When a saxophone soloist walks in playing a rumble of notes at the start of a flamenco show, you know you are not sitting in to watch an ordinary Andalusian tablao.

The cool sounds of Oliver Miguel’s saxophone playing were a clever addition to the innovative programme which Puerto Flamenco put up this year at the Malta Arts Festival.

But the vibrant colours and suave jazziness of Miguel’s sounds were not the only novelty attributed to the show. A slowly rotating mini-arena (specifically designed for the festival), allowed for a perfect view from all possible angles, creating an ever-binding intimate atmosphere from start to finish.

The title of the spectacle alone, the Ring also placed emphasis on the symbiotic effect of performance, a concept explored incessantly among the six artists throughout.

Ultimately, it was a mesmerising array of music and dance, innovatively portrayed as a masterpiece production more than anything else.

In the Ring, company directors and leading artists, Francesca ‘La Chica’ Grima and Andrej Vujicic establish an authentically modern vision towards flamenco, leaving audiences blown away by their utterly creative teamwork.

There was no weak link and the added music-making of guitarists Eduardo Trassierra and Fyty Carrillo, and singer Encarnita Anillo, was synonymous with the international platform of flamenco mastery that these artists belong to.

The fire and intensity, the joyful and the festive, the soulful and the drama are all wrapped up in seven rounds (suggestive of fighting arena scenarios) bursting with innate passion. No phony qualities, no overstated expressions and no clichéd repertory, Puerto Flamenco really get to the heart of the matter. They stand out in their unified relationship between dancer and musician, in the rhythmic complexity of that relationship and in the raw passion surging their artistry.

‘La Chica’ possesses a forceful yet humble command on stage far removed from the showiness and glamour that flamenco often sheds. Sensuously attired in a white tail-skirt dress, her entry on stage in the Alegrias was enthralling, her expressions unyielding in both face and body.

‘La Chica’ is like a chameleon transcending from the most personable into the fiercly impetuous persona. We were given arresting moments of wildness and sweep in the Tangos de Triana, which saw the dancer forming one of the many close alliances with her ensemble as they revelled in the jubilant nature of this number.

Everyone was given a chance to shine and the audience was able to appreciate all the creative endeavours that each artist wanted to share. Nothing was finer than the spine-tingling guitar duo playing of the Tanguillos.

Full of tremendous charm and wit, the duo spoke through music as if for the first time, one weaving guitar strums into the other’s intricate melodic lines. It is this kind of spontaneity which makes flamenco worth watching.

When all four musicians performed the Rumba, we witnessed some of the best musical dialogues of the evening punctuated by an eclectic mix of musical styles.

The added excitement of Vujicic’s percussive playing on the cajon, the rapid series of strong chords heard on the guitars and the sinuous jazzy lines of the saxophone all came together in the most profoundly satisfying way.

Unforgettable also was the impassioned singing of Anillo, who evokes the most stirring of emotions to the sweetest sounding of vocals.

The ensemble culminated the evening with perhaps one of the more complex and somber works in flamenco dancing, the Solea por Bulerias.

Pouring out with relentless energy from both singer dancer, La Chica’s intense staccato footwork was of equal virtuousity as Anillo’s emotional outbursts.

As in many flamenco productions, the happiest moment occured in the finale, when the musicians took to the centre of the arena and strutted their stuff, encouraging and teasing one another to dance.

Fun and festive for all to watch, it also confirmed the genuine and amicable bond which these artists carry with them offstage.