Flamenco is a complex Spanish artform that includes music, singing and dancing. People often associate it with expressive female dancers - but what role do women actually play in flamenco?

Rosamaria Kostic Cisneros is a Spanish-Serbian-American dancer, sociologist and dance historian. Her family is of Roma origins and her mother taught her how to dance flamenco at a very young age. Rosa is a team member of the dance and Flamenco sections for the RomArchive, an international digital collection promoting and preserving Roma arts and culture, and a researcher at Coventry University’s Centre for Dance Research.

Caroline Planté is a flamenco guitarist from Canada and one of the world’s leading female performers. She learnt to play from her father, a flamenco virtuoso, and started performing at the age of 14. After moving to Spain, where she accompanied the country’s top performers, she published 8 Reflexiones, and became the first woman to compose and record a solo flamenco album.

Produced by Alice Gioia

(Image: (L) Rosamaria Kostic Cisneros, credit Koko Zin Photography. (R) Caroline Planté, credit Hervé Leblay.)