dance

Paco Pena started playing the guitar at age 6 in his native Andalusia, and has been on a European tour ever since. He founded Centro Flamenco Paco Pena in Cordoba, Spain. He became the Rotterdam Conservatory's first professor of flamenco guitar. He became a resident of London and created a smash-hit West End show. He's even been honored by the king of Spain. This Sunday, for one show only, Pena and his small troupe of dancers and musicians will show Kimmel audiences what the art of flamenco is all about.

Even with all of the international success and fame, Pena has preserved the true intimacy of flamenco, which is an improvisational and emotionally volatile art form. Flamenco artists do not follow musical scores or choreographic notations. They spin out their art in reaction to each other, and to the audience. It's as vivid and visceral as any art experience in the world. You don't have to speak Spanish to understand those passionate guitar sounds or wailing voices or the responding stamp of the feet. Pena and his company will have a general idea of where they want to go artistically, but the route they take getting there will be discovered onstage.

In Spain, you'd be sipping wine at a late-night club with fabulous singers, musicians and dancers who'd let the smoky mood, the audience and their artistic inclinations lead them. Pena's bringing his solo guitar work, as well as genuine flamenco dance and music interactions (smoldering, seductive) to Verizon Hall's vast spaces. It's not Andalusia, but Philly's going to feel a whole lot warmer with this troupe in town.

Paco Pena Flamenco Ensemble, Sun., Jan. 29, 3 p.m., $34-$56, Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999.