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She says she learned about choreographic work mainly from José Antonio: “The movements on stage, to make sure the spectator is always watching different things, that nothing seems to stand still. I'm very fond of precision when you come to trace out the pattern, but at the same time it shouldn't stray from flamenco.” To sum up her winning formula for choreography, there should be three essential ingredients: “It should be true flamenco, with not too many people and with the outline well-defined.” And she combines this with the music, especially with the instrument she adores: flamenco guitar. When it comes to her preferences in musical accompaniment, she affirms that “I love cantaores that sing in an authentic flamenco style, but at the same time I like to be able to ask them to do something different - to come up with a special tune, and not just popular lyrics. One that has the flexibility to adapt to new things.”

María José Franco (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

And with the guitar, the same applies. María José Franco looks for her shows to have “a common thread running throughout, for everything to be linked somehow. Not just one piece then another - everything should have a reason for being there. It shows if you're just killing time while you change costume. I like just as much work to go into the cante as goes into the choreography.” And that's something she's learned from the veterans, who she takes every opportunity to listen to. She tells us “the other day Felipe Maya was saying something here (at the tablao Corral de la Morería) which intrigued me: that these days dancers take a lot of trouble to get good guitar accompaniment, but they don't worry so much about the cante.” She explains that “everybody makes sure the opening falseta is gentle, and that it develops in a certain way... But it's true that people don't worry about the cante. At least, if you're going to sing for a woman, sing her a lyric that fits with her style.”

All these things are going round inside her head while she prepares her next project. She doesn't want to reveal too much for the time being, but she tells us this much: “I want to create my own company and launch it with a new show that is about Cadiz. It'll feature a dance troupe, and the music and lyrics are being composed for me. Right now it's the biggest challenge I face, and that's saying something.” And talking of Cadiz, is there a trademark of Cadiz baile like there is for Cadiz cante? She assures us there is: “There is a kind of air about it. I think when someone from Cadiz sings or dances por alegrías, for example, there is a unique flavor, fresh - just like the people of Cadiz, fresher, wittier, cheekier. I think that also filters through into the dance, just like Seville has its trademark and Granada too. Each place has a different effect on its people, it's funny.”

And as well as your birthplace, your idols also influence you. María José Franco agrees with her fellow artist Fuensanta la Moneta (read interview). And she points to three major influences: Carmen Amaya, Manuela Carrasco and Eva Yerbabuena. Although she adds a fourth name, that of Juana Amaya who she's admired since she was a girl: “I was her biggest fan, I copied her and everything (she laughs). And she knows I'm a fan of hers”. With influences like that, it's clear she leaned toward bailaoras with charisma, “the forceful bailaoras. And then there's Eva Yerbabuena - I just love everything she does and how she does it.” She knows what she likes: “people criticize forcefulness, but I prefer bailaores who get the message across, it's more important than the choreography itself. Sometimes you make a mistake up on stage, and you just do it like it comes out. That's why I look closer at what a dancer is capable of expressing, than at what they're actually doing. And I love the way Juana gets through to people, I really like her little details... just like Eva's, of course”.

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