For the silver-anniversary edition of the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival (which runs Saturday [September 12] to September 27), hosts Rosario Ancer and Victor Kolstee mark 25 years helming one of North America’s leading flamenco events. Their 25th celebration offers a retrospective work by their own company, as well as a series of visiting productions.

Fast-Forward Rewind by Flamenco Rosario, with local guests, is the second part of a work that brings together excerpts from two acclaimed, earlier productions—1997’s Raices and 2013’s La Monarca—selected and adapted to form a new piece that shows the hybrid character of flamenco, as well as evoking the transformational journey of Flamenco Rosario from its roots in traditional forms to its symbolic wings in contemporary creations such as La Monarca, inspired by the monarch butterfly. The show takes place on September 26 at the Waterfront Theatre.

For other tangy flamenco tastes of salt and earth from Canada, with strong Andalusian spices, we suggest:

La Música del Flamenco (Centro Flamenco, September 20)
Hosted by guitarist Victor Kolstee, this show features local luminaries and singer Angelita “la del Lito” from Spain.

Arbolé (Waterfront Theatre, September 24)
The collaboration between Fiona Malena, known for her imaginative style and musical approach, and the virtuosic Karen Lugo draws inspiration from the forests of Andalusia. Also on the bill is traditional flamenco by Victoria’s Peña Flamenca.

Tiempos (Waterfront Theatre, September 25)
This solo performance by Toronto’s Esmeralda Enrique explores our relationship with time. It’s on a double bill with Vancouver-based Palma Performing Arts’ Penelopeia, which brings together elements of flamenco, contemporary clásico dance, and Greek folk styles to tell the love story of Penelope and Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey.