Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells opened on Friday 19 June — and the room knew it before a single note had been played.
This is the Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells, a remarkable event that showcases the vibrancy of flamenco.
Brighton Journal attended the centrepiece performance of the 2026 Flamenco Festival, and what unfolded over two hours was the kind of evening that reminds you why people still travel to sit in a dark room and watch other people move.
The Atmosphere Before the Curtain
Sadler’s Wells Theatre has a quiet confidence to it — modern, unfussy, built entirely around the performance rather than around itself. The red curtain hangs heavy and theatrical, the kind that still makes you feel something when the house lights drop.
What struck us most, though, was who had come.
Mothers with their grown sons. Couples who had clearly been coming to this theatre for years. Groups of friends. Men who had come alone. A woman, by herself, settled comfortably into her seat with no one beside her and no need for anyone to be. It was quietly moving — a reminder that theatre and dance don’t ask anything of you except that you show up, in whatever company you have or don’t have.
The café downstairs was full before the show even started — people having a proper dinner, not just a pre-theatre snack. For anyone arriving straight from work without having eaten, it is a genuinely useful thing for a London venue to get right.
Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells — The Performance
The Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells captivated the audience with its energy and passion.
This year’s Gala Flamenca united four of the most significant names working in flamenco today: Eva Yerbabuena, Manuel Liñán, El Farru, and rising star Juan Tomás de la Molía — with Liñán serving as artistic director for the evening.
Eva Yerbabuena, described by the Guardian as “one of flamenco’s best,” brought the technical mastery and emotional depth that has defined her three-decade career. Her stage presence needs no introduction — and didn’t ask for one.
During the Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells, her performance was a true highlight.
But it was the performance built around tradition reimagined — a male dancer in a polka-dot skirt and a sweeping red shawl, performing with the kind of zapateado that seemed to come from somewhere far beneath technique — that left the room genuinely still. Liñán has built his reputation on integrating masculine and feminine expression within flamenco, and watching it in person, in real time, was something else entirely. Pronzительно emotional is the only honest way to describe it.
Every moment of the Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells was filled with excitement and artistry.
There is a particular ritual to flamenco that an audience learns quickly: as the dancers prepare their feet for the zapateado, the audience prepares its hands for what is coming. You could feel the room readying itself before each climax — and then giving everything it had the moment it arrived.
A quieter, more contemplative passage followed — two silhouetted figures standing before a vast blue projection, musicians gathered at the edge of the stage, the guitar and cante carrying the moment rather than the feet. It was a deliberate tonal shift, and it worked: after the fire, the stillness.
The Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells experience left a lasting impression on all who attended.
El Farru — grandson of the legendary Farruco and a former member of Paco de Lucía’s final ensemble — brought a rooted, powerful authenticity that needed no embellishment. Juan Tomás de la Molía, the youngest of the four at just 25, more than held his own alongside three artists who have shaped the genre for decades — described by the Guardian as “a torrent of footwork,” and living up to every word of it.
With each performance at the Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells, the tradition of flamenco continues to thrive.
By the final bow, the entire theatre was on its feet. Every single performer had been extraordinary — and the audience made sure they knew it.
The excitement of the Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells was palpable throughout the theatre.
The Verdict
Attending the Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells is an experience not to be missed.
Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells is exactly what its name promises: a celebration, in the truest sense, of an art form that refuses to sit still. Four artists, four entirely different energies, one shared language — and a London audience that gave as much back as it received.
The essence of flamenco was beautifully captured at the Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells.
If you have any opportunity to see flamenco performed at this level, take it. This is not a genre that translates fully to video. It needs the room, the breath held between phrases, the floor vibrating slightly under your own feet.
The Gala Flamenca Sadler’s Wells demonstrates the timeless appeal of this art form.
📍 Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4TN
📅 Flamenco Festival London continues until 29 June 2026
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