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Flamenco

Flamenco is a Spanish music and dance form developed in Romani communities in Andalusía, Spain.

The Romani people are traveling court musicians from Northern India who brought influences from the road through Persia, Turkey, the Balkans and Europe. The southern route brought influences from Israel, Arabia, and North Africa.

Flamenco came together in Andalucía, Spain. From there, it came to the Americas. Cuban traditions made their way back to Spain as Cantes de Ida y Vuelta (roundtrip songs). The Cajon (box drum) is now considered traditional Flamenco, but it comes from Cuban Rumba. Spanish Flamenco legend Paco de Lucia brought one home from a tour in Peru.

Purists complain that she is not from Andalucía, but Flamenco Pop singer Rosalía from Barcelona has led a global Flamenco Renaissance. It doesn’t have to be “pure” to be good, and when people talk about purity, you better check your pockets.

Flamenco NYC News

April 7, 2022

Apr | May | Jun

Flamenco Show

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca dance Spanish Flamenco at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Tue-Sun, Apr 5-10. From $51. 🇪🇸

Flamenco Festival

The 20th Flamenco Festival NYC 2022 presents Compañía Manuel Liñán “Viva!” at New York City Center in Midtown, Fri, Apr 22 at 8pm. From $35. nycitycenter.org 🇪🇸

The 20th Flamenco Festival NYC 2022 presents Gala Flamenca with Mercedes Ruiz, Eduardo Guerrero, María Moreno and special guest María Terremoto, Sat, Apr 23 at 8pm and Sun, Apr 24 at 3pm. From $35. nycitycenter.org 🇪🇸

Latin Music | NYC Dance

20th Flamenco Festival NYC 2022
Returns to New York City Center

Flamenco Festival New York City Center 2022 (Marcos G. Punto/NYCC)
Flamenco Festival New York City Center 2022 (Marcos G. Punto/NYCC)

The 20th Flamenco Festival NYC 2022 with Mañuel Liñán and a Gala Flamenca is at New York City Center in Midtown, Fri-Sun, Apr 22-24. From $35. nycitycenter.org 🇪🇸

nycitycenter.org

“Viva!” is Flamenco in Drag with Manuel Liñán and six men performing as women. In Spain, Flamenco is a very traditional community, so for Spain this is wild. But the men can really dance. It’s great to feel the joy of being whoever you want to be.

Gala Flamenca is an exquisite taste of the many flavors of Spanish Flamenco. Mercedes Ruiz is known for her virtuosity. Eduardo Guerrero is loved for his wild solos. María Moreno dances the traditional Flamenco of Cádiz. María Terremoto is a rising star, the youngest winner of the Giraldillo Award for New Artists at the Seville Flamenco Biennial which is one of the world’s most respected Flamenco festivals.

In the past, present, and future of Flamenco, there is something for everyone at New York City Center. ¡Olé!

Nélida Tirado Flamenco (Lisa Greenberg)
Nélida Tirado Flamenco (Lisa Greenberg)

NYC Flamenco Presenters

* Thank you for sponsoring New York Latin Culture Magazine.

New York Flamenco

CCC St Veronica

The Creative Cultural Center St Veronica is the home of the Arts Flamenco organization and dance studio. It’s one of NYC’s few studios that allows Flamenco dancers to practice. artsflamenco.org 🇪🇸

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The Year in Flamenco NYC

April Flamenco NYC

Soledad Barrio

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca dance Spanish Flamenco at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Tue-Sun, Apr 5-10. From $51. 🇪🇸

Flamenco Festival

The 20th Flamenco Festival NYC 2022 presents Compañía Manuel Liñán “Viva!” at New York City Center in Midtown, Fri, Apr 22 at 8pm. From $35. nycitycenter.org 🇪🇸

The 20th Flamenco Festival NYC 2022 presents Gala Flamenca with Mercedes Ruiz, Eduardo Guerrero, María Moreno and special guest María Terremoto, Sat, Apr 23 at 8pm and Sun, Apr 24 at 3pm. From $35. nycitycenter.org 🇪🇸

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May Flamenco NYC

Workshop/Performance

A Palo Seco presents a Flamenco workshop and performance at Flushing Town Hall in Flushing, Queens on Sat, May 14 at 1pm (Workshop $5) and 2:15pm (performance $12). 🇪🇸

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June Flamenco NYC

Fronteras

Flamenco Vivo Fronteras is at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Tue-Sun, Jun 21-26, 2022. 🇪🇸

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November Flamenco NYC

International Flamenco Day

UNESCO’s International Flamenco Day is Wed, Nov 16. 🇪🇸

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Previously in Flamenco NYC

Flamenco Vivo’s Peña Flamenca NYC brings Spanish Flamenco Tablao to the 4W43 Ballroom in Midtown, Manhattan on Fri, Mar 18 at 7:30pm. $35. 🇪🇸

Nélida Tirado: Dime Quién Soy dances traditional Spanish Flamenco con sabor Caribeño for the CUNY Dance Initiative at Hostos Center in Mott Haven, The Bronx on Sat, Mar 12 at 7:30pm. Free with registration. 🇪🇸🇵🇷

Danza España presents Mosaico Flamenco at the Thalia Spanish Theatre in Sunnyside, Queens, Fri-Sun, Mar 4-20. From $40. 🇪🇸

February 2022

Nélida Tirado: Travesia Flamenca brings traditional Spanish Flamenco to Joe’s Pub in NoHo on Sun, Feb 27 at 7pm (6pm doors). $30. 🇪🇸🇵🇷

Nueva York Flamenco City & Juana Cala do the Flamenco at Terraza 7 in Elmhurst, Queens on Sat, Feb 26 at 8pm. $15. 🇪🇸🇧🇷🇺🇸

Flamenco: inside/out (Cristian Puig, Peter Basil with Leslie Roybal) plays Spanish Flamenco at Bar LunÀtico in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn on Wed, Feb 23 from 9-11:30pm. $10. 🇪🇸🇦🇷🇲🇽

Flamenco Vivo Tablao is at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village, on Sat, Feb 19, 2022. $50. 🇪🇸

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Nella Rojas, the Venezuelan Flamenco Jazz singer and 2019 Latin Grammy Best New Artist, at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village on Mon, Feb 14 at 8pm & 10:30pm (6pm & 10pm doors). From $25. 🇻🇪

January 2022

Nélida Tirado Flamenco performs New York Puerto Rican Flamenco at Chelsea Table and Stage in Chelsea, Manhattan on Sat, Jan 29 at 7pm. 🇵🇷

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca dance Spanish Flamenco at The Joyce in Chelsea for two weeks, Tue-Sun, Jan 25 – Feb 6, 2022. From $26. 🇪🇸

Flamenco Vivo Musicians of Flamenco are at 4W43 Gallery in Midtown on Fri, Jan 21, 2022. $35. 🇪🇸

December 2021

Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernandez perform Spanish Flamenco at Drom in the East Village on Sat, Dec 11 at 8pm (7pm doors). 🇪🇸

Flamenco Vivo Holiday Fiesta, a Zambomba, the Andalusian Christmas caroling tradition, is at 4W43 Gallery in Midtown on Fri, Dec 10 at 7:30pm. $35. 🇪🇸

Albert Marques leads a Mediterranean Dialogues Flamenco Jazz Jam at Terraza 7 in Elmhurst, Queens on Thu, Dec 9 at 7pm. Free. 🇪🇸

The Albert Alabedra Trio plays Spanish Flamenco influenced by Miles Davis “Sketches of Spain” with a Spanish wine tasting at The Cecil Steakhouse (Minton’s) in Harlem, on Wed, Dec 8 at 7pm. $75. thececilharlem.com 🇪🇸

Barbara Martínez records personalized vinyl records that make very special holiday gifts, on Sun, Dec 5. Preorder only $20. 🇻🇪🇦🇷🇪🇸

Barbara Martínez sings Spanish Flamenco at Addictive Wine and Tapas in Jackson Heights, Queens on Sat, Dec 4 at 8pm. Free. 🇻🇪🇦🇷🇪🇸

November 2021

Bárbara Martínez sings Spanish Flamenco for Alegrías at La Nacional in Chelsea on Sat, Nov 27 at 8pm. 🇪🇸🇻🇪🇦🇷

Rosario Flores sings Flamenco Pop at The Town Hall in Midtown, Manhattan on Thu, Nov 4 at 8pm. From $79. 🇪🇸

Alberto Alabedra plays Spanish Flamenco at Pangea in the East Village on Thu, Nov 4 at 7pm. $25. pangeanyc.com 🇪🇸

October 2021

The Flamenco Vivo Gala is at the Hotel Chantelle Rooftop in the Lower East Side on Thu, Oct 21 at 7:30pm. From $150. flamenco-vivo.org 🇪🇸

Lara Bello and Granada Sounds sing Spanish Flamenco at Terraza 7 in Elmhurst, Queens on Sun, Oct 17 at 7pm. $10. 🇪🇸

The Flamenco Certamen USA 2021 Finals are at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center on Fri, Oct 15 at 7pm. $35. flamenco-vivo.org 🇪🇸

Albert Marques leads a Flamenco-Jazz jam at Terraza 7 in Elmhurst, Queens on Thu, Oct 14 at 7pm. $10. 🇪🇸.

Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernández and other Spanish immigrants celebrate Indigenous People Day at Columbus Circle on Mon, Oct 11 at 4:30pm. FREE. 🇪🇸

September 2021

The Albert Alabedra Band plays Spanish flamenco jazz at Drom in the East Village on Thu, Sep 23 at 7pm (6:30pm doors). 🇪🇸

Flamenco archive

Flamenco Festival NYC

Flamenco Festival New York City Center, Flamenco Festival Madrid and World Music Institute are New York Latin Culture Magazine flamenco festival sponsors.

Flamenco Festival

Flamenco Artists

Los Aurora

Sunday, March 29, 2020
WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE
LE POISSON ROUGE
Greenwich Village, NYC
–
An entertaining blend of flamenco, jazz and rock that is part of the Nuevo Flamenco movement out of Barcelona, Spain.
–
Sponsored by
World Music Institute

Continue Reading Los Aurora

Rosalía

Sunday, January 26, 2020
62nd GRAMMY AWARDS
Los Angeles, California
The Spanish flamenco pop singer performed and “El Mal Querer” won Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album

Continue Reading Rosalía

Jesús Carmona

Wednesday, August 7, 2019
LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS
Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center
Charismatic Spanish flamenco dance star of the new generation brings one of his more personal shows to New York. Arooj Aftab opens with Sufi rock.
–
¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Continue Reading Jesús Carmona

Farruquito

Friday, February 22, 2019
THE TOWN HALL
Midtown, NYC
“Greatest flamenco dancer of the century” (The New York Times)
–
¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Continue Reading Farruquito

Dorantes

Thursday-Saturday, March 22-24, 2018
FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
DIZZY’S CLUB
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER
Columbus Circle, NYC
One of the great flamenco pianists plays a concert of “Flamenco Meets Jazz.”
–
Sponsored by
¡Jazz at Lincoln Center!

Continue Reading Dorantes

Angelita Montoya

Friday, March 16, 2018
FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
ROULETTE
Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
From one of the great Spanish flamenco families, she built this show around the female poets of the Generation of 27
–
¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Continue Reading Angelita Montoya

What is Flamenco?

Flamenco is a Spanish art form with influences from many cultures. What became flamenco originated in Asia with the Romani people of Rajasthan in northwest India who were traveling court musicians. You can recognize the fiery flamenco hands in Indian classical dance.

The tradition absorbed many influences on the journey from India to Andalucía, the southern tip of Spain, and the very end of the European peninsula. Andalucía was the center of Islamic, Spain. You can hear the call to prayer in flamenco. Being only 9 miles from Africa, Andalucía absorbed African culture too. The “jaleo” dancing with wild abandon and feeding off the cheers of the audience is a form of African call and response. We don’t know if that element came from Africa or people just do the same things everywhere.

From Andalucía, proto-flamenco came to the Americas, absorbed American traditions in Cuba and Peru, absorbed jazz and made the round trip to Spain where these American traditions became standard flamenco.

NYC’s big flamenco celebration is the Flamenco Festival NYC in March. There is regularly flamenco tablao at New York City’s Spanish social clubs, La Nacional in Chelsea, Manhattan and Centro Español de Queens in Astoria, Queens.

Flamenco is “pure” Spanish, Romani, African, Muslim, Jewish, Persian, Indian, Cuban, Peruvian & American

Flamenco is one of the those things that proves that among humans, nothing is pure. We are mixes of one another.

Spaniards will tell you that flamenco is theirs, and it is, but it is really a blend of many cultures. Flamenco is a Spanish blend of Romani, Muslim, African, Jewish, Persian, Indian and even Cuban and Peruvian traditions.

The Romani people, traveling court musicians of northern India, carried their music to the end of the world, Andalusía. They absorbed many traditions along the way. You can hear the Muslim call to prayer in the music. The fiery hands of flamenco dancers have an obvious root in Indian temple dancing. I recognize flamenco hands from my childhood in Bangkok. Thai classical dancing also has an Indian root.

Columbus, conquistadors and then Spanish treasure galleons sailed to the New World from Andalusían ports. Romani people and their music came along.

In Cuba, the American end of the Spanish slaver/galleon route, flamenco guitar mixed with African drum into the spectrum of what we now call jazz and Latin music. That is why jazz and Latin music, even reggaeton, blends so well with flamenco. There is already a common root.

Cuban flamenco traditions also went back to Spain as cantes de ida y vuelta flamenco (round trip songs). The Cajon, the box drum that is now considered a standard flamenco instrument, is an Afro-Peruvian instrument that Spanish flamenco guitar legend Paco de Lucía brought back to Spain from a South American tour in the 1980s.

We are mixes of each other and have been migrating since we could walk. Those who claim purity are often setting you up to be robbed or abused. Don’t believe it. Anyway, the mix is what makes us beautiful.

Flamenco is a Family Tradition

The roots of Flamenco are medieval. The Romani people were traveling court musicians from northern India. Flamenco is originally, and in some ways still, a family tradition.

Flamenco Shows

Flamenco Yolanda Osuna on stage (Bodgancaraman/Dreamstime)
Flamenco Yolanda Osuna on stage (Bodgancaraman/Dreamstime)

New York is a city of theaters and we have gotten used to seeing flamenco in theaters like New York City Center, the Joyce Theater and other venues. These are choreographed flamenco shows. The stage form of ópera flamenca begins around 1910.

Flamenco Bars

Flamenco bar Tablao El Cardenal in Córdoba, Spain (Vdvtut/Dreamstime)
Flamenco bar Tablao El Cardenal in Córdoba, Spain (Vdvtut/Dreamstime)

In Andalusía, Spain’s southern province, you can see flamenco tablao in legendary bars. This is Tablao El Cardenal in Córdoba, Andalusía, Spain.

Flamenco families learned long ago that they could make a couple of bucks dancing for travelers in the local tavern. Flamenco tablao is improvised, though it is still a show.

The Golden Age of Flamenco (1869-1910) was in these bars or “cafés cantantes” (music cafés).

In New York there is flamenco tablao at La Nacional in Chelsea; Circulo Español in Astoria, Queens; and a few other places around town.

Flamenco Families

Latin Dance Flamenco (Vdvtut/Dreamstime)
Latin Dance Flamenco (Vdvtut/Dreamstime)

John Singer Sargent’s large painting “El Jaleo” (93 in x 138 in) from 1882 gets closer to home. Hispanic Society in Washington Heights, NYC has a smaller version “The Spanish Dance.”

Sargent made the painting after a trip through Spain and North Africa in 1879. Flamenco’s origins in Spain are many hundreds of years earlier, but we are closer to the root.

The artist may have had a stage in mind, but the room also looks like a cellar, a large space where a family could gather and make some noise without attracting unwanted attention. Romani are still today a marginalized people. In marginalized communities, you want to do your thing without drawing the authorities.

“Jaleo” means a ruckus, racket or pandemonium. To some of us that’s just a party. “Jaleo de Jerez” is a particular Spanish dance. “Jaleo” also refers to surprisingly complex form of flamenco clapping, stomping, clicking and shouting out support.

Back in the day there was no internet, television, radio or movies. Only large towns might have a theater. At the end of the day there was basically nothing to do. So after dinner families would get together and entertain themselves.

Dancing in front of your family is an expression of membership in the family, but also your individuality within the family. If you made your living as an entertainer, this was also a chance to practice. If your crush was visiting, dancing was an opportunity to show off without your parents getting mad at you. Children who heard these rhythms since the womb would dance for the delight and approval of family elders.

So this is how flamenco begins. It’s a family celebration that provided entertainment and passed family traditions to the young. The same type of thing occurs around the world and still does today.

Look at the dancer. She is dancing flamenco, but could be practicing her Balanchine ballet technique hands. She could be dancing Cuban rumba, Puerto Rican bomba or reggaeton. We do the same thing today when we jump out and dance inside a circle or two lines of dancers, just like they did on the Soul Train dance television show in the 1970s.

We found Sargent’s “El Jaleo” while searching for the meaning of El Jaleo in the classic Dominican merengue “Compadre Pedro Juan.” You can translate it literary, or as a call for a particular style of merengue, but what the singer really means is to dance freely, with abandon.

That is what flamenco is all about. It’s an invitation to both connect with your community, and lose yourself. So don’t just sit there. Show your stuff. Get up and baile el jaleo (dance the jaleo).

¡Olé!

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