On Artificial Intelligence
Abrepaso seeks to create honest flamenco dance that provokes the audience to think, feel, question, and remember our shared humanity.
That is one of the earliest “about” statements I wrote for Abrepaso. While it has evolved somewhat, it currently continues in our “about us” section on our website as follows:
Above all, we see flamenco as a transformative practice—a way to remind us of our shared humanity, to heal, to empower, and to celebrate resilience.
It is the heart of what we do.
In 2025, when my child learned to walk, running Abrepaso became significantly more difficult. Have you ever tried watching a toddler and writing at the same time? It also became hard to prioritize unpaid work when I had so few hours to work. (The position of Artistic/Executive director has been, and still is, a volunteer position.) To compensate, I thought I’d give ChatGPT a try.
First, I used it to help me come up with subject lines for the email newsletter. Then I had it edit “word vomit” drafts of the email newsletter. Then, I’d give it a few bullet points and it would draft the newsletter. I’d give it a few editing suggestions, and boom - an hour’s worth of work done in 10-15 minutes. It was great - suddenly I felt like I had a team of people working for me - maybe I could actually compete with larger more established organizations which have many more resources.
I was also applying to a LOT of grants for Ni más / ni menos at the time too. While I’m an experienced and successful grant writer for the organization, the concentration it takes — especially to whittle down drafts into the very limited word counts usually required in grant apps — became increasingly difficult while also being the primary caretaker for my child. So, I’d plug my drafts into ChatGPT. Boom. Word count achieved with the meaning still intact and many hours saved.
As the problem of data centers has become ever-present, and realizing my own lack of practice in writing, I started to use ChatGPT less and less. I actually like writing the newsletters - it’s my way of sharing my approach and framework for the projects and events we do - to get across the heart of Abrepaso, get those ideas into people’s inboxes. I also like writing grants, they help me figure out what a project is actually about and to more clearly envision it. Even the tedious whittling away at words - finding what is essential in my writing and the challenge of being clear with few words (which, let’s be honest, is not something that comes naturally to me!) - also helps me creatively.
Recently, a board member showed me a suggested flyer for one of our events - a picture of the venue altered with A.I. Usually slow to respond to emails (sorry!), I immediately wrote back that A.I. should not be used for any Abrepaso publicity. It horrified me that someone would post something A.I. generated on behalf of Abrepaso.
When outside presenters have used A.I. generated flyers, it bothered me, but I didn’t feel I was in a position to ask for a new flyer. I am considering how I will address this in signing contracts with outside presenters moving forward.
While we didn’t jump onboard the DEI statement frenzy (I feel our work speaks for itself when it comes to that and the language around that was fraught with political divisiveness), I have decided that Abrepaso should not use A.I. Period. And, that it merits a clear statement and stance, at the very least to ensure and encourage me and anyone else representing Abrepaso to not use A.I.
Will this put the organization at a disadvantage? Maybe, maybe not. I actually believe people want the real thing. As I began using A.I. less and less, when I would use it on occasion, I realized it washed away personal style and specificity, so it became easy to first mostly ignore its suggestions, then stop using it completely.
On a related note, I’ve also started using video less and less in my teaching. It became clear to me that students weren’t picking up steps because they knew I’d send out a review study video. That’s not how I learned flamenco. That’s not how flamenco developed, that’s not how it can be truly understood or retained with any sense of profundity. I gave students notebooks and I try to make time for them to quickly jot down notes on choreographies or ideas between classes. And guess what? I noticed students learning the choreographies more quickly, retaining the choreographies between classes, and generally being more engaged. If this is what happens when Abrepaso is a luddite organization, then I will happily accept that notion.
So, Abrepaso’s policy on A.I. is that neither Large Language Models nor A.I. visual/video generators will not be used. Not behind the scenes. Not in our public facing branding or marketing either. If we are to stand by the vision of reminding people of our shared humanity (and safeguarding humanity from the environmental impact of A.I. as well), we cannot make space for something that actively works against that goal.
There are so many A.I. tools now embedded in the systems we rely on for general communication (gmail, web browsers, web hosting, newsletter hosting, etc.), I cannot say A.I. is uninvolved in our work. But to the extent that we can seek out its use or not, Abrepaso will not actively engage with A.I. and will disable A.I. usage wherever possible.