Skirts swish, feet stamp, colours dazzle and the pounding rhythm of flamenco fills the air.

You can almost feel the sun blazing down on a little Spanish square.

But this is a pub forecourt in Glemsford... on Boxing Day.
Soon the swirling petticoats and the beat of the dancers' feet will make way for the local Morris men.

For two years now the men with hankies and bells have had company on their regular pitch outside the Black Lion – and at other village events too.

The exotic rhythms of Spain are now almost as familiar in Glemsford as their very English folk dances.

It's been that way since a group of women started disappearing into the Methodist Church Hall every Thursday night. Once a week they swop everyday lif for stamping feet, a flouncy skirt and – very important – an arrogant stare.

And even if it's sometimes so cold they have to dance with their coats on they wouldn't miss it for the world.

In the words of their tutor Jackie Coote, flamenco is life: its joys and sorrows, passion and pain.

It can be fast and dramatic, or lyrical and sensual, and so hypnotic some dancers reach a state called duende where they are almost in a trance.

It's also a bit like patting your head while rubbing your tummy, says Jackie who started the classes after moving to Glemsford almost three years ago.

The graceful arm movements are as important as rapid-fire footwork. But putting the two together takes some getting used to.

Lynn Britton, 54, joined classes with Sharon Porter who works with her on reception at Glemsford's doctors' surgery.

"I've always loved dancing but can't bear things like aerobics which are so boring. A good stamp gets rid of all the stress," she said. "We sometimes practice behind the desk at work in quiet moments.

"Patients get used to hearing us tapping out the rhythms, although it's more of a muffled thump because we stand on carpet.

"Part of the fun is dressing up. I couldn't stop now, I've got too many frocks. And you get to wear colours you would normally never dream of putting together .... lime green, fuchsia pink, bright orange.

Lynn and Sharon's husbands, Roy and Bill, help the group on the technical side and are known as El Roadies.

Class member Pauline Currie's previous brush with the performing arts, in an amateur panto, left her unimpressed, but the fire and passion of flamenco has her hooked.

"This certainly beats being a scrubber in Widow Twanky's laundry," she says.

"When you're performing, even if it doesn't go quite right, the adrenaline rush carries you through.

"It's nice to see people's reactions when you say you do flamenco. They really do a double take.

"And physically I don't creak quite as much as I used to when I get up out of a chair," said Pauline, 50.

London-born Jackie, 53, of New Cut, Glemsford, said: "I started going to classes about 14 years ago and from then on I became really obsessed with it. People do, it's such a lovely thing to do."

She took lessons three or four times a week, danced semi-professionally and joined a group called Las Curvas Peligrosas.

Their name came from a road sign they spotted in Spain. "It sounded great, even though we didn't know what it meant –'dangerous curves'."

Jackie fitted her passion for flamenco around her day job as an artist and art therapist.

But when she and her graphic designer husband Pete moved from London to Suffolk she found herself in a flamenco desert.

She countered her withdrawal symptoms by holding a few workshops.

"People were really keen and wanted to do it regularly so I set up in the church hall.

"It's great exercise and great fun, and we do a lot of laughing.

"And you don't have to be 18 and built like a stick insect. Some of the best flamenco I've seen has been danced by people in their 60s and 70s."

Flamenco is rooted in Spanish gipsy culture and dates back to the 15th century.

Down the years its haunting songs and dramatic, sensual movements told of their fight against oppression.

"It expresses the joys and sorrows of life and it such a passionate thing," said Jackie. "The dances can be happy or sad. Some are about loss and death and suffering.

"It was the songs that came first and they are the most important part. The dancing and the guitar evolved later."

And for women, there is something else that makes flamenco irresistible. The fabulous frocks – fitted bodices, huge circular skirts and brilliant coloured petticoats.

"We all finish up with rows of costumes in our wardrobes and often we make our own," said Jackie.

But there's nothing quite like the real, Spanish McCoy, especially for traditional shoes with steel toe and heel tips.

"Last time I went to Spain I had to pay excess baggage on the plane home because I brought so many skirts and shoes for everyone," she added.

But how hard is it to master for Brits more used to clumping through puddles in wellies?

Jackie's solution is bite-sized chunks. "If you break it down they are all very simple steps.

"You learn to put it in the right order - and not panic. It does take practice, but with a bit of work people surprise themselves."

And when you've got the rhythm in your feet, it comes out all over the house.

Glemsford's flamenco fans favour the kitchen for brushing up their footwork. Their hands might be in the sink, but their feet are in Seville.

Some practice while washing up, Jackie does it while waiting for the kettle to boil.

The group, which has eight regular members, knew they had really arrived on the Glemsford scene when they were invited to join the Little Egypt Morris Men to dance on Boxing Day 2004.

Now it's a regular date and they call themselves the Little Spain Flamenco Group in honour of their Morris mentors. They also appear at fetes and danced at this year's Glemsford fun day.

Men or women who would like to learn flamenco can contact Jackie on 01787 282815. The group would also love to find a flamenco guitarist to join them.