Dancing with Birds

The traditional flamenco style is characterized by ferocious boot heels and roses, which are held in place by the dancer's clenched teeth. It also requires the use of stringed guitars, which are beaten at high speed. Castanets—sometimes referred to as clappers—are a big part of traditional flamenco, too.

One of the key elements of traditional flamenco is the long skirt worn by the dancer. Most of the time the female dancer wears the skirt, while the male half of the team wears the pants and works the guitar. This is done to avoid legal trouble, because in some places it isn't okay to operate a guitar when you aren't wearing any pants.

In recent years the flamenco style has undergone a metamorphosis of sorts, resulting in two entirely new musical genres. While the first—the so-called New Flamenco—enjoys a certain popularity, it's the second that has turned the music world on its ear. Referred to by adherents as Nuevo Flamingo—or Neoflam in certain parts of the world—this modernized style does away with many of the shortcomings that plagued the more traditional form. Where the old flamenco relied on musical instruments and roses, Nuevo Flamingo requires only strings, and pink plastic birds.

Thus liberated from the distractions of guitars and thorn-tattered gums, Nuevo Flamingo performers are free to focus on their music, and the flaming pink plastic in their mouths.