Flamenco and Bullfighting

Dance researcher and movement analyst Adair Landborn introduces readers to the ongoing discussion in Spanish scholarship about the links between flamenco dance and bullfighting, and then moves deeper into the heart of these two quintessentially Spanish arts from the perspective of an anthropologist and from her own first-person experience as both dancer and student of bullfighting.

Seeing flamenco dance and bullfighting as parallel arts within the same kinesthetic culture, Landborn describes their informal practice in private settings and their emergence as formal rituals in the public bullfight arena and on the flamenco stage.

As Landborn discusses key bullfighting techniques and their sometimes direct, sometimes subtle influence on the flamenco dance style, readers are led to a greater appreciation of both arts and a deeper understanding of Spanish culture and worldview.