Hello Meltingpot Readers,
I told you on Friday that today was going to be a big day for me, and it was. I hosted a screening of the film Gurumbé at Temple and then MC’d a discussion with the director, Miguel Angel Rosales and Black, British flamenco dancer, Yinka Esi Graves. The discussion, all about Blackness and Spain, was really inspiring and it helped renew my passion for learning more about Spain’s hidden African history. The film illuminated the connections between the large African population in the south of Spain in the 16th – 19th centuries and the origins of Flamenco music and dance.
What’s more, seeing the juxtaposition of dancers and musicians in Senegal and modern Flamenco dancers, it was impossible not to see the similarities. Even better, we witnessed Graves on screen dancing Flamenco in a way that seemed to marry the Spanish tradition with African movements in a seamless expression of beauty. I’m probably not doing justice to her unique style of dance, so you should probably just check out this video. Take it all in and then follow Graves on Instagram to see what’s she’s going to be doing next. She teaches Flamenco in Spain, plus she dances professionally all over the world, though she is based in Seville, Spain. If you have the chance to see her perform live, by all means do it.
During the Q&A session after the film screening today, Graves said before this film, she always felt like an outsider studying Flamenco because she was always the only Black person studying the art form. But now that she has proof that this dance has African roots, she feels she belongs in this world and can lay claim to Flamenco, even if other people still question her presence. I love that she shared that because that’s how I felt about Spain in general. But once I discovered that Spain has a significant Black history, even if the general public is unaware of it, I finally felt a sense of belonging.
Final meltingpot thought after today’s film: Blackness is everywhere. You barely have to scratch the surface of any culture and you’ll find an African story.
Peace.
