Deborah Falzon, a flamenco dance artist, performer and community practitioner, has recently finished reading el Máster en Enseñanzas Artísticas de Estudios Avanzados en Flamencología (the Master’s Degree in Artistic Teaching of Advanced Studies in Flamencology) with Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

Her studies were carried out after being awarded the Malta Arts Scholarship Scheme financed by the government of Malta.

Her final thesis, titled ‘La flamenca forma de ser. El flamenco dentro de la danza comunitaria como vehículo de empoderamiento para mujeres’ (The flamenco way of being. Flamenco within community dance as a vehicle for empowerment for women) explores flamenco within community dance to evaluate the impacts of flamenco dance among women.

It suggests that, together with the innate therapeutic power of dance, flamenco within community dance practice has the potential to be a vehicle for women’s empowerment, creating ripples of transformation as women experience individual and collective changes that can potentially last a lifetime.

The research suggests that this represents a “flamenco way of being” that encapsulates an empowered way of life based on the inner power to live authentically that is directed by our body, mind and soul simultaneously.

Previously based in Seville, Falzon has performed classical, fusion and contemporary flamenco pieces embedded in co-creation

Previously based in Seville, Falzon has performed classical, fusion and contemporary flamenco pieces embedded in co-creation. She brought together Maltese and Spanish flamenco artists to perform across the Maltese islands through the collaborative organisation of the first two Malta Flamenco Tours in 2019.

A scene from the performance Soleá por Bulerías. Photo: Picturesque/Marika Montebello

Her recent performance experiences include Żal, a socio-political ensemble piece about displacement and migration in Refugee Week Malta 2022; Desiderium, a solo sharing notion about shared grief, which debuted in Dance Festival Malta 2022; and UNight, a collective cultural celebration performed in Malta during Notte Bianca 2022.

Together with Julienne Schembri, she co-founded Dance Beyond Borders, a foundation that believes in integration and unites people through the power of the arts. They recently participated in Revoluzione, a community performance by Biloura Intercultural Performing Arts Collective in Polimorfa ‒ Rassegna di Arti Performative festival, Italy, and produced Refugee Week Malta, the local version of the global festival Refugee Week for the second year in a row in which 1,000+ people participated.

Deborah Falzon is a beneficiary of the Malta Arts Scholarship Scheme financed by the government of Malta