“The lissome lady from Spain”
Building Canadian modernism and flamenco dance in performance archives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22157122 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emily Christina Murphy (0000-0003-0906-6201, University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Katherine Mcleod (Concordia University), Katherine E McLeod (0000-0002-5352-054X, Concordia University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 277-297 |
| Publication date | 2022-09-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Modernist Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2469-2921 • E-ISSN: 2469-293X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/24692921.2022.2143780 |
| OpenAlex | W4308919164 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
This article recovers the training and early career of Barbara Mary Beck “Conchita Triana” (1912–2006), the first professional flamenco dancer in Canada, whose professional career spanned from 1938 into the late 1950s. This recovery entails an exploration of archival records, analysis of the role of Spain for modernist Canadian artists across disciplines, performance histories of Canadian, American, and Spanish artists, and close reading of archival dance notation. Together, these contexts allow us to analyze the construction and emergence of a Canadian settler identity in the 1930s alongside a home-grown Canadian flamenco dance. Performance of an ostensible exotic import – on the stage and through the appropriation of Spanish identity – reinforces the legitimacy of white settler identity through the “mosaic” metaphor that dominates 1920s and 1930s conceptualization of Canada, positioning itself for the first time as a nation distinct from Britain. Spanish cultural performance as a tool to explore Canadian settler identity remains relevant today, as Canadian flamenco artists continue to interrogate their own national identities through the artform
Aesthetics · Appropriation · Art · Art history · Conceptualization · Cultural appropriation · Cultural identity · Dance · Legitimacy · Metaphor · National identity · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Canadian Identity and History · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · History · Law · Spanish Literature and Culture Studies
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |