"I'M ON A PERSONAL
 QUEST …"

Interview with
Silvia Salamanca
by Marcel Bieger and Konstanze Winkler

We saw you perform , and you did a wonderful flamenco fusion with an intriguing choreography. It seemed to us that your performance was partly a little dark and partly a little light hearted, or to put it different one time optimistic and the other pessimistic.

Yes! Flamenco draws from the gypsies that arrived to south Spain in the 12th century, where they developed this art form after 2 centuries of migrations and prosecution. In flamenco the artist expresses a lot of the sufferings of the human soul, or the self when it suffers from forces or cultures trying to banish its identity ... and also expresses a lot of the joy of being alive and pride of one’s own roots. So, with these premises, I try to show to audiences the broad range of emotions that Spanish gypsy or flamenco has to express ... and so I did yesterday. First, the struggle, then the breath of air and the joy! Olé!

After watching your videos, you seem to approach the flamenco in many different ways. Do you believe that flamenco is a sort of fertile ground on which you can grow any plant you like or which way do you look at it.

As in any style, there are no limits to creativity. We just need to acknowledge our roots and honour the tradition, and after that, if we want to experiment, we are free to do so and keep creating and keep making art evolve. I think this is one of the essential parts of human soul and genius. So yes!

Who creates and tailors your most beautiful outfits (especially the hair is a work of art).

Hahahahaaaaa!!! Myself!!! Many hours collecting bits and pieces and jewellery and sewing it into headbands and dreads and bras and belts ... (superglue comes in handy sometimes ...) Hahahaaaaa!!!! It takes forever, but I love it!!!