María Pagés exports 'Flamenco Republic'
and 'El perro andaluz' to Japan

The Seville-born bailaora's company to perform in twelve Japanese cities

Flamenco-world.com

Fans in Japan are getting excited. The María Pagés Company is going on tour in the land of the rising sun in twelve cities from September 18th to October 5th, 2002, with performances of 'Flamenco Republic' and 'El perro andaluz', including a stop at Tokyo's Orchard Hall Theater. The Seville-born bailaora is hoping to repeat last season's success, when she had the flamenco show with the highest attendance in the past five years, taking 'La Tirana' to three places in the island nation.

Tokyo, Tachikawa, Umoniya, Senday, Fuyi, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Lizuca, Kumamoto, Nagasaki... María Pagés is getting the tour ready with pleasure: "Japan is always an interesting place to go to, since it follows my work quite closely despite being so far away". In fact, the bailaora has been receiving e-mails from her Japanese followers ever since advance ticket sales began. And that attitude really catches her eye, since "it's a genuine fan phenomenon".

María Pagés recalls that in previous tours, "the doors at the theaters are full of girls, especially - most of the crowd is female - who have a photo taken with you and then they even send it to you with their dedication". It's not unusual for them "to follow you to the hotel and not dare to ask you for an autograph until the last second". The bailaora sees these ways as a true sign of "fidelity".

María Pagés knows that Japan is a place where "they've understood what I'm trying to do". In the past four years, the bailaora and choreographer has been there nearly ten times to perform in her own shows as well as in 'Riverdance', the successful show by Bill Whelan. María Pagés concludes from these experiences that "although it's always a hard tour, people give you the support you need to make it through".

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