Meet flamenco dancer, Lorena Franco

Lorena Franco’s career

Lorena Franco discovered flamenco for the first time when she was 5 years old at the Nieves Camacho Dance Academy in Cordoba. She subsequently continued her training at the flamenco dance studio of Encarna López and Rafael del Pino, Keko, where she gained more experience in the world of flamenco. 

From 2007 to the present day, she has formed part of the Eva Yerbabuena Flamenco Ballet. The many highlights of her extensive professional career include the collaboration in different shows, such as “5 Mujeres 5”, “A 4 voces,” “Santo y Seña,” amongst others.

Lorena has been privileged to perform as a solo artist in different shows such as, “Rojo y Rosas,” “Devoción y Persuasión. Santas de Zurbarán,” a show produced by the Seville Town Council. She has performed as part of the line-up with a variety of flamenco companies and at Teatro Flamenco Sevilla we have had the pleasure of welcoming her to our stage on a number of occasions, enjoying the passion that she transmits in every performance of our daily, live flamenco show, Passion.

Lorena has also dedicated some of her time to teaching, sharing her knowledge as a dance teacher with Hini Educare S.L. and in the Tempo School in Seville.

On this occasion we have been lucky to be able to chat to Lorena Franco and get to know her a little better with this short interview in which she spoke about flamenco from many different points of her professional career.

Q: Antonio Gades and Carmen Amaya, what words come to mind?

A: I don’t think there are any better words to describe them as virtuoso.

Q: If you had to use one word to describe flamenco, what would it be?

A: It is very difficult to describe flamenco in just one word, because in my opinion, flamenco can evoke different sensations depending on your mood.

Q: What would you say to your younger self?

A: It is difficult to explain, but I would say not to take everything so seriously, after all, it’s a job like any other and, although we have to take it seriously if we are to dedicate our lives to it, I think when we are younger we have certain expectations and we define goals and we put ourselves under a lot of pressure which is not really necessary. This means that we don’t enjoy the moment as we should and we can’t go back and live it again. In the end, in my opinion, we are lucky to feel passionate about our job, but when we are young we could squeeze more out of those moments we experience.

Q: Which artist from the past would you like to have met?

A: More than meeting a particular artist, I think I would like to take a peek at many of them, to be able to look at their day-to-day in all senses and not just a moment in their performance. But if I had to choose one person, I would love to have met Enrique Morente, he’s quite a contemporary flamenco artist but I never met him and I would have loved to.

Q; What advice would you give to any young person who is just starting out or who would like to dedicate themselves professionally to flamenco dance?

A: I would give them the same advice that I received when I was young, you have to work a lot and you have to work very hard and be consistent.

At Teatro Flamenco Sevilla we are grateful to have been able to spend this time with Lorena, enjoying sharing her wisdom and experiences about flamenco. If you want to see how this great flamenco dancer transmits the emotion she feels on stage to her audience, in a unique flamenco theatre in the centre of Seville, book your tickets here, as we are privileged to have Lorena’s participation this week in the weekly flamenco lineup for our daily flamenco show, Passion.