That collection of books was called Choose your own adventureEach installment began with a conventional story, but at a certain point, you had to choose between two options. For example, if you boarded a plane, you went to page 21, and if you decided to stay on the ground, you went to page 38. And depending on your choice, you ended up either crashing into a mountain or marrying the girl. Just like real life, only, unlike real life, if you made a mistake, you could always go back a few pages and start over.
I remembered all this while watching Rebirth, a proposal from the flamenco dancer Sarah Calero premiered a couple of years ago, so it arrived well-rehearsed to Jerez Festival. Like in Choose your own adventureArt allows us to dream about the lives that could have been, even to play at living them all. That seems to be the proposal of this Madrid native, a familiar face to the local public for more than ten years, since she was chosen as the breakthrough artist of the competition, sharing the prize with... Alberto Selles: to show on stage her successive metamorphoses, traversing different emotional spaces without ceasing to be herself.
Calero is not alone in this endeavor: two superb flamenco singers appear alongside her, Sergio 'El Colorao' y José 'El Tremendo', as well as the bassist Juanfe Perez, Guitarist Xavier Count and the double bass player Pablo Martín Caminero as a special guest. And as if that weren't enough, she is accompanied on stage by a considerable lighting and audiovisual display around a large curved panel, as was the case in her previous production. finitude, who reflected on transience and death.
"Too much philosophy for the flamencoIf you prefer simpler, more traditional options, go to page 21. If, on the other hand, Sara Calero made you enjoy yourself and even go home pondering who you are, where you come from, and where you are going, go to page 38.
In fact, there are many elements that recall that show: the red robe that stretches across the entire stage appears at the beginning of Rebirth, before disappearing while the singers perform a musical version of the poem Don't save yourself de Mario BenedettiFrom there, Calero and his team revisit scenes such as the masks, or the Mexican skeletons emerging from their tombstones to sway, highlighting in both cases the strong connection between the popular and the ritual.
The pacing is excellent, the visuals are captivating, the band works wonderfully, and, most importantly, Sara Calero showcases her many talents as a performer, not only in flamenco but also in Spanish and contemporary dance, including a masterful command of the castanets and the bata de cola (flamenco dress with a long train). The problem, and it's a common one in many shows of recent years, is that the excess of more or less abstract ideas ends up somewhat disconcerting the viewer, or in the worst case, leading them astray with overly personal interpretations.
Meanwhile, the dancer has been completing her successive metamorphoses, making her dance increasingly playful and carefree, for example in alegrías or tanguillos. If in finitude The idea was to invoke Heraclitus, you know, the Greek who decreed that we cannot step into the same river twice, since life is constant flux and change. In this proposal, however, his colleague from Elea, Parmenides, takes precedence, for whom being is always immutable. Or, in other words, however much we may seem to change, there is an essence that remains unaltered.
Too much philosophy for the flamencoIf you prefer simpler, more traditional options, go to page 21. If, on the other hand, Sara Calero made you enjoy yourself and even leave you pondering who you are, where you come from, and where you're going, go to page 38…
Credits
Rebirthby Sara Calero
XXX Jerez Festival
Villamarta Theatre in Jerez
February 25th 2026
Choreography and dance: Sara Calero
Electric bass: Juanfe Pérez
Flamenco guitar: Javier Conde
Electric bass: Juanfe Pérez
CanteSergio 'El Colorao', José Guerrero 'El Tremendo'
Guest artist: Pablo Martín Caminero, double bass
