New York audiences have been able to witness, thanks to Flamenco Festival, the evolution of contemporary flamenco over the last 20 years.
—Miguel Marín, artistic director of Flamenco Festival
The
Gala Flamenca put the finishing touch to
Flamenco Festival New York at a
sold out New York City Center.
María Moreno, who dazzled the audience with her "
mantilla", and
Mercedes Ruiz, who offered a recital of "
taconeos",
were acclaimed by a
devoted audience from the beginning, as were the cantaora
María Terremoto and the bailaor
Eduardo Guerrero, who filled with
passion and energy a show that did not go off the beaten track. They were joined by cantaores
Miguel Rosendo and
Ismael de la Rosa, as well as guitarists
Santiago Lara and
Javier Ibáñez, and percussionist
Paco Vega.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMTY92cQu6Q[/embed]
VIVA!, the other
highlight of this year's
Flamenco Festival, was received with standing ovations. The
groundbreaking flamenco show with a
queer perspective in which the dancer and choreographer
Manuel Liñán breaks gender roles and celebrates the freedom to be oneself,
beyond conventions and stereotypes.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqLg7-E3VA[/embed]
The show,
one of the jewels of Flamenco Festival on its return after the two year delay due to the pandemic, was
a sell-out success in the
historic theatres of the
Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami and the
New York City Center, in its
two performances that both ended with
standing ovations, amidst
applause, cheers and repeated "bravos".
Despite the
success and
good reception,
Flamenco Festival closes a stage in New York after 20 editions as a result of the
lack of stable institutional support to maintain this
important event of
great format and impact with
flamenco as a protagonist in the
world's epicentre of culture.
The
20th anniversary of the
flamenco event has been possible mainly
thanks to the extraordinary support of the
King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at NYU in the framework of its
25th Anniversary activities, and of the
Instituto Cervantes, on the occasion of the celebration of the
World Flamenco Congress.
From next year onwards,
Flamenco Festival will focus on
organising cycles and tours, and will promote its
creative residency programme In Progress, which
began in February in
Torrox (Málaga) with artists
Rocío Márquez and
Ana Morales, and that will be
extended to the cities of
New York and
Miami.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avep7pqJtmQ[/embed]
This has already been materialised in this 2022 edition, with an
artistic encounter and a
musical improvisation between the young Jerez-born cantaora
María Terremoto and the iconic saxophonist from The Rolling Stones
Tim Ries, a session that has fulfilled
one of Terremoto's personal dreams: to mix her
flamenco voice with
other styles such as soul, blues or jazz, with the
support of Flamenco Festival.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWUCe2z3gSU[/embed]
Flamenco Festival's organisation is
satisfied and happy to have been able to
celebrate its twentieth anniversary after the two-years delay due to the pandemic, and makes
a positive balance of this edition.
Most of the shows and cultural events
were sold out, with an attendance of
more than 10,000 spectators in
New York, Miami and Los Angeles,
consolidating the impact the festival has had over these
two decades.
The director Miguel Marín wanted to thank the audience "for so much love" and highlighted that the mission of the festival "has always been to show the great variety and diversity of styles and proposals that exist in flamenco today".
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhQ-0BaUWYE[/embed]
This international flamenco platform has brought to the
United States artists
at the top of their careers such as
Sara Baras, Eva Yerbabuena, Estrella Morente, Carmen Linares, Tomatito, María Pagés, Manuela Carrasco, Israel Galván, Carmen Cortés, Rocío Molina, Olga Pericet, Rocío Márquez, Rosalía and
Rafaela Carrasco, and
masters who are no longer with us, such as
Paco de Lucía or
Enrique Morente, as well as the
artists who have been part of this anniversary edition, such as
Miguel Poveda, Manuel Liñán, Mercedes Ruiz, Eduardo Guerrero, María Moreno, María Terremoto or
Santiago Lara, among others.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZMDyeZDPMs[/embed]
For two decades,
Flamenco Festival New York has made possible an
intergenerational dialogue between the
most exceptional artists of today's flamenco, showing the
diversity of looks, languages and ways of understanding a universal art, with a representation of both the most
traditional flamenco and the most
innovative and avant-garde proposals.
Be that as it may,
Flamenco Festival will continue
the mission with which
it was born in 2001: to
take flamenco around the world,
crossing borders and
making this universal art known beyond Spain.
The organisation of
Flamenco Festival would like
to thank the American public for their
loyalty, edition after edition.
Thousands of spectators without whom these
twenty years would not have been
possible...
Here's to many more years of Flamenco Festival!
