this week

What a week!

Sharon Sapienza is over here from Seville this weekend, not to dance this time but to present Soniquette Flamenco at the Manoel Theatre

Interview by Zillah Bugeja

This is the first time I am not actually performing with a production I am presenting in Malta. It is a very different pressure I am undergoing this time.

Running rehearsals which started in mid-October and running the production, is very challenging.

The idea to give Malta a second flamenco show at the Manoel is mine – the last show I had brought to Malta was Los Farrucos in 1996. I felt it was time for another show. I thank the Manoel Theatre management who agreed with me on this.

I have been producing a number of shows in Seville and thought it was now time for another in Malta. After Malta we will go on to the European Youth Festival organised in Ankara with the same show.

It was I who decided that the show should have this title, Soniquette Flamenco. The main reason is because today flamenco is getting more and more intricate and enriched with a fresh and complex sound. "Soniquete" comes from "sonido" meaning sound, and believe you me, the audience is going to hear it.

Although I am passionate about flamenco, I like other types of dance, absolutely. I like most dance forms. In my early teens I did Spanish dance simply to widen my dance knowledge. I have always been very involved with various performing arts. My first love was classical ballet. I originally wanted to choreograph contemporary dance, my dream was the London Contemporary or the Martha Graham School in New York.

If I am in a phase of production then I am up at 8am and the day is long, these past two months are an example. If I am actually running performances I would get up later because the shows would finish late and when the show is a success then we have an even better show in private. That sometimes ends in the early hours of the morning.

I do not have a typical day, it all depends on the projects I am working on. But the most beautiful time of the day in Seville is twilight, most especially when I am crossing over the bridge from the centre of Seville to Triana where I live.

Unwinding, when I actually do manage it, is to have a good chat with friends, a night out and a dance floor with good music.

In my early days I heard flamenco from morning to night on my small hi-fi, and this went on for many years. Now, I hardly listen to flamenco at home these days, I feel it is because I like to hear it when I really pay attention to it. I preferably want to hear it live. I watch many shows and I am in numerous rehearsals. When I am at home I hear all sorts, from African to classical to Björk.

There are many great people who have encouraged me in the world of dance. Starting from Malta, principally ever since a very young girl, I would say Vivien Fielding. "You must go and get on with it," were her soft words in my ears every time she came to any school show or evening show I did at BJ's. The first time I came to Spain for a Summer course I took a class with Maria Mercedes León. She gave me a very tough time and at the end of the course she insisted I took flamenco seriously. By then I had already taken that decision myself. Flamenco to me, means the start of a new life.

José De Udaeta was the founder of this course and also helped me in convincing my mother to let go of me at 17. When in Seville, my principle teachers were Matilde Coral and La Familia Farruco. Matilde used to tell me: "You do not say a word, you just dance!" This is so that they would not notice my foreign speech. This worked on several occasions. With Los Farrucos, I would not know where to start to say how they pushed me and what they taught me.

There is a positive and strong, ever-growing interest in Flamenco in Malta and I hope everyone will enjoy the shows. I know they are all going to learn a lot from it.

My passion in life is principally to be healthy and strong enough to fulfil all of my passions and dream, as there are many.

There are many things that I can’t do without, but at some point I have had to live without all of them for one reason or the other. There is only one thing I have never lived without and that is love. I do not think I can ever live without love in my life.

When I am running a rehearsal I wear normal, comfortable casual clothes. I drink lots of water, and food? We eat only if we get the time to eat.

Before a show I usually enjoy a tot of whisky and a toast with the company. On a regular basis I enjoy eating good food, I am very particular with what I like and what I dislike, drinking my dad's red wine is one of my greatest pleasures.

On a regular basis I am fond of dressing elegantly and yet comfortably, I wish I could say the same about my shoes, I feel better in heels – even if they kill me.