Paper short abstract:

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Paper long abstract:

The cultural representation of a world dance displays gender and power relations at a transnational, local, and at a national level. The case of Japan's flamenco scene shows how female dancers may dominate at a local and transnational level; on a national plane, however, it are second rate male instructors who promote flamenco as modern and Japanese in a popular television show. Adapting flamenco for a Japanese mass audience, the program downplays the very aspects that attract women to flamenco: personal expression and passion, which gave flamenco its cosmopolitan quality in the first place. Moreover, the program reconfirms the cliché of the Japanese as master imitator by deemphasizing Japan's distinct flamenco style developed by women in accord with their desired notion of self. If flamenco offers Japanese women a stage to rebel against outdated constructions of femininity, there still is much to stomp for on a national plane.