Flamenco showcase presents ageless passion

Jairo Barrull is the show’s take-no-prisoners young firebrand. He prowls the stage, periodically invoking the spirits with raised arms, then explodes into brief staccato outbursts, light reflecting on his shiny black shoes with every flurry of blistering triplets and high, angled kicks. He jumps and squats, his knees and ankles swiveling side to side with machine-like speed and precision, as if on ball bearings. Occasionally he throws his jacket partly off his right shoulder, a macho fighter threatening to engage.

Angelita Vargas, a star of Broadway’s “Flamenco Puro’’ in the 1980s, is a stocky, sensuous earth mother of a dancer. At 61, she’s more soulfully dramatic than flamboyant, and she dances more introspectively, as if channeling the muse and conveying a story with each tilt of the head and cast of the eyes. Loose hips roll atop solid footwork. Hands both beckon and banish with curling expressive fingers. At her most urgent, she hikes up her skirts, unleashing a furious volley of stomps, the singers gathering around to feed the flame with their palmas (hand-clapping) and throaty keening.

But Vargas also knows how to have fun. By the end of the “Solea,’’ she saucily plays for a moment to the audience and musicians, then sashays offstage with a flourish of red polka dot ruffles.

Karen Campbell can be reached at karencampbell4@rcn.com.