Flamenco is a gypsy dance with origins in India and Africa. Mixing their own Indian-influenced culture with existing Moorish and Spanish traditions, the gypsies set much of their dance to Jewish and Christian music over time. Hence, by the 1700s, Flamenco began to take on the form we know today.

The show was beautiful, bright and emotional . . . altogether energetic! The dancers even performed scenes from Carmen, the very famous story of a gypsy woman brought to work in Sevilla's Royal Tobacco Factory. Some of the dancers' moves were so fast that the camera could only catch a pretty swirl of color. It has been my experience that regular 35mm cameras work much better than digital when it comes to high speed Flamenco!

The performance took place at the cultural center Casa de la Memoria de Al-Andaluz, housed in a beautiful 16th century mansion in the labyrinthine Barrio Santa Cruz. The center stages two flamenco shows every night (9pm and 10pm), apart from Fridays and Thursdays when they feature Sephardic music and other Andalucian 'specialties'.

The setting was simply magical, with an elegance that was far removed from the burlesque and almost decadent Los Gallos. The show took place on a typical Sevillian domestic patio, overgrown with flowers and plants hanging off the wrap-around gallery above. The audience was seated around a small stage, very close to the performers, which made my impressions all the more powerful. Watching the two dancers, a woman and a man, do their magic right in front of me, with the passionate sounds of the guitar and the wavering voice of the singer filling the space so beautifully, I felt that I was witnessing a very real Andalucian moment, when all that matters are your senses, fully engaged and satisfied.

Flamenco dancing is certainly interesting to see a few times. The costumes are colourful and the dancers very skilled and work very hard. It is no mystery why they are all thin. It was suggested to us that if you want to see 'real' flamenco you don't go to the touristy places, you find out where the Spaniards go.