There are many excellent flamenco dancers (both male and female) in this land. Of course. Most of them spend their lives searching for their essence, their uniqueness, looking back to the dancers of the past, or around them, even to other genres. But few have managed to transcend the teachings, the influences they've received, and their ego (let's call it technique) to try to reach the mystery of the art and, in that attempt, offer a unique and organic dance, a dance 'in life,' as theatrical anthropology would say.
La Piñona is one of those rare flamenco dancers, which is why it's always a pleasure to see her, especially when she expresses herself, as she did at the Cajasol theater with Centre-back, without any kind of narrative or concept external to itself.
Little by little, work by work, La Piñona has been discovering her truth. A true flamenco artist with an impressive technique, the dancer from Jimena de la Frontera began to explore her limits with her show AprilPremiered at the 2020 Biennial and dedicated to the poet Juan Manuel Flores, author of many of Lole y Manuel's lyrics. “In April, I allow myself to be completely myself,” the dancer told us at the time. Then she took a giant leap with Insatiable (Biennial of 2022), being directed by Estévez and Paños and advised by our colleague Sara Arguijo and now, in full maturity, he allows himself to navigate wherever he pleases, which at this moment are the most dramatic rhythms of flamenco.
Centre-back It is nothing more than a personal journey through those rhythms, accompanied by one of its great champions, the guitarist Ramon Amadorand by three superb flamenco singers such as Manuel Pajares, Joni Reyes y Ezequiel MontoyaThe accompanying singers more than fulfilled their roles and had their moment to shine – Amador with a beautiful and elaborate rondeña and the singing trio with martinetes – although, as a show, it was nothing more than a tidy recital whose lighting worked against it for almost the entire evening, much to the despair of the photographers present in the room.
La Piñona entered the stage solemnly, crossing the auditorium, dressed in black with a jacket, to deliver a truly majestic soleá. His arms stretched to the sky, his gaze challenged the audience, and his feet—just as in the final seguiriya—first thundered down to earth before surrendering to a concert where speed played with musicality at will. La Piñona's feet were breathtaking.
"In La Piñona we see, as in few others of her age, that alternation between the strongest and most powerful energy, not without sensuality, which suddenly explodes in impressive flourishes, and the most absolute restraint, with an admirable way of stopping time without abandoning the body or the gaze."
In her second appearance, Lucía, daring as ever, stepped out to confront the proverbial austerity of the farruca, wearing a stunning golden dress that illuminated the entire theater with its movement. This atypical farruca, full of turns and dynamism, culminated in tangos that provided the most uninhibited and joyful moments of the performance for both dancer and audience.
However, the most dramatic dance remained: the seguiriya. Enveloped in the canteDressed in white and with her head held dramatically and proudly at all times, La Piñona gave us yet another example of her freedom and mastery, of an artistic maturity that can only be a reflection of her life maturity.
Because, like the flamencoJimenata is unique and, at the same time, the result of many different things. In it we see hints of the salt from Cádiz, but also We see Granada, in those incredibly fast and musical feet of Mariquilla's school, and Seville, with its elegance, its sensuality, its placement, its majestic head, its prints…
In her we see, as in few of her age, that alternation between the strongest and most powerful energy (which we no longer dare to call 'masculine') not without sensuality that suddenly explodes in impressive finishes, and the most absolute restraint, with an admirable way of stopping time without abandoning the body or the gaze.
She brings us a thousand images from the past, of the bullfighting poses of many flamenco dancers, both male and female, like Manuela Vargas with her enormous arms raised to infinity and her white dress to dance mourning (like a Japanese woman) to the rhythm of seguiriya.
A dance present, “in life”, in the face of death and the sleeping people that surround us.
Credits
Central, by Lucía Álvarez 'La Piñona'
Thursday Flamencos of Cajasol
Cajasol Foundation Theatre, Seville
May 11th 2026
Dance: Lucia Alvarez La Piñona
Guitar: Ramon Amador
CanteManuel Pajares, Joni Reyes and Ezequiel Montoya
Text: Rosalia Gomez
