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And why do you think people are so afraid of collaborating - of artists sharing projects and working together?

Funnily enough, at a conference I took part in recently in Seville I spent half the time speaking about that. I'm a difficult customer and people know how obsessive I can get with things. But it's something I can't understand. The only reason I can see is fear and a feeling of individualism. Nobody wants to share their ideas... like if they were made of gold! You get really mad when somebody takes one of your ideas, but you don't work with people who might do that, you work with people you trust, who can give you things. I spoke with Israel Galván about working with him, and with Eva Yerbabuena too. They both said yes and for both I've already got the idea and the music lined up, although obviously they'll have their say. I don't know if one day the projects will see the light of day. There are no dates, you don't set deadlines. When I spoke to Eva she said she wasn't afraid, that she had no problem about getting together and working with me, but she has no time, she's incredibly busy. I hope that one day we can do it. There comes a time when you get bored with yourself, and that's the point I've reached.

Belén Maya (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

With Rafi it was like a rebirth. There's one solo that was a true catharsis, where I take my clothes off, but not all of them... because nobody on the flamenco circuit would offer me work (laughs). Well, a lot of people just remember that detail of the show. I needed to do that solo with that music and that idea, I did it and that's it. And now what? Right now I'm fine, I'm really happy, I don't have any crazy ideas to take to the stage and I don't need any form of catharsis to cleanse my soul. I don't feel like creating anything new, which worries me a little. I'm waiting for stimuli to reach me from the outside world. Rafi and I work very much from within, building on our inner sensations, on our problems, on our fears. Now it's probably time to receive some external input, that's also why I called Israel and Eva. I don't feel an inner inclination to do something with Mayte, nor solo. Since we're always driven to create by stress, by difficulties, by sadness... now nothing's driving us to create. I want to know if I could be driven to dance by happiness because we're not used to that.

Apart from your feelings, where else do you draw inspiration from?

I build up lots of images. When I want to do something they start to come to me. I can visualize the wardrobe for a number before the choreography is done. I see the type of costume and the color, I'm very visual. For the soleá from ‘Flamenco de cámara’, I saw myself with a white or grey dress, and it all started like that, with a vision. What you do then is to make it real. Then when I listen to the music, movements and images come to me. I also go to see a lot of movies and dance, even if it isn't flamenco, and I get a lot of ideas from that. Later I try to translate those ideas into my language, which is flamenco. Music is fundamental. On the contemporary dance scene, for example, there are plenty of people working without music, but that's hard for me. I need to listen to a voice, a guitar, or to some kind of music. Lately I've been trying to work that way a lot, in silence. What I'm trying to do is start off in class and when I'm alone working in silence. At the start of the rehearsal what I try to do is search for the movement unaided, without anything to draw it out, let it come of its own accord. That's what I'm trying, to see what I come up with, although it's hard for me.

And it’s not just flamenco music...

In ‘Fuera de los límites’ the number I dance in 'bata de cola' is classical guitar, Andrés Segovia. There are two numbers by an Argentinean group called De la Guarda, they work in New York and their work is theater-circus, with wild, very aggressive music. In the last three years I accumulated a lot of pent-up aggression, and I told myself I had to find an outlet for it. I signed up for Thai boxing classes and I told Rafi, "you're really angry, too, but you don't get rid of it. And in this game you have to find a channel for it..." (she laughs)

And is that the ‘Matrix’ kind of number?

Exactly. We both play Lara Croft kind of characters. And I told her we were going to slip boxing technique into that number. And it's really cool, really full-on, really aggressive and fierce. And the truth is there's a ferocious element within flamenco disguised as something profound... Bullshit! It is ferocious and that's that, a desire to kill somebody, but with no kind of motive beyond aggression. There are also very sad numbers and others are so sweet like the 'bata de cola' pieces. There's a little of everything. In another one we have a good laugh, something we flamenco artists also find difficult. We want to explore the avenue a little further, but Rafi is so busy with her company...

Another key figure is your father, Mario Maya. What kind of relationship do you have with him?

It was a great burden. Personally I always rebelled against it, tried to distance myself from him, be different, create my own language without being influenced by him. In the end what you do is you draw on that stuff, because you come to terms with the fact that they're your roots, and that your father and mother - Carmen Mora - have a technique and a style which is really your own. And that was really special realization. From that moment on, the relationship we have is much more relaxed, although we never got on well together at work because he has a way of working that I don't like myself. On the one hand, you want to show him respect, and if you're part of his company you try to do your thing and not get involved in anything else, but it's really hard for me. On the other hand, though, you have your vision of how things should be. Lately we’re getting on better because I'm more relaxed. What I got from him was very much on a subconscious level, not directly, there was no transfer of ideas where I went to study with him. It's very tricky, but there's always something special about working together. I'm someone who found my own niche, and he's the same. I'm very proud and he is too. We're very much free spirits. And we don't understand each other. He likes what I do, but he never quite knows why. He understands that you have to stick to what you do well... Mayte thinks that way too, I have people like that around me. I don't understand why you can't go a step further and take a risk with things you never did before. He says people don't know where to pigeonhole me... and he's right, but I don't care.

	Belén Maya (Foto: Daniel Muñoz)

Speaking of taking risks, what would you say about the creative scene within flamenco dance?

We're islands. I feel isolated. We're islands of people who have created a very personal language, each one their own isolated and very complex world. Since nobody has the time or the inclination to share these worlds and to see what they have in common, to research and draw conclusions, we're still isolated. Israel does his thing, Eva does hers, Andrés Marín does his, Rafaela hers... Each one of them comes up with their own production and that's it. You ask for a public subsidy, you do the show, but later the show doesn't take off, except for Eva's because she works harder. There isn't really a circuit, or maybe the circuit is just for certain people, I don't really know why. This seems to be becoming more and more a case of: apply for public funding to get a project off the ground, première it, and bury it - you put it in a bottom drawer and do another the following year. I think if there were research work and we cooperated with each other on projects, everybody would benefit hugely.

Do you feel that isolation too with respect to the other arts?

Sometimes I get projects. For example, for the last Festival Bienal de Sevilla they wanted to put on an art exhibition, and each artist was going to choose a bailaor to prepare the choreography to go with their work. And a sculptor called me, he showed me his project, and I really liked it. It was very interesting, three statues of women hanging from the ceiling, quite stunning. The idea was for me to choreograph a piece I would perform in that space, film it and then show that at the exhibition. It all came to nothing because they didn't give him the funding. And then I get a lot of calls asking me to speak at conferences. One project I have in the pipeline - let's see if it sees the light of day - is a book where I want to compile the responses to a questionnaire I ask the girls to fill out on the dance courses. At the courses I give the girls a questionnaire with their own questions about baile flamenco. It's very interesting because I give courses around the globe, and the responses change a good deal between, say, Japan and Brazil. I'm going to ask a journalist to put it all together to make a comparative study of how and why women overseas study flamenco, because really it's a fascinating phenomenon.

And when it comes to flamenco artists' attempts at literature... we're not really educated people in flamenco, almost none of us has a literary training, not even the basics. We've read very little, or isolated snippets, we don't have the background to publish writing, nor to take those things to the stage, because none of us knows anything about mise en scène or about theater management. How do you expect to direct a show if what you know about is flamenco dance? I think the most honest thing to do is to look for people to help you, people who share your vision and approach, and get them to help you to make it a success. I think flamenco artists are very inquisitive about everything, about painting, about music, about poetry, but we don't know how to represent them on stage. Take the example of Israel Galván with Pedro G. Romero. It's like me with Mayte Martín: it's the perfect match for him. When I saw ‘Arena’, I couldn't believe my eyes. Israel has his own well-established choreographic language and his means of expression and his code, but as well as all that, that show is really well presented. The dance kicks ass because it's Israel, but you put that kind of dense, modern choreography without a decent contextual framework and you don't understand a thing. I wish I could find someone like that but… well, one day I will.

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