Carmen Amaya is dancing in alegrías style (por alegrías) in the Mexican movie ‘Música en la noche’ from 1958. As you can see, Carmen set a new standard for both female and male dancers with her furious footwork.

Carmen is wearing an outfit called ‘traje de corto’ that was traditionally men’s wear. Although there were other female flamenco dancers before Carmen who dressed as men (like Carmencita Dauset and Trinidad Huertas ‘ La Cuenca’), she made it her personal trademark to go with her masculine, energetic style of dancing. But in my opinion it also enhanced her femininity, because the hip and leg movements are far better visible in trousers.

Carmen letting down her hair and fiercely throwing it in front of her face was another trademark of hers that we can witness at the end of this video. Enjoy!

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