With travel still heavily restricted,  NIF brought only US and Mexican-based artists to their festival.  The result was a renewed sense of community and even deeper appreciation for the art form.  After nearly a year and a half of virtual shows and classes,  to be in a studio with fellow aficionados and hear the collective sound of tacones was sublime.  A feeling of familiarity permeated the halls of Carlisle Gym.  On sun-soaked breaks, teachers were reunited with their life-long compañeros. Dance students hugged as they recognized each other from past years or from their hometowns, and although class sizes were limited,  determination for survival of the art form emanated from everyone present.  The pandemic has threatened flamenco’s sustainability,  and the festival served as a celebration and reminder that flamenco isn’t going anywhere.

Indeed,  the spirit of flamenco’s resilience filled classrooms and theaters as the festival marched forward throughout the week.  Performances included  Miami – based Irene  “La Chiqui”  de Malaga’s show Las Mujeres Que Habitan En Mi,  a tribute to the lives a dancer lives and a reconciliation against those she doesn’t;  Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles’ channeling the ancestors through Mestizaje Puro;  Yjastros’ performance of Gloria Bendita,  honoring the legacy of the New Mexico flamenco scene;  Caminos Flamencos’ Nuestro Camino, featuring Fanny Ara;  and Nino de los Reyes’ Perpetu(Arte) : La Lucha Contra Extinción.  The festival also included three nights of tablao performances to a packed house,  which felt especially poetic given the closure of  iconic flamenco tablaos in Spain.

When asked how the Festival felt this year,  Carlos Menchaca ( Yjastros’ Principal Dancer ) said,  “It was amazing to bring together these communities in which oftentimes,  it’s the distance which has kept us apart.”   Flamenco was born out of community and still feels most alive within it.  If this reporter had one word to describe what Festival Flamenco Albuquerque felt like this year,  it would be gratitude.  Gratitude for walking into a darkening theater and seeing seats filled with bodies clapping and shouting OLE  for the performers.  Gratitude for that feeling of lacing-up your zapatos and having a small but completely present conversation with your classmate in the dressing room.  Festival Flamenco Albuquerque 34 came back full – force to remind the world of the power flamenco holds. As the light at the end of the pandemic illuminates the struggles we continue to face,  it is art and community that will sustain the human spirit.  Flamenco embodies both.

• By Ana María Cornejo Silva

Ana María is a Program Intern for Flamenco Vivo and a flamenco dancer currently getting her B.A. at Stanford University.