Bailes Primitivos Flamencos

The footage for Bailes Primitivos Flamencos (Primitive Flamenco Dances) was shot by Herbert Matter, known for his avant-garde work in the fields of photomontage and design. However, the significance of this film documentary lies with its protagonist, the dancer Vicente Escudero, who first conceived of the idea and executed the final edit of this version. Escudero developed his work around Spanish ballet and flamenco, and was a pre-eminent dance theorist, tracing a connection between dance and painting in texts such as “Influencias del cubismo y del surrealismo en mis bailes” (1947). Further, he radicalised the tradition of flamenco dance in his associations with different avant-garde movements in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, coming into regular contact with and imbibing the influences of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Jean Metzinger, Fernand Léger, Juan Gris, Joan Miró and Marcel Duchamp, in addition to being depicted by Man Ray, among others.
In this particular piece, Escudero dances with different flamenco palos, accompanied by rear projections and the sound of an engine, in a display of his outright immersion in the aesthetics of the early twentieth century.



Lola Hinojosa