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Annalouise Paul at Speak Local, Critical Path, 2015. Photo: Heidrun Löhr
realise new ideas, to push and pull flamenco in every possible direction. Some of it worked, some didn’t but every night there was a standing ovation. The traditional is still there in the smaller venues, and equally excellent, it is just clear now there is a market for both; the tradition and the contemporary of Flamenco. I found the Sephardi Museum in Seville, an affirmation that my Sephardi (Spanish Jewry) ancestry holds a real place in Spain’s history books. Sephardi cante jondo or deep song is one of the root elements of flamenco and one of the most profound. Flamenco has
led me to know my cultural heritage through ongoing choreographic research of the art form. But the real test was Juan Carlos Lerida. What would he say about the concepts, themes, my hybrid vocabulary, processes, technique? Would my deeper analysis of the various shows and artists as non-Spaniard hold validity in his eyes? In two short sessions he encouraged every idea, critiqued where necessary and saw more flamenco in my contemporary than I did. Break the compas, use what you have as a tool, flamenco is like