LEGS spraddling, heels thrumming . . . arms tentacling through the

air, head flung back with a flourish of possessive pride -- Cristina

Hoyos dances the Alegrias as if every step had her name stamped on it.

She is truly, a determined and vehement diva whose stamina more than

matches her continuing will to dance. And what if the spine is, these

days, less pliant? A shimmy of fringes on a clever costume beguiles our

eye if it should drift from the eloquent hands, or the commanding,

strutting rump.

There is no denying the passion, or the understanding, Hoyos has for

Flamenco. Traditional forms are celebrated in the second half of the

programme, Lo Flamenco, while her efforts to extend its customary

boundaries are seen in a dance adaptation of Lorca's Yerma.

Despite being a maelstrom of unfulfilled yearnings -- Yerma (Hoyos) is

bitterly childless -- there is a curious lack of heightening tension

until the closing moments. True the dance offers images of conflict,

anguish, desire but these seem bubble-packed, separate, within the

narrative framework while the differing elements within the music

undercut that driving, raw intensity one relies on with flamenco style.

Here, as with Lo Flamenco, the raucous, visceral energy of the dance

took its time to burst through the trappings of polished stage

presentation: cabaret-lavish costumes, a certain routine formality,

practised ''tricks'' in the encore. But, as has long been the case, when

La Hoyos decides to kick up her heels centre-stage, she can't put a foot

wrong with a festival audience.