Aire Libre: In America, Who Gets to "Flamenco"?

Every year, like clockwork at the beginning of January, my social media feed begins to show targeted ads featuring dramatic imagery and videos of flamenco artists from across Spain. Images of dancers in bright dresses posed against a highly contrasted background. All this is in preparation for the annual Flamenco Festival where Spaniards from all over the Iberian Peninsula descend on New York City as part of the NYC leg of the showcase.

Founded in 1996 by Miguel Marín, the festival has worked as a promoter and presenter of some of the top flamenco artists in the world. Artists like Paco De Lucia, Maria Pages, Rafael Carrasco, Pastora Galvan, and more of the top names in Spain come to present work at spaces like City Center, Joe’s Pub, Symphony Space, Town Hall, and more. An absolute treat for anybody who is a fan, enthusiast, student, or practitioner of this art form. The privilege of getting an opportunity to see these artists share their work locally is wonderful. Mr. Marin and his team make it a point to carefully curate the most important flamenco artists in the world— mostly. 

Since I’ve lived in New York, over the last 10 years, every year that the lineup comes out I scan over the bill, seeing who the artists are, which companies are showing, what the concepts of some of the works will be, and to see who of the names on these lists will be someone I recognize, and who I don't. And as expected, year after year, I am left not surprised that there is a thin— if non-existent— representation of American-based flamenco artists. 

A detailed deep dive into the archive of the Flamenco Festival will show you that the season with the most American-based artists was 2020… In a year when shipping Flamencos from Spain would prove to be impossible due to COVID restrictions, it was a cheaper and more efficient alternative to locally source artists and put them on the stages normally reserved for the Spanish-based artists to make some money. 

Even if it was COVID, to see some of these local artists who have been toiling, keeping, and moving the art form forward in the US for YEARS was an enthusiastic sense of pride and excitement. But now that we are on the other side of the pandemic, it is a return to the status quo.

It is 2024 and the lineup has been released, and as expected, there was not a local or US-based artist to be seen. In past years, local artists have tried to capitalize on the surge of interest in flamenco from the public at large that during the regular year, goes mostly ignored during this time. Small concerts, off-shoot fringe showcases, and the scrapings left over in small, obscure venues and restaurants that will tolerate flamenco in their spaces, nestled between the server’s station and the party of 10 screaming drunk college kids. US and NYC-based top-notch flamenco artists and masters of their craft scrape by, holding up the art form, called upon by FF during this time to teach free classes to the public, and perform in gigs that pay maybe enough for part of the rent, a few groceries, and that’s IF they decided not to take a car ride home at the end of the night.

As I think carefully about this, I ask myself why?… Is it because it is too much money to pay artists here market or cost-of-living wages or union rates (if they even are unionized)? Is it because these artists aren’t working on anything new every time planning and curating starts to happen? Are there just no top-quality flamenco artists in America? I am of course being facetious and understand that a big part of it is this: Flamenco in NYC, the US, and the Americas is viewed as inferior to its Spanish counterpart. A rhetoric developed by cultural gatekeepers at home, as well as abroad.

Sure, flamenco comes from Spain, that is obvious— and what is true is that many of the professional practitioners from that country have been born immersed in flamenco art and culture. Listening to music, dancing the dances, understanding the language, codes, and culture of it since birth. But ask any of the flamenco artists that live there, and they will tell you how hard it is to make a living doing flamenco in Spain. Oftentimes, these artists— just like their American counterparts— hold multiple jobs: cleaning house in the morning, flipping burgers, working as servers, administrative work, day laboring, teach, running to feed their kids and take care of their families, before running to dance at their gigs; one show for €50 (maybe), and two shows for €75 (maybe). These are just the regular flamenco artists: the everyday people who hold up and maintain the art form, teaching and performing for the guiris and tourists who descend on the Iberian Peninsula hungry for “authentic” Spanish culture.

A friend recently commented to me that flamenco in America is for rich people. To be able to access this art form as a student, practitioner, aficionado, or anything in that vein means shelling out A LOT of money to learn. Something that most flamenco artists in Spain do not necessarily have to do unless they are in an academy or conservatory-style training. A typical drop-in class in Spain with a well-known artist at a famous studio can cost anywhere between €10 - €15. In America, the average price of a flamenco class is about $35. A vende-paso workshop- or a choreographic workshop often hosted by Spanish artists selling new steps and choreographies to hungry students and artists, but with no actual meaningful learning or growth— will run you about $40 - $45. What does this mean? 

For most in America, accessing the training and knowledge to become flamenco artists is going to cost you a lot of money, and the time spent training is going to be so limited because you must work more to make more to pay for expensive classes. What does this create? A cycle of being unable to progress forward at a functioning level and pace that most of the artists in Spain reach by the time they are preteens. The dropout rate among people who just can’t afford to keep studying flamenco in NYC is so high, that it’s a wonder how the art form stays alive here. 

Does this mean that classes should be cheaper? It’s a hard thing to answer in an economy that doesn’t seem to let up for anyone when the cost of living keeps rising, and salaries stay stagnant or low. 

And there is the supply and demand component of not enough (good, consistent, or sane) teachers that can offer knowledge that is both comprehensive and understandable. The classes that do exist are often a mixed bag where students who are at a point to move forward get stuck with students who are still trying to understand the basics— and find themselves in a strange limbo where they are not always able to develop. The ones who do realize that they are plateauing will end up stepping out of the classroom to develop their own personal practice and study. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise or be met with ire by the teacher leading classes that their students are not progressing forward at the pace they think they should when they have to choose between paying for groceries or paying to dance, sing, or play music.  

For those who do keep toiling, Is there a return on your investment? Probably not… there are not many gigs— even for the ones who have been at this for decades, they are still scraping by. On the off chance you do get something you better hope you aren’t stepping on someone’s toes, taking food off their plate, or pissing them off in general. Unfortunately, because of the scarcity of work— along with manipulation by gatekeepers— this has created a scarcity mindset, a divisive and vitriolic community of artists competing with each other for scraps instead of supporting one another.

So, bringing this back to my original question: Why aren’t flamencos in NYC or America perceived as good as the ones in Spain??

Apples and oranges… you can't compare the two. The circumstances and development are different. US Flamenco artists have a different journey than those in Spain. Most start later in life and have to work more to pay for classes that cost more, and then find the time to practice and study in between our day jobs, regular life, technique classes, commutes, drinking water, and being a human being. Many of us don’t get to listen and learn about it as children, internalizing it, and having it become engrained into our psyche; we have to seek it out and learn it.

Are things starting to change? Yes. But change — positive change— tends to be glacial. Institutional gatekeepers, artists, and teachers are starting to realize this. Opportunities for artists are beginning to open up in other places that before hadn’t existed. Institutions and teachers are formulating courses for the students ready to take the next leap and move beyond the classroom into their realm of artistry and meeting them where they are instead of chastising them for not being where they “should” be.

So, what comes next for this community? Where does flamenco go? How does it grow? How does it evolve and change? How does it say, “This is my flamenco”? How does it say “I am not from Spain, and therefore cannot claim or pretend to be what I am not, but honor what I am, and make space for it in the world with grace and validity, respecting and honoring the tradition, but knowing it’s something all of its own.”?

This may mean that the Flamenco Festival continues to be a space and place for our Spanish colleagues to share their work and that it takes our community coming together to formulate a celebration of Flamenco “made by us for us.” A flamenco festival that looks like America, New York, Florida, New Mexico, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Canada, Middle-of-Nowhere, USA, or the Andes. That is allowed to be a little uglier, little stickier, a little more gingham and little less lunares, a little less Andalusia and a little more Los Angeles, and that sings about the immigrant or black and brown experience and less about a romantic Spanish one. Maybe it’s a flamenco festival that’s for the artists creating, making, toiling, and carrying this art form here on their backs, in their bones, in their wallets, and in their daily lives?… maybe…

Nobody can have all the right answers, but I do hope that one day, someday, flamenco artists in America will have their work presented in the Carnegie Hall’s and the Symphony Spaces, the Town Hall’s, and the City or Lincoln Center’s — and not just as facilitators for free lecture demonstrations, but as artists on the marquee and the bill who are sharing new and cutting edge work that reflects their world around them, and that allows the audience see themselves reflected back.