Flamenco is a Spanish art form that originated in the southern regions of Spain, particularly Andalusia, and is made up of three elements: singing (cante), dancing (baile), and music (toque) . It is a complex art form that incorporates poetry, guitar playing, dance, polyrhythmic hand-clapping, and finger snapping. Flamenco is strongly influenced by the Gitanos, or Andalusian Roma, who migrated from Rajasthan, India to Spain between the 9th and 14th centuries, bringing with them musical instruments such as tambourines, bells, and wooden castanets, and an extensive repertoire of songs and dances. The roots of flamenco, however, are somewhat mysterious and also seem to lie in the rich cultures of the Sephardic Jews and the Moors.

Flamenco songs fall into three categories: cante jondo (“profound song,” or “deep song”), cante intermedio (“intermediate song,” also called cante flamenco), and cante chico (“light song”) . The cante jondo, whose structure usually is based on a complex 12-beat rhythm, is thought to be the oldest form. It is characterized by profound emotion and deals with themes of death, anguish, despair, or religious doubt. Flamenco dance is a highly technical dance style requiring years of study, with an emphasis on lightning-fast footwork performed with absolute precision. Flamenco is a state of mind, an art form that conveys the deepest emotions, usually melancholy and sadness, and remains a quest for authenticity, for the pure expression of those human feelings that are both uniquely, intimately personal, and universal.