Dance company Puerto Flamenco is made up of two of the most vibrant, passionate people I have ever had the pleasure to know – the husband and wife team of Francesca Grima and Andrej Vujicic.
Born and bred in Malta, Francesca “La Chica” Grima has been dancing flamenco professionally for over 12 years. Together withe her husband, they have been living in Seville, Spain for the past 10 years.
“It has been an incredible journey of self-discovery, a rollercoaster adventure that has helped me gain insight into the most essential things in life. I feel incredibly privileged and happy to be doing, together with my husband, the thing that I love most. I’m very proud to be a Maltese flamenco dancer!” she says.
The choreographer says that they have been lucky enough to have performed at amazing festivals around the globe. Last year was especially successful for them as they performed in Paris, United States, Australia and Northern Europe.
And this weekend they will be back in Malta with a highly-anticipated event – the international premiere of the ground-breaking production called the Ring, forming part of the Malta Arts Festival.
A year in the making, the enterprise involves a custom-designed 360º miniature Colisseum specifically built for the event, with limited seating and an exclusive opportunity to experience a creative flamenco venture the Andalucian way. Just 17 metres in diameter, the ring provides tiered seating in-the-round, and a small, circular revolving stage in its centre. Drawing inspiration from the original flamenco context – juerga flamenca, the Ring presents exciting opportunities for back-to-basics authentic expression as well as innovative artistic dialogue.
“About a year ago we wrote the mission statement for the show: ‘don’t change flamenco to fit the stage, change the stage to fit flamenco’, so we had to attempt to do something that hasn’t been done before,” she says.
The artiste calls the Ring their most personal and most experimental production to date. It proposes a deliberate move away from the interpretation of flamenco as a spectacle and one towards a return to the authentic flamenco context.
“The physical proximity to the performers and limited seating gives the audience a unique opportunity to get close to flamenco like never before,” she explains. “Also, the content of the show had to change to make it more intimate. However, this does not mean that the show is traditional; on the contrary it is a quite a contemporary interpretation of the flamenco genre with some understated theatrical elements.”
This year Puerto Flamenco has a special guest line-up – legendary guitarist Fyty Carrillo, singer Encarnita Anillo, saxophone player Oliver Miguel and young guitarist Eduardo Trassierra. Present as always will be Andrej Vujicic.
“Coming back to perform in Malta is an immense pleasure and a big challenge at the same time,” concludes La Chica.
“We feel the warmth, excitement and acceptance of our Maltese audience. This is also a challenge as it pushes us to reinvent our productions and offer different angles and concepts, without straying from our original formula.”
• Puerto Flamenco’s Ring is being presented at Villa Bighi Gardens, Kalkara on Saturday, Sunday and Monday with shows at 9 and 10.30 p.m. Tickets may be obtained online at www.maltaticket.com or from Agenda, Exotique, Bookends, Newskiosk and Mdina Kiosk. More information may be obtained from www.maltaartsfestival.org or www.puertoflamenco.com.