Flamenco and Bullfighting

Flamenco dance and bullfighting are parallel arts with shared traditions, performance conventions and vocabularies of movement. This volume introduces readers to an ongoing discussion in Spanish scholarship about the links between these two quintessentially Spanish arts. The author—a dancer and a student of bullfighting—describes the informal practice of both arts in private settings and their emergence as formal public rituals in the bullfighting arena and on the flamenco stage. Key bullfighting techniques and their influence on flamenco dance style are discussed in the context of understanding the worldview and kinesthetic culture of Spain.

Proficient in two genres, flamenco and contemporary modern dance, Adair Landborn is a clinical assistant professor of ethnochoreology and curator of Cross-Cultural Dance Resources Collections at Arizona State University. An active performing artist, choreographer, movement analyst and scholar, she offers flamenco dance workshops nationally and internationally.

Adair Landborn
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 308
Bibliographic Info: 69 photos & illustrations, appendices, glossary, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9616-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1957-6
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments vii

Preface 1

Introduction: Kinesthetic Culture 9

One: Flamenco and Bullfighting: An Ongoing Discussion 35

Two: Somatic Ethnography 55

Three: Overlapping Worlds 72

Four: Ritual and Performance Events 99

Five: An Aesthetic Topography: Gitanismo, Romanticism and Duende 123

Six: Movement Repatterning and Culture 146

Seven: Gaining the Emic Edge 163

Eight: Movement Analysis 191

Nine: Movement Parallels: From Structures to Motifs 223

Ten: Kinesthetic Culture 244

Appendix 1: Laban Movement Analysis Overview 261

Appendix 2: Notes on Language Use 263

Glossary of Spanish Terms 267

Chapter Notes 273

Bibliography 281

Index 291

“Landborne provides an in-depth examination of two activities grounded in Spanish tradition and culture: flamenco dance and bullfighting, discussing their similarities and shared values”—Journal of Sport History.