The symposium is hosting keynote speaker Cristina Cruces Roldán, a Doctor of Geography and Cultural Anthropology and lecturer of Social Anthropology at the University of Sevilla. Her research has focused on Andalucían culture, in particular flamenco studies, gender, and agrarian studies.
Other presenters include DeFlamenco Magazine writer and editor, Estela Zatania; William Washabaugh, acclaimed flamenco scholar and author on numerous books on flamenco aesthetics and politics; flamenco journalist, scholar, and consultant, Brook Zern; Meira Goldberg, author of Sonidos Negros: Meditations on the Blackness of Flamenco, and co-curator of the exhibit "100 Years of Flamenco in New York" at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center; Ninotchka Bennahum, co-curator of the exhibit "100 Years of Flamenco in New York and author of Antonia Mercé, ‘La Argentina': Flamenco & the Spanish Avant-Garde, an aesthetic assessment of Spain's first modernist Spanish dance artist and close collaborator of Manuel de Falla;" and Nancy Heller, author of Women Artists and Imaging Dance: Visual Representations of Dancers and Dancing.
Topics at this year's symposium include a discussion on gender, ethnicity, and ritual in the art form of flamenco; an homage to celebrate the centennial of legendary flamenco artist, Carmen Amaya; elements of the Cakewalk, Tangos and Primitivist Modernism in La Macarrona's Flamenco Dance; Flamenco and Mestizaje art traditions in New Mexico; research on the Gypsy aesthetic; Flamenco, Toreo, and Duende, which will discuss the aesthetics of Lorca, Bergamín, and others in the 1930s with the aim of sharpening our understanding of duende and clarifying the goals and objectives of flamenco performance; and a closer look at historic flamenco paintings thought to have depicted celebrations when, in fact, they seem to be depicting the tragic funerals of children, or a velorios de angelito.
History Symposium Schedule
Sunday, June 8th
8:30am-9am Staff and volunteer arrival and set up
9am - 9:30am Presenter arrival and check in
9:30am-10am Audience arrival and check in
10am-10:45am Tumulte Noir and Jaleo de Jerez: Cakewalk, Tangos and Primitivist Modernism in La Macarrona's Flamenco Dance
(Meira Goldberg)
10:45am-11am Break, Set up
11am-11:45am Flamenco, Toreo, and Duende (Dr. William Washabaugh)
11:45am-12:30pm Lunch (45 mins.)
12:30pm-1:15pm Sez who? Flamenco as a vehicle to enable arguments
(Brook Zern)
1:15pm-1:30pm Break, Set up
1:30pm-2:15pm KEYNOTE SPEAKER CRISTINA CRUCES ROLDÁN:
Etnicidad, género, y rito como claves interpretativas del baile flamenco," (Ethnicity, gender, and ritual as interpretive keystones in flamenco dance), Cristina Cruces Roldán
Monday, June 9th
8:30am-9am Staff and volunteer arrival and set up
9am-9:30am Presenter arrival and check in
9:30am-10am Audience arrival and check in
10am-10:45am Flamenco and Death: El Velorio del Angelito-Spanish Paintings of Children's Wakes (Nancy Heller)
10:45am-11am Break, Set up
11am-11:45am Fascism, Flamenco, and Ballet Español: Nacional flamenquismo
(Theresa Goldbach, emerging scholar)
11:45am-12:30pm Lunch (45 mins.)
12:30pm-1:15pm Gypsy Bodies: Flamenco and Mestizaje Art Traditions of New Mexico (Ninotchka Bennahum)
1:15pm-1:30pm Break, Set up
1:30pm-2:15pm Carmen: A biographical sketch to commemorate the centennial of legendary dancer Carmen Amaya (Estela Zatania)
2:15pm-2:30pm Break, Set up for Roundtable
2:30pm-3:30pm Roundtable: The Role of Improvisation in Traditional and Contemporary Flamenco. (Estela Zatania-Moderator)