Moving Past Franco’s Art and Censorship: The Case of The Female Flamenco Dancer

Abstract

The Roma culture has always been a marginalised community within Spain yet revered for its performance artistry. This article explores flamenco and female flamenco dancers under the Francisco Franco dictatorship, 1939-1975. I discuss censorship under the political leader and its influence on flamenco as well as investigating the dynamics of women onstage within the flamenco sphere as seen through the documentary series Rito y Geografía (Rite and Geography) (1971)(1972)(1973)(1974). Gender roles are examined through analysis of popular culture during Franco's Spain and the manner in which he portrayed and romanticised the female flamenco dancer. I argue that he used the flamenco series as the vessel to manipulate discourse. Franco exploited flamenco to promote tourism and capitalised on the female flamenco dancer and used the series to promote a national identity.