Belén Maya (born 1966) is a Spanish

flamenco dance Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

r, choreographer and educator. She is the daughter of

Mario Maya Mario Maya (1937 – September 27, 2008) was one of Spain's most innovative and influential flamenco dancers. He was born in Córdoba in 1937 to a Romani family, but grew up in the Sacromonte of Granada. He set up his own school in Seville i ...

, a Romani man considered one of the most innovative flamenco dancers in Spanish history and Carmen Mora, also a flamenco dancer. She was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

while her parents were on tour performing. Maya began dancing while still young and studied classical, Hindu and contemporary dance in Italy, Germany and England. She also studied at the Amor de Dios school in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

with teachers including Paco Fernández, Goyo Montero, Carmen Cortés, Paco Romero and Rosa Naranjo. She joined the Spanish National Ballet, later joining her father's company. She then formed her own company, going on tour in Japan; she next joined the Andalusian Dance Company. In 1995 she was chosen to be the head of "Flamenco", a documentary by

Carlos Saura Carlos Saura Atarés (born 4 January 1932) is a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. Along with Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be one of Spain’s most renowned filmmakers. He has a long and prolific career th ...

. The director chose Belén Maya as one of the representatives of the new aesthetics of flamenco. This movie, original name "Flamand", was a notable film in the filmography of the flamenco song form, the cante jondo, which had its premiere. Carlos said, 'it doesn't seem like flamenco,' which is why he justified the choice to put her on the film's promotional poster. Evers since, Maya became an icon of cutting-edge flamenco dance. In 1997, she formed a company with singer

Mayte Martín Mayte Martín (born in Barcelona, Spain, April 19, 1965) is a Flamenco cantaora (singer), bolero singer, and composer. She is widely recognized as one of the most important flamenco voices of her generation. She has also devoted part of her care ...

which performed at major festivals in 2002 and 2003. She continued to perform, also studying with Juan Carlos Lérida. In 2014, her show ''Los Invitados'' received the Critic's Award at the Festival de Jerez. In 2015, she was chosen as the best dancer at the Premios Flamenco Hoy by the Crítica Nacional de Flamenco. Maya recently stopped performing to focus on lectures on contemporary flamenco and gender issues, particularly in the United States.

References

1966 births Living people Spanish female dancers Spanish choreographers Flamenco dancers

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