The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2022 - Issue 31

bitenightout classical Hindus dance of the In- dian subcontinent. The first show of the Flamen- co Festival was Viva!, choreo- graphed and directed by Manuel Liñán, who also performed as one of the dancers. It is described as “a song to the freedom of movement, where gender roles, in a codified world like flamenco, are broken with joy and enjoy- ment, creating new terrains that, although unexplored, are not distant.” Liñán proposed the plu- rality of flamenco dance through its different forms and their sin- gularity. After the lights went out and the band and singers started, a sin- gle light shone on the glittering black curtain. A dancer in a red traje de flamenca dress with her back to the audience made hand movements behind them. In a blink of an eye, she’d moved fur- ther back until she was almost at the edge of the stage. She turned around, and as the beat, singing and hand-clapping accelerat- ed, the crescendo of her dance, including spinning, increased. At times, she slapped her chest and thighs and raised the ruffled dress a fraction as if to show off her legs. Six others joined the solo danc- er, one of which stood above the rest in a shawl and orange dress, singing in Spanish while the rest clapped or turned their hips as they walked so that the dress twirled from side to side. It was interesting how they moved the props around in sync with their performance, especially when the Flamenco singer needed to walk further along the bench. My favourite was the tall dancer, in a gold and green dress with polka dots, who moved with elegance and poise. Stepping away from the Flamen- co dancer-singer, the six danced in mid-tempo, turning, twirling their dresses and stamping in their flamenco heels. Once again, they moved the props and sat down, listening and clapping to the beat, but it wasn’t long be- fore they were back up dancing, slapping their chest and thighs, and doing hand movements that reminded me of the Hindu hand dance signals. Even when they sat on the bench, the six dancers did it with lady-like tendencies. A hilarious part was when the other performers tried to look under the tall dancer’s dress, and she tapped them away with her shoes. Whilst dancing, she ‘faint- ed’ a few times, and the others laid her on the bench. Yet, she alternately tapped her feet on the benches on either side and over her. The others left when she was back on her feet, and she danced ferociously. In the end, she dropped to the floor and was still for a beat. Then she got up at the prompt of the audience and edged them on. As she stepped