Danse flamenca et désir de “pureté”

Abstract

The current flamenco seems to be crossed by a distinction between on the one hand the supporters of tradition and on the other hand those of creativity. This distinction is often understood as an antinomy, of which it can be shown to be articulated around the pivot which constitutes the idea of purity, which would be sought by the former and banished by the latter. But from the moment when it can be shown, that purity is in fact an object of desire common to the two branches of the alternative, it becomes necessary to question their supposed antinomy. This is what this article proposes to do, first by drawing up an inventory of the forms that the dialectic tradition/creativity can take in flamenco; then, by examining the axiological ambiguity proper to the idea of purity; finally, by showing how certain examples of creative flamenco dance invite a redefinition of historical concepts of flamenco, including that of purity.