirely believe her absorption in the emotional worlds she sang into existence, even within the well-chosen intimate setting of Lilian Baylis Studio.

Manolín García provided phenomenal accompaniment to Merino on the guitar, deserving special mention. Not till my evening at Sadler’s Wells had I witnessed an instrument so fully come to life through the skill of its player. The guitar settled in with Merino’s voice, absorbing and amplifying the humanity of her songs with a voice of its own. Also in the band, two percussionists clapped a perpetual rhythm that ran alongside Merino’s voice. With two microphones each, one for voice and one for clapping, it was clear that every part of the performer’s actions on stage was part of a lively, enveloping whole. Interspersed cheers from this ensemble—classic interjections in flamenco—were sometimes echoed by an engaged audience, drawing everyone in.

Merino’s whole figure was involved in her singing, the richness of the guitar playing seemed to render the instrument an extension of human flesh, and the body itself became key to keeping up a complex beat.

In Tierra Bendita, on Sadler’s Wells’ main stage, flamenco emerged as splashier, more colourful, still moving. The audience was unfortunately quieter, the cheers of the previous performance giving way to the conventions of silence in the face of a major stage. 

This more extravagant work spanned contemporary to traditional forms of the dance, and incorporated many aspects of the art form from song to dance, to spoken word and castanets. The ninety-minute show was a true celebration of flamenco, pushing the body further, putting dancers into conversation with each other through dramatic choreography and striking spotlights, and even integrating the musicians into its staging.

Highlights from this latter performance included a dance with traditional costume—shawls designed by Bordados Foronda and frothy yellow skirts, whose luxurious flounces moved animatedly with the body. Everything was in motion in this piece, from quick feet dancing in high heels with an assertive rhythm to the swirling of shawls. The dance contrasted with another high point in the show, a solo performance with castanets that grew into the foundation for a new dance, as performers joined the solo percussionist on stage; he seemed lost in the thrall of his own playing, but he moved the world around him. Harkening back to Merino’s performance, playing the castanets was clearly an embodied experience: the instrument held so closely in the hands, the whole body moving with impressive agility, control, and emotion to drive the momentum needed to make the castanets clap in time.

Leaving the theatre after a contagiously triumphant event, I heard an abundance of audience comments in Spanish and English; the scope of the festival clearly attracted a multicultural crowd, affirming the art form’s status in Spain as well as abroad. Indeed, all dialogue and any audience interaction across both shows took place in Spanish—a decision that felt right, immersive, in keeping with the world of the festival.

Established in 2001, the Flamenco Festival at Sadler’s Wells continues to display creative vitality through the decades. All facets of flamenco—dance, song, guitar, percussion, and even fashion—combine into one varied yet profoundly unified expressive language. Deeply grounded in tradition, modern flamenco at Sadler’s Wells emerges as perpetually, powerfully in development. 

Till next year.