There’s nothing wrong with a Japanese flamenco dancer

Japanese dancer Junko Hagiwara has become the first non-Spaniard to win one of Spain’s most prestigious flamenco competitions. Yet when Hagiwara went on stage to collect her prize, in La Union in the southeastern region of Murcia, not everyone welcomed her victory. As well as applause, there were whistles and boos from the audience. The Telegraph reported that some of her fellow (Spanish) competitors thought the jury’s decision was a ‘fix’, designed to boost the Cante de las Minas festival’s international reputation. Francisco Paredes, chairman of the jury, has dismissed the claim as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘completely false’.   

Even if those who jeered Hagiwara did so because they believed the competition was rigged, it’s hard not to believe that deeper, more hostile attitudes contributed to their reaction. The booers probably believe that flamenco is a thoroughly Spanish art form, and that it’s therefore outrageous that a non-Spaniard was judged best female dancer at the Murcia festival.