Marina Harrs writes this amazing piece about Manuel Li\u00f1\u00e1n\u2019s last creation, \u2018VIVA!\u2019 for The New York Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlamenco being what it is \u2014 a centuries-old music and dance that developed out of the collision of cultures in southern Spain \u2014 what follows is as surprising as it is refreshing. A performance executed entirely in drag, by Mr. Li\u00f1\u00e1n and six extraordinary male dancers, wearing colorful dresses and the fringed shawls known as mantones, hair done up with peinetas (decorative combs) and flowers. While one dances, the others accompany with songs, exhortations and palmas, the rhythmic clapping of hands.<\/p>\n
The show, which was to come to the New York Flamenco Festival at City Center in early April \u2014 the festival has been postponed by the coronavirus \u2014 represents something new to mainstream flamenco audiences: a frank and joyful exposition of queer identity within the frame of flamenco dance. For Mr. Li\u00f1\u00e1n, who is gay, dancing has become a way to express who he is. As he put it, \u201cmy dancers and I are dancing ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cViva!\u201d has been widely embraced by audiences and critics since its premiere, in 2019 in Madrid. The critic in the Spanish daily El Pa\u00eds, Roger Salas, described it as \u201cone of the best things happening in this critical moment in flamenco and Spanish dance.\u201d Such a reception seems unimaginable even 20 years ago\u201d.<\/p>\n