Sara Baras: I’m Sara Baras. I have had a flamenco company for 27 years. And I love what I do,

My first memory with flamenco was at school. I was very little, studying in a military school because my father was in the military. And I think one of the first things that I danced was a Colombian number, from the flamenco singer La Susi. And I remember that fondly. It was… dancing was a game.

The truth is that I’ve been very lucky with my teachers. And the first one was my mother. My mother had a very special way of teaching because she never went up on stage as a dancer. But she was a terrific teacher. So that made us not follow or imitate a way of dancing, but she managed to bring out the personality of each one. And… The truth is that I think that that has been super important for me. I owe my mother a great deal.

With the show Vuela, we celebrate 25 years of the company, and we do it paying homage to the master because… not only for what he symbolized at a professional level, but also for what he symbolized at a personal level for me.

It’s full of details dedicated to Paco de Lucía, but our evolution is also there, the evolution of the company in these 25 years. I think he has been one of the teachers that helped me the most since I started, his advice and his manners not only in his art, but also his closeness, it left a huge mark on me.

The way of creating is very beautiful because… it starts from an idea… There’s a part for the girls, where they start the choreography, another part with the music, the costumes, the lighting, and we start merging them. Because we work on them separately, with nobody seeing the other, and when we start merging them, they themselves, and even I, discover… the magic of the fusion between the elements that make up the show, that a show must have its own identity, and it must have, as we mentioned, a message as is the case with Vuela. So it’s very exciting to see that.

I think that it’s really important to… not trying to play what you are, but being what you are. And that makes you… find yourself every day with 100% of your dedication, to be able to feel every silence, every note, every applause, and that makes you grow. It’s like life, the ones that no longer feel curiosity, get a bit stuck, and the ones with curiosity, don’t stop growing. This is the same.

What’s my expectation for flamenco in the future? Well, I’m there. I’m there. I think that I still have a few years, if God allows it. But I think that I still have time there. I hope we’re able to value all the beautiful things this art has. If you do it with care, and if you do it with honesty, and with dedication, I think it’s something wonderful.