Atlanta Flamenco Festival celebrates African influence on Spanish Flamenco Dance

November 10th, 2023

African influence on Flamenco Dance showcased at Atlanta Flamenco Festival. (Courtesy of Julie Galle Baggenstoss)

Flamenco Dance is an intensely expressive art form based on southern Spain’s various folkloric music traditions with many lesser-known influences.

This year, a local non-profit, A Través, presents “Flamenco Black” during the Atlanta Flamenco Festival, emphasizing the little-known African influences of Flamenco dance.

There will be two concerts on Nov. 11 at the Emory University Performing Arts Studio. Julie Galle Baggenstoss is a flamenco dance instructor at Emory University and the Executive Director at “A Través,” and in this interview, she joins “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to speak more about the dance and the festival.

“I came to realize how much the dance and the music and the singing reflected the history of people not just in Spain but in many places around the world,” Baggenstoss reflected.

Flamenco Black takes place tomorrow at Emory University Performing Arts Studio as part of the Atlanta Flamenco Festival. More information is available here.