Follow the sounds of clicking castanets and jackhammering feet as the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival fires up the city from next Friday (September 13) to September 29. Here are the highlights, some of which push the bounds of the form:

La Musica del Flamenco

September 13 at St. James Hall

Sought-after Manuel Liñán Company singer David Carpio (one of the stars of the form) and guitarist Manuel Valencia join Flamenco Rosario’s musical director, Victor Kolstee, in an intimate concert of music that’s as haunting as it is impassioned.

Magnetikae

September 26 at the Waterfront Theatre

In this excerpt from an ambitious new work, Montreal’s La Otra Orilla makes a theatrical meld of two poetic but unlikely themes: flamenco and ice floes.

Nritya

September 27 at the Waterfront Theatre

La Caramelita Flamenco Company’s Deborah “La Caramelita” Dawson explores identity, drawing on her Indian and Malaysian heritage, and her love for the Andalusian-born art form.