The Chinese woman who fell in love with flamenco

Flamenco dance makes "tightly closed flowers blossom into a thousand petals", Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca once wrote.

He said it was "The oldest song in all Europe, carrying echoes of an oriental past."

Lorca was Karina Yao's first introduction to flamenco too.

She came across his work while studying Spanish at home in 2012 in Taiyuan city, Shanxi province in northern China, around an hour's flight from Beijing.

Fascinated, that same year she flew to Spain.

"It was the first time I saw a flamenco class, in Seville, and I was like, wow, it's so real and so passionate," Karina tells CGTN.

We're in 'La Corrala' dance studio in the Lavapies neighborhood in central Madrid where she’s about to teach a class.

"It was unlike anything I ever saw in China where the culture is more conservative, and coming from a traditional family like I did."

"When I dance, I can express the real me."

Like one of Lorca's flowers, flamenco offered a way to open up.

"So when I dance, I can express the real me. I can express my joy, my sorrow and my past, my experience," she says.

Her Chinese name 姚天慧 (Yao Tianhui) held a tiny oracle for the future, the Chinese character for her family name Yao 姚 is close to the character 跳 (Tiao) which forms half of the mandarin word 'to dance' - 跳舞 (Tiaowu).

In 2015 Karina decided to move to Spain full time after falling in love with this centuries-old art form and at 21 she began to dance in earnest.

"It's like learning a language," she says, "you have to learn the steps, the technique, like it's grammar. It takes time."

"It's the cultural difference too, flamenco is gestures, attitude, not just choreography, it's daily life, how Spanish people express themselves, in Chinese culture we don't use our bodies, our hands, to express ourselves the way the Spanish do."

Years of piano helped her understand the rhythm too, and slowly, flamenco became her life, touring the world with the group 'Flamenco Sin Fronteras' (Flamenco without Borders) with a Chinese guitarist and 'palmeras' or supporting vocalists and percussionists from France and the U.S.

10 years later she's sharing her passion and experience with other Chinese women, teaching them to dance, initiating them in this Spanish art form and way of life.

Some are in Spain to work or study, others see her videos on Chinese social media like Xiaohongshu, Weibo and Douyin (The original Chinese TikTok) and then come specifically for the classes and to learn from her.

"Everybody has their own reasons," says Karina, "like when I started it was just a hobby too, nobody starts thinking 'I want to be professional,' that's impossible. Some of them want to get out of their routine, some want to discover more Spanish culture, and some treat it as a gym workout," she laughs.

You can see why, the intense steps and stamps thunder around the entire building and the balletic shoulder rolls are seriously physically demanding.

Ru Jie is one of her students, by day she's a mergers and acquisitions analyst, by night in Karina's class she's a budding artist, fully focussed on el zapateo (the tapping) los giros (the turns) and el braceo (the hand and arm movements).

"I love flamenco because it's a fusion of passion, anger, nostalgia, and all these emotions," Ru tells CGTN.

"I have been studying for seven months and I want to continue as long as I have a chance."

But what does Karina want her students to take away from the class?

"I want them to walk away saying, "I've discovered myself more."

Karina is also seeing a rise in interest in China.

"I go back to China once or twice a year to teach some workshops in Beijing, Shanghai, and even now in Chengdu, Shenzhen. More and more people started to get interested in this art."

"Flamenco has a place for everyone" - overcoming racism and rejection

Following a dream and taking a different path is never easy and Karina has had to overcome rejection, prejudice and racism in Spain too.

"That isn't just Spain, like it's all over the world," she says, "that's everywhere."

"Sometimes people say racist things and they don't even know they're being a bit racist, you know?"

"In flamenco circles also sometimes you will experience a kind of racism towards foreigners because people will say it's a Spanish art. But my argument always is: I'm Chinese, but I don't know how to do Kung Fu.

"In the beginning I could barely do proper footwork, so at the time, people would say, ah, okay, Asian people can't do flamenco, now I don't hear that so much anymore.

"People sometimes say things because it really doesn't cost them anything. If you stand up to them next time they might give it a second thought, I stand up to it and then I just forget it, everyone has to live their life.

"I've been through some difficulties, so yeah, I can share that with my students so that they can at least try to avoid it."

Flamenco is a dialogue between musicians and dancers, Karina teaches her students, but in her class it's also a dialogue between cultures, and she's had countless positive experiences too.

"All my Spanish friends, they adore my dance," she says, "but I can understand that because as a Chinese person, if I see a foreigner practice Chinese opera or Kung Fu, I would be like, wow, too!"

"I would say like this is what I wanted back at the time and this is what I want, yeah, so I live a life I want to live."

Nani Hernandez is a professional dancer from Cordoba in Andalucia, the birthplace of flamenco. She's toured China with a top production of the classic 'Carmen' with the Ballet Flamenco Madrid company.

She's come to Karina's Thursday night class to meet these new Chinese flamenco aficionadas, they have a hug and a photo together and Nani watches them dance.

"I just love seeing people from other cultures engaging with our culture. I'm really impressed and I think even though flamenco is very much our thing, it has a place for everyone and it's very enriching to see people involved in our art. Honestly, I love it."

For Karina it’s simple: "I can't imagine a life without dance."