The late flamenco practitioner Sharon Sapienza, known for developing the repertoire and style of Spanish Flamenco dance in Spain, considered our country her adoptive home.

The 38-year-old producer of flamenco shows died in 2013 while she was steadily recovering from a heart operation at her home in Malta.

She had gained international repute in Spain, where Spanish flamenco artists adopted her as one of their own and named her ‘La Dora’ (the gilded one) because of her blonde hair.

In the history of Maltese theatre, we can say that only Nicolo Isouard, the baroque music composer, has works still recognised beyond Malta’s confines.

The phenomenon of having a Maltese artist recognised overseas in the proud practice of an indigenous dance tradition – which is exclusively Spanish – is indeed a felicitous exception.

A scene from Sharon Sapienza’s composition Mu-Danzas Boleras. Photo: Merche Burgos.

Thanks to the Sharon Sapienza Foundation, a non-profit voluntary organisation set up in 2015 by Sapienza’s family and friends, we were once privileged to attend a flamenco extravaganza at the Manoel Theatre that was designed and choreographed by her.

Sapienza spent her adult life studying, practising and teaching dance in Spain. Her magnum opus is a complete two-hour show called Mu-Danzas Boleras, which traces the development of the Flemish (hence Flamenco) gypsies’ (gitanos) dance traditions from 1812 to 2012.

Whereas normally one would expect flamenco to be a sober display of tragic and emotionally passionate expressions, with the occasional outburst of allegria, in Sapienza’s composition, we saw a gamut of human inter-relationships expressed mostly with humour through flamenco steps.

We have a duty to make sure that the good that Sapienza did in her short artistic lifetime is never buried away into oblivion

The opera starts with the traditional three couples in traditional traje de flamenca, or flamenco dresses, doing the complicated lightning-fast steps, keeping the beat with the tapping of their characteristic shoes. The constant use of castanets by all dancers fascinated us by its versatility of expression; like when listening to a foreign language song.

In Act II, while the dancers were changing their hard, tapping shoes to soft shoes, they exchanged mimed intimate gestures of expressions of love, treason and reconciliation in the most natural and informal manner.

Act III was supposedly the actual show of the new diva going through all the traditional paces and gradual development of flamenco choreography. Soon the dance master is left alone with a large bottle of wine.

He drowns his artistic frustrations in alcohol.

Another scene from Mu-Danzas Boleras. Photo: Merche Burgos

The consequence is a dream sequence where he is joined by the others who increase his discomfort by seducing the diva away from him. Back to ‘real’ life, the fellow dancers try to sober up the dance master and console him by the promise of a triumphant dance.

The whole company of four couples dresses up in white and in soft shoes. They perform a celebratory dance involving the best of loving human relationships.

The scenario for the climax of the show was an expression of happiness – the result of the love of the dancing activity. Indeed, we were given an ample share of ‘Allegria’, which was befitting for the celebration of an artist’s lifetime achievement award.

We have a duty to make sure that the good that Sapienza did in her short artistic lifetime is never buried away into oblivion. Instead, we should be grateful to her for making her nation proud by her dance art activities in Spain and the rest of the world.

Gratitude is also due to the Sharon Sapienza Foundation for keeping alive Sapienza’s love for flamenco.