Last Saturday, during the grand final of the competitions of the International Festival of Cante de las Minas in La Unión (Murcia), something unusual happened. In fact, something never seen before: a 48-year-old Japanese dancer, Junko Hagiwara, The YunkoEl Desplante won, the first prize for dance, comparable to the Lámpara Minera for singing or the Bordón Minero for flamenco guitar. It had never happened in this competition – the most important in the world in its flamenco competition form – that someone who was not Spanish had won, and of course, no Japanese man or woman, although they had tried before.
The jury’s decision was greeted with loud boos and shouts of fraud from a good part of the fans who filled the old public market of La Unión, the venue of the festival. Social networks were also quick to make their voice heard. Since Saturday they have been filled with comments in which a clear prejudice can be seen, sometimes bordering on racism. They seem to say that if you are not Andalusian, or at least Spanish, it is impossible to be flamenco and even less to dance well, and on top of that to have the nerve to win such an important prize as the one from La Unión.
The next morning, in a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS while returning by car to Seville, the city where she lives, La Yunko was friendly, although also tired and still in shock. The night of the award she had collapsed mentally and physically in the dressing room. “I am blocked, I can’t say anything, I don’t know what to say. When I had to go up on stage to collect the award I couldn’t climb the steps, I had no strength, I needed help, I was left without strength. And I’m still like this. I’m going to need a week to recover and be aware of what’s happening,” she summed up.
―Was it also a surprise for you?
—Yes. I never thought I could win, it seemed impossible. I came to try out, reaching the semi-finals would have been a lot. I think this for two reasons: first, because I am Japanese; and second, because I am very self-critical and I did not feel comfortable on stage. I saw that my colleagues who performed before danced very well.
—So you think the people who said the award was unfair are right.
―Unfair, no. It’s up to the jury, they decided. But I didn’t see myself capable of winning.
―There must have been quite a stir in Japan about your victory.
—I don’t know what will happen there. Of course it could have a big impact, but I don’t know how to assess that. I know that in Spain Japan is considered very important for flamenco, but in reality the fans are a minority.
—In fact, flamenco fans are also a minority in Spain.
—Yes, but it’s not the same. In Spain, flamenco is something deep-rooted, a natural thing, it’s the land of flamenco. Japan, no.
Junko Hagiwara She is by no means a very well-known artist in the world of entertainment, but that is almost normal in this competition. Here the dancer Israel Galván won despite being an unknown, the same thing happened with the singer Miguel Poveda. But she is not a complete unknown in Andalusian flamenco either. She has lived in Seville since 2002 and there she has taken classes with such important teachers as José Galván (father of Pastora and Israel Galván), El Torombo, Carmen Ledesma and Milagros Mengíbar.
It wasn’t just a matter of a few days of classes. They have been her teachers, she has had an intense relationship with them. “For me,” she says, “they have been intense lessons, also in my life.” Is flamenco, as they say, a way of life? “Yes, yes, a way of life, that’s why I say that my training with them hasn’t been a matter of a few days of classes,” she answers. Despite being pressed, La Yunko doesn’t name anyone among the great old artists.
The winner of La Unión also works as a dance teacher, and has performed in clubs and in some theatres with the ballet of Yoko Kumatsubara, the most famous of Japanese dancers and choreographers. Last year she participated in the Guirijondo festival, in the Seville town of Palomares del Río, dedicated to presenting foreign artists who want to be flamenco artists.
Does La Yunko feel like a flamenco dancer or a Japanese woman who dances flamenco? Well, it’s a curiosity. In 2015, her compatriot Yoko Tamura, trained and accompanied by Cristina Hoyos, appeared at the La Unión festival. She didn’t make it past the semi-finals, but in an interview with EL PAÍS she said: “I don’t want to be a Japanese woman who dances: I want to be a flamenco dancer, just like that.” Does Junko Hagiwara want to be a flamenco dancer, just like that? “When I dance, I don’t know where I’m from, if I’m from Japan or from anywhere else, I just dance and that’s it,” she says with great conviction. “I feel like a flamenco dancer, just like that, I don’t know if I’m better or worse, but a flamenco dancer.”
And she certainly is. Despite the protests from the public on the day of the award and the uproar on social media, also despite her self-critical modesty and the general surprise. She danced as best she could, the jury judged as objectively as possible. And she won. La Yunko, flamenco dancer.
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