When did you 'get into' flamenco'?

When I was a kid; my brother was a guitarist and had guitar in the family home and I just copied him.

What do you believe to be the essence of flamenco?

Flamenco deals in basic, meaningful, strong emotions that have to do with its history, the social condition that promoted its birth and as such, it holds some kind of message which is best articulated by the human voice, therefore, perhaps the answer is the flamenco voice.

Can we get a sense of the experiences of flamenco's originating communities when watching it performed today?

Well, the show goes back to have a look at the roots of flamenco.  With the help of Jude Kelly and of course, my personal experience, I put on stage a depiction of what flamenco has been in the past.  So in the sense of staging you get a good impression of flamenco communities in different times of its history.  However, the essential thing is the musical experience, in that sense good flamenco, (certainly the flamenco I believe in) always projects the true nature of its roots.

You also incorporate contemporary forms such as tap - how do you decide what will and won't work?

Like I said before, I try to put on stage true artistic flamenco efforts, or flamenco activity.  This applies as much to the tradition of flamenco as it does to the ambition creativity of today in modern times.

The show has been praised for its humour - how is this conveyed?

Its really that I look back at an anecdote of about 100 years ago when, in seeking to outdo one another and, therefore, get even more recognition, artists would do outrageous things on stage.  In this case, one famous guitarist showed off by playing wearing a glove on his left hand and a few acts later the other guitarist, not be outdone, took off his sock and put his hand in it, and proceeded to play in that way.  This grotesque behaviour was nevertheless an indication of how eager artists were to push forward the development of the art form.

If you had to choose between guitar playing and dance.....?

Id choose singing!

To whom do you think the show will appeal?

Well, I hope to everybody, but more specifically, in theatre  terms I can bost beautiful staging because I haven't done it; Jude Kelly did it and its brilliant.  In terms of the music and the artform in general, I have a great group of artists and , therefore, I believe it will be exhilarating to everybody.