Considered one of the premiere living Flamenco dancers, Pagés has been recognised internationally for decades as one of the top performers of the style, with her expressive stage presence and passionate, unique rhythmic interpretations.

[4][5] Critically[6][7] and publicly acclaimed for her personal, aesthetic approach to Flamenco performance, Pagés has long-since proven herself to be the current leading pioneer in the modern understanding of this ever-evolving art form.

María Jesús Pagés Madrigal was born in Seville, Andalucía, southern Spain, where she began dancing at a young age, professionally, with the Antonio Gades Company.

In 1995, Pagés was asked by Irish pianist and composer Bill Whelan to join the cast of his (at the time) new stage production, Riverdance, which had made its triumphant debut as the interval performance in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest and was being developed into a full show.

In the earliest versions of Riverdance, famed Irish-American dancer Michael Flatley occasionally joined Pagés for "Firedance" in a fusion of Flamenco and Irish dance performance.