Roma (or Gypsies) are one of the most persecuted minorities in the history of Europe: slaves in medieval Europe, a condition that lasted until the mid-19 th century forced assimilation ethnic cleansing coerced sterilizations and the Romani genocide (“Porajmos” or “Samudaripen”) during World War II, where up to half of all Roma living in Europe were exterminated by the Nazis. “I feel like Roma, but I’m not living like Roma.” Feeling, as she described in a Q&A after her performance, that “I was the last one of my race,” she pursued a long process of discovering her lost ancestry, which allowed her to “open up a world of emotions” not available within the restrictions of flamenco. She is of Roma descent, an identity she was all but indifferent to during her youth. Maya, who appeared in Carlos Saura’s film Flamenco (1995), is an international star who has played a major role in creating a modern flamenco, stretching and subverting the boundaries and codes of traditional flamenco for more than three decades. In this extraordinary solo dance-theater work, presented by Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, she embodies multiple female characters representing Romany women. But rarely is it realized with the searing power, zest and humor that Belén Maya summoned in Romnia (“women” in Romany).
The mining of identity, often hidden, suppressed or reviled, is a subject for many contemporary artists. Belén Maya’s Romnia-A Searing Homage to Romany Women by Jonathan Stein
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