Maria Bermudez supplies a hearty evening of flamenco

Flamenco music and dance at their most vigorous and robust are the specialty of “Sonidos Gitanos/Gypsy Flamenco,” the ever-changing program from the Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera, directed year after year by dancer Maria Bermudez.

Sponsored by the Fountain Theatre, the sixth edition took folk heartiness to comic extremes Saturday at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in the singing and dancing of Enrique Pantoja, an irrepressibly playful performer with a penchant for wild, spontaneous legwork.

Pantoja unleashed eccentric hopping turns in an early solo, lured Bermudez into a spirited duet and, toward the end of the program, offered a nonchalant, light-on-his-feet contrast to the weighty, no-nonsense virtuosity of Andres Pena.

If Pantoja emphasized self-expression, Pena danced as if he had something to prove -- detonating the most complex rhythmic footwork with a kind of generalized vehemence. Technically brilliant, relentlessly forceful, he looked his best in a duet with Bermudez, their steps matching, their styles complementing each other.

An extended final solo by Bermudez ultimately fell apart choreographically (too many sections that didn’t mesh), but the program confirmed her impressive power, stamina and versatility. Early on, she danced in a sinuous, womanly, arm-embellished style, initiating intricate crosscurrents of heel-rhythm. But she exploited a gutsier, more swaggering attack later when wearing a man’s suit, adding such masculine colors as shadowboxing moves and matador flourishes with her jacket.

Often enriched by the soulful viola playing of Rafael Fernandez Viedma and accented by deft box-drumming from Luis de la Tota, the musicianship exuded refinement whenever guitarists Jesus Alvarez and Alfredo Lagos dominated the ensemble.

Singers David Lagos and Miguel Rosendo gave each note a distinctive sense of pain, the former wiry and pleading in tone, the latter husky and explosive. Alvarez soloed in the lilting “La Sonanta,” and Lagos’ moody “Fandangos” featured a sophisticated interplay of instruments and voices.