Lucía Álvarez Howard 'La Piñona', wins Best Dancer at major flamenco festival

Lucía Álvarez Howard, known as 'La Piñona' in Flamenco circles, last night won the 'El Desplante' prize for best dancing at what many purists consider the most important of the various competitions for young up-and-coming performers, the Festival Internacional de Cante de las Minas, in Murcia, in its 51st edition. The 25 year old daughter of Katharine Howard and Álvaro Álvarez therefore takes home €10,000 in prize money and, perhaps more importantly, a big step upwards in her career, as the distinction carries much weight and opens doors so hard to open otherwise. Having known Lucía since she was a tot, we (well, Prospero) are ecstatic about her enormous achievement and know how proud her mother would be. From our heart: ¡ENHORABUENA LUCÍA!

Jimena's own flamenco dancer, Lucía Álvarez Howard (La Piñona), chosen to compete at major festival

(Photo: (c) Alberto Bullrich)

Regular readers will know her, but newer ones may not (catch up here). Lucía Álvarez Howard, known as La Piñona in flamenco circles, has just been selected to compete in what purists consider the utmost competition of its genre: Festival Internacional de Cante de las Minas en La Unión, in Murcia. Lucía, 25, the youngest daughter of Katharine Howard and Álvaro Álvarez, was born in Algeciras and raised in Jimena. She has recently returned from a tour of Japan, and has danced in Kenya, Holland and other places outside Spain, and, of course, all over this country as well. The competition schedule has La Piñona dancing on Friday, August 12. The La Unión festival is well known for giving young singers dancers and instrumentalists that much needed push toward stardom, so let's wish our Lucia all the very best.