Abstract
This thesis comprises a critical exploration of female dance performances in the recent democratic history of Spain. It discusses democratic Spain’s relationship with the memory and forgetting of its repressive dictatorial past. In the aftermath of Francoism (1939-75), Spain transitioned to a democratic system without confronting those responsible for the repression of the previous regime. This tacit sociopolitical agreement, known as the Pact of Silence, imposed a process of collective amnesia on Spain. As a way of breaking the pact of silence, this analysis traces the development of gender values, under the effects of this social oblivion. My research suggests that this collective historical amnesia has had direct repercussions on the construction of feminine identity in post-Franco Spain. My methodologies depart from a critical dance studies perspective, and borrow from contemporary semiotics and post-structural criticism to analyse dance pieces as socially encoded discursive practices that generate meaning. Through their choreographies, a democratic generation of female choreographers, Anna Maleras, Avelina Argüelles and Sol Picó, have opened up possibilities for discussing the female body’s relationship with historical silence, offering choreographic tactics to vanquish the national amnesia.