The Manila Shawl in Spanish Dance: Between Transculturality and Identity
This paper examines the role of the Manila shawl in the visual and kinetic language of Spanish dance, particularly flamenco. From a perspective that seeks to trace the shawl’s journey from its Chinese origins through the Spanish colonial trade routes to its integration into Spanish dance traditions, its transcultural and identitarian significance can be explored. Manufactured initially in China, it took its name from the galleon that departed from the Philippine capital – a Spanish colony since the sixteenth century – crossing Mexico from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and continuing its journey to the port of Seville. Over time and space, both its motifs and its format adapted to European vogues and Hispano-Muslim legacies and became associated with dance practices in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly those linked to the Roma community. Thus, the accompaniment of the shawl became an essential element of the imaginary that enhanced the interpretation of the dancing body in terms of gender, nationality, ethnicity, and class. This research analyses the materiality of Manila shawls through an analysis of specific examples housed in private collections and museums. Additionally, the study investigates the shawls' dancing role and iconographic representation in the visual culture of dance during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Idoia Murga-Castro (PhD History of Art) is a Tenured Researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Head of the Department of History of Art and Heritage. She is currently the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council Grant "Spain on Stage: Dance and the Imagination of National Identity." She holds a degree from the Royal Academy of Dance and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. She has curated and advised on numerous exhibitions and is the author of several books, including La danza. Cuerpos en movimiento a través de la historia (2023), Al bies. Las artistas y el diseño en la vanguardia española (2023), and Poetas del cuerpo. La danza de la Edad de Plata (2017).