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Description
DEANNA BLACHER TALK: THURSDAY 16TH FEBRUARY
C-DaRE Seminar Series:
Title of Seminar: Flamenco and digital technology: Effects and influence on the art form and its protagonists
Abstract: Digital technology has increased the quantity of documentation and accessibility of flamenco as an art form, but what about quality? The discursive areas of this talk are founded in the impartiality of technology as attraction, advantage, and at the same time adversary to flamenco as an art form that has long been embedded in and fiercely proud of its deeply personal and individualised nature. These areas are further grounded by Deanna’s experience as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, sharing her lived experience of the development of flamenco through the forces of nationalism in the face of globalism, as well as individualism’s struggle with standardisation, since the 1950s.
Motion tracking and capturing technology has proliferated across all dance forms, not only as a means of documenting choreographic work, but also of supporting and (dis-)enhancing them. Additionally, social media has played a role in the increased distribution of recorded audio-visual flamenco material, catalysing a shift from flamenco as a professional discipline, quest for excellence by the gifted, and means of earning a living, to a recreational hobby open to one and all with a passion for dance and the flamenco dance in particular.