What happens when the raw energy of flamenco meets electronic beats, urban culture and the energy of a live concert? In Carmela, Spanish dancer and choreographer Carmen Avilés proves that flamenco refuses to be confined by convention. Blending dance, music, fashion and a striking visual aesthetic, she creates a world of her own, where tradition and innovation collide in exhilarating ways. Carmela marks the official opening of HDF Weekender, where we push the boundaries of dance and shine a spotlight on artists who challenge conventions, explore new perspectives and invite us to experience dance in unexpected ways.
“Flamenco with a rebellious heartbeat”
A New Generation of Flamenco Takes Centre Stage
Growing up in Murcia, Avilés spent her childhood between her mother's dance studio and the football pitch with her father. Her mother, a flamenco dancer herself, introduced her to the art form at an early age. She later studied dance in Granada before joining the company of internationally acclaimed flamenco artist Joaquín Cortés. Yet it was beyond the traditional boundaries of flamenco that she began to discover her own artistic voice. With few musicians around to accompany her as a young dancer, she started improvising to whatever music she could find, from rock and rap to electronic sounds. That curiosity and openness to different musical worlds continue to shape her work today.
In Carmela, Avilés places dance firmly in the spotlight. No longer simply accompanying the music, movement becomes the driving force of the performance. Together with composer and musician Alejandro Estola, she developed a distinctive musical project that brings her flamenco together with the voices of a new generation of Spanish artists, including Ángeles Toledano. What began as music for a live performance evolved into a collaborative album, which now forms the beating heart of this electrifying stage production.
Forget everything you thought you knew about a traditional flamenco performance. With an ensemble of dancers, pulsating electronic rhythms and bold costumes inspired by urban fashion, Carmela becomes an exhilarating fusion of sound, movement and visual expression.
The raw energy of a music festival meets the intimacy of the theatre, creating an atmosphere that reaches far beyond the stage.
Even from the comfort of your seat, you become part of Avilés' world, where the boundaries between performer and audience begin to blur. For Avilés, challenging artistic conventions is about more than experimenting with different styles. It is also about finding the freedom to be herself. After years of comparing herself to other dancers, she came to recognise that her own experiences, influences and background were precisely what made her movement language unique. As she puts it: "Enjoying dance is more important than constantly pushing yourself to prove something."
With Carmela, Carmen Avilés dreams of taking flamenco to the world's major festivals, where audiences can experience its rhythms and energy in entirely new ways. That same ambition runs through this performance: flamenco that invites you not simply to watch, but to feel.
