Ciutat Flamenco Barcelona
A spectacular festival where dance is almost more of a protagonist than flamenco itself. A brilliant initiative from Taller de Músics.
Ciutat Flamenco is the Barcelona festival that treats flamenco as what it is: a living art, in permanent evolution, capable of absorbing contemporary dance, audiovisual research and interdisciplinary collaboration without losing its roots.
It started at Nau Bostik, when I photographed the presentation of Vanesa Aibar and the Estampa collective’s Cristalización IV. There I ran into programmer Lluís Cabrera, whom I already knew from Flamenco de Barrio, and with the organisation’s permission I was able to cover the rest of the festival.
From 19 to 26 October 2025, Ciutat Flamenco spread its programme across several Barcelona venues. Each concert offered a different vision of contemporary flamenco: movement research, revisited tradition, interdisciplinary collaborations. The body and movement as the central axis — dance doesn’t accompany flamenco here, it takes the lead.
What we saw
Vanesa Aibar with Estampa, Captura U / Fuga by José Manuel Álvarez, Districte Flamenco, Julio Ruiz — La Familia, Ciutat Batalla, Chicharrón Circo Flamenco and Flamencxs del Barrio. Seven very different proposals, all within a festival that knows flamenco has no single path.
Discovering the pleasure of combining photography with written reflection on what happens on stage is one of the things that makes it worth being there. We will certainly be back.
Editions documented on the blog
