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Does the show have a storyline?

I refused to do the typical festival. Though it's not exactly a storyline, not even chronological, it joins all the numbers through the music, and at the same time, through those influences I've mentioned. I do a journey around the eight Andalusian provinces in order to highlight Málaga's influence on each one's flamenco. And I've based myself on projections. For example, if a soleá is danced, we know that soleá is going to be aimed at the first person to dance soleá, who was Trinidad Huertas ‘La Cuenca’, the martinetes by El Planeta, the importance of La Trini as far as the malagueña... An important influence, though many might say the contrary, is that of Anita Delgado. She was the princess of the maharajah of Kapurthala in India and she was a Málaga-born dancer who surrounded herself with the best, among them, Pastora Imperio. We can't overlook that other contribution by Málaga. The maharajah was captivated by the essence that woman had. What did she have? Perhaps that magic provided by her bailes, since she was said to have a special way of expressing herself.

	Paco Mora (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

‘Málaga’ is going to be exported to the other Andalusian capitals, isn't it?

The Málaga en Flamenco office itself is going to take the show to the different provinces. And each province is going to contribute a cantaor, who will do a cante from Málaga and a cante from his own native land. For me, for example, it's a real pleasure to be able to direct Carmen Linares in Jaén. Well, I don't know if I'm going to direct her or if I'm going to throw myself at her feet, but anyway, we'll all try and enjoy ourselves there. And that cooperation there is between province councils seemed very interesting to me. Once it's traveled the eight provinces, I would like to take it out and bring it to Madrid, Barcelona... And in fact, they're already asking me for it in Germany. It's a place which goes beyond my scope, but I intend for it to get around.

What has facing this challenge meant to you, personally and professionally?

To be honest, fear. Not just as far as responsibility, but making my dream come true. Going to Málaga has always been a great satisfaction for me; it's where I've always premiered all my shows. Going to Málaga at the opening of a first-time event so important within flamenco, I'll appear again in some article that'll go down in history, like when I did ‘Salomé’ by Carlos Saura. In the future someone will say: “Paco Mora, who could that bald guy be, standing over there?” That makes a dream come true: doing a show about Málaga, for Málaga and towards the rest. I think it's going to be the start of that other dream of achieving something halfway steady in Málaga with regards to flamenco.

You take on the roles of director, choreographer, scriptwriter, bailaor...

Every time Paco Mora's hired, it's like, we're saving four salaries here. Ha ha ha ha. No, the thing is that teamwork is usually complicated. I always work with a set technical crew where I count on Aníbal Corrado, for example, for the lighting, since he knows what I want.

Sometimes bailaores are criticized for biting off more than they can chew when they direct, choreograph...

I agree. Directing myself is complicated. I direct everybody, I put together the show, but I don't direct the part I take part in. In that case, I rely on the collaboration of Antonio el Pipa for him to tell me yes or no. And in particular, I can identify with El Pipa's baile, he's a guy who hasn't put up a wall between the masculine and the feminine; he makes the feminine masculine and he stresses the masculine, he gives it another different flavor. He doesn't look for other influences not belonging to flamenco itself in order to enhance flamenco. I've decided on it being Antonio el Pipa because today's baile doesn't do anything for me. The old-time flamencos have disappeared; the maestros I learned from aren't there anymore. Finding someone I can identify with is complicated for me.

Firstly, because I'm very isolated from the flamenco world and if you don't have a relationship with the others, you might not be as good. But I make my own decisions and I choose who I want to learn from. I keep on learning from everybody; any kid coming from a dance corps is teaching me. For others, I am capable of teaching, putting together, directing, but I need to keep on growing. And you've got to be humble enough to go on learning, even from other fields. Why can't you learn from Martha Graham or Nacho Duato or watch old videos? The other day I watched one of my maestros, Mario Maya, ‘Diálogo del Amargo’, and they're shows for posterity that have to be kept, like ‘Bodas de sangre’ (‘Blood Weddings’) by Antonio Gades and ‘Medea’ by Granero. We still have some maestros left but they might not teach classes anymore or we're at the point, which I don't understand, where it's considered not to be done. The fact that one day Paco Mora or Rafael Amargo or Antonio Canales sits in on a class by Ciro, to others is something bad, when it really implies that you keep on growing, because who better to correct those arms?

You're especially anxious to design the group's movement. Why are there few choreographers in flamenco?

	"You've got to see a lot of musicals, films about dancing, ballets, contemporary... and transfer it to flamenco's territory"

As a general rule, not everybody is capable of choreographing. Choreography means movement in a chorus; that is, you've got to sketch. You can't do a baile in which twelve people dance the same thing without them moving and there being three movements in a row and three crossovers. No, you've got to sketch. I do really like choreography and maybe there you do have to learn a lot from those new influences. There are other fields that don't truly belong to flamenco which are the ones that really teach us more kinds of movements. You've got to see a lot of musicals, films about dancing, ballets, contemporary... and transfer it to flamenco's territory learning from those other disciplines.

And after ‘Málaga’, what other projects do you have in mind?

If everything works out all right, the ‘Flamencura’ thing is still there. I've been trying to premiere ‘Othello’ for about a year now and I haven't been able to because other things have popped up and I keep putting it aside. I'd love to be able to start putting it together and promoting it around the middle of next year, but I can't make any promises. I have other projects that are also feasible like a television program about dancing which I'm fighting for at Canal Sur. We're there trying to have a look at what we manage to offer and to do different things. I'm also on hold for the latest film by Carlos Saura, ‘Iberia’; a show for a Japanese company; I'm constantly doing my courses... The truth is that nowadays I can say that I can afford to pick and choose what I want to do.

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