The instant success of everything that Rosalía touches has placed dance in the spotlight these days. The artist started the world tour of her work on March 16 in Lyon Luxwhich stops in Madrid and Barcelona these weeks, where classical ballet and contemporary dance are the aesthetic epicenter of several themes. So opinions, and even exhaustive analyzes of its execution, have not taken long to occupy social networks, which have been filled with hundreds of videos, for and against, the singer’s use of dance.
The artist Dimitris Papaioannou (Athens, 61 years old) reaps the best reactions on his Instagram account. The Greek creator signs the artistic concept and movement of the theme The Pearlin which Rosalía appears surrounded by mysterious arms. In black and white, with Papaioannou’s usual elegance, the image manages to generate a kind of optical illusion that has captivated followers of the singer and colleagues of the Greek. “It has been like an experiment in my career,” the artist tells EL PAÍS from Greece via video call.
“Two years ago I stopped touring because I was exhausted and that was when Rosalía proposed doing this collaboration. It came at a good time, we had a connection and I said yes,” he says. He explains that there were three rehearsals in total, one of them with Rosalía. “For me it was essential to give the dancers the importance that they always have in my work, they are never something decorative, and I hope that has been achieved.” He praises the professionalism of the artist, who “has the success she deserves,” and anticipates that she will premiere a new show with her collective in October 2027 at the Teatro de la Bastille. Papaioannou is also the author of the successful direction of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympic Games.
The French collective (LA)HORDE has also worked on the Lux of Rosalía, but without convincing as much as Papaiannou. The group, leading the National Ballet of Marseille since 2019, signs the singer’s appearance in a tutu and pointe shoes, trying to craft complex ballet phrases. “It takes eight years to perform those movements well,” commented choreographer Nacho Duato in a video published on his Instagram account a couple of days ago, which he deleted after a few hours. “And that’s not a tutu, it’s a stretcher table.” We do not know if the idea of the classical dancer was the singer’s or the choreographers’, and (LA)HORDE has declined by email to interview EL PAÍS, “because it is not on promotion at the moment.”
The truth is that dance and pop stars have a successful journey together that goes back a long way and yields memorable collaborations. The one that occurred between Louise Lecavalier (Montreal, 67 years old) and David Bowie is unusual and dazzling as seen in the video clip of Fame. “When I saw him in his red suit, I was speechless for a moment,” Lecavalier herself, a renowned Canadian dancer and choreographer, tells this newspaper, in the middle of a busy tour. “It was 1988 and I was with Édouard Lock (director of the company La La La Human Steps, in which Lecavalier danced) enjoying The Glass Spider Tourby Bowie, at the Montreal Olympic Stadium. Then his agent arrived and told us that the singer wanted to meet us,” he explains. And he remembers the enormous capacity of the artist, who admired the work of Pina Bausch, for dance: “He was a complete artist, not only did he learn the steps, but he was able to take them further.” Lecavalier collaborated with him on the tour. Sound + Vision (1990), with the artistic direction of Eduard Lock. “It was like a party, I enjoyed it and then I went back to dancing my thing without dreams of glory, just with a beautiful story.”
Madonna has also had famous collaborations. “She is not a singer who dances; she is a dancer who sings.” These are the words of the famous and acclaimed Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet (Uccle, Belgium, 49 years old), who reports to EL PAÍS from New York, where he is these days collaborating with the singer FKA Twigs. “The same thing happens to Twigs. You can quickly see that movement is something natural for them,” she says. A collaborator on Madonna’s tours and videos since 2019, Jalet confesses that he started dancing to the singer’s music as a child. “Imagine what it’s like to now belong to their inner circle,” he says. “She is a tireless worker and a visceral dancer, I try to amplify that power that she has.” The artist, also the author of the choreography performed by the singer Thom Yorke in Animasigns numerous and exquisite works on and off stage. Take the opportunity to tell for the first time that his work Miragescheduled at the Matadero Dance Center in Madrid for September 2025 and postponed due to technical difficulties, will finally be seen in January 2027. “I would love to work with Rosalía. Because I also adore Spain and its current positioning in international politics,” he ventures.
Her colleague Blanca Li (Granada, 62 years old), a Spanish dancer and choreographer living in France, also has a career that stands out for famous collaborations in fashion, film and music. “When you work for another artist it is important to keep your ego to yourself and try to give movement to the universe that is presented to you,” he explains on the phone. The group Daft Punk, for whom he created the choreography of Around the world, and Beyoncé, with whom he has worked on several occasions, are just two of his most popular musical collaborations. “Watching Beyoncé work is amazing. Not only because of her ability to dance, but because of the way she integrates all the movements and the attention she puts in. She’s like a perfect machine that doesn’t miss anything.” Li, author of the choreography of Bitter Christmasthe new film by Pedro Almodóvar, is on tour with three shows and next year she will embark on a new and ambitious project that will bring her back to Spain, “a large flamenco production,” she anticipates. She was director of the Teatros del Canal and the Madrid International Dance Festival between 2019 and 2023.
As with Rosalía, it is also common for certain controversies to arise, and in Spain there was one not long ago. “I was eating and watching the news with my parents in Ubrique and I almost choked,” explains Adrián Manzano (Cádiz, 31 years old) via video call. It refers to the controversy sparked by the dance that the Spanish singer Aitana performed in the Alpha Tour from three years ago and that he signs. “That hip movement on the floor had already been done by singers like Shakira, I took it a little further,” explains Manzano about the gesture of discord, with hip bouncing, which some mother described on the networks as “pornographic.” “Aitana dances more than she thinks and has a deep respect for dance,” adds choreographer Iker Karrera (Hondarribia, 41 years old), who worked alongside Manzano for the singer in the concerts she gave in several stadiums last summer. TV program director Fame, let’s danceand choreographer of his own company, with which he premiered the renowned work A Room where it happens in 2024, believes in the opening of dance and the possibility it offers to create new audiences: “Everything that is done well, with professionalism, but also love and respect, can open doors to dance. Whether on the floor with Aitana or in the Conde Duque theater.”
Blanca Li ventures to give her opinion on Rosalía’s work: “If you ask me how I see Rosalía on pointe, I would tell you that, technically, I see her as terrible. It’s all wrong. But it wouldn’t be fair because the context is important and Rosalía is not offering a dance show, but rather a concert to which she brings, for a few minutes, a specific ballet imagery.” “I already know that she doesn’t want to be a dancer,” Duato said in her Instagram video, “but what do you want me to tell you, it hurts me.”