V Dutch Flamenco Biennial

Flamenco Crossroads

  • event type:Festival
  • date:16 Jan 2015 - 03 Feb 2015
  • city/area:Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven
  • venue:More than 20 venues in 5 cities
  • country:Netherlands
  • event posted by:Flamenco Biënnale NL

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V Dutch Flamenco Biennial
Flamenco CrossRoads
16 Jan - 3 Feb 2015 in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven

Celebrating its fifth edition, the Dutch Flamenco Biennial will bring the vanguard of contemporary flamenco to the Netherlands in January 2015. For the fifth time, the leading biennial music and dance festival will present the latest developments in flamenco and feature maverick makers, big stars and upcoming talent. In sparkling rhythms and passionate song and dance, a new crop of flamenco makers explore the boundaries of the ancient flamenco art and bring tradition and experiment together in extraordinary concerts and performances. They form creative alliances and cross-fertilise with jazz, contemporary dance and music, baroque music, Indian and oriental music. This year, the festival travels to no less than five cities: Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Eindhoven. Over forty dance performances and concerts are rounded with an extensive programme of master classes, workshops, lectures, a photography exhibition, a translation contest, films, ‘participeñas’, shows for children and after-parties.

The overarching them of this edition is Flamenco Crossroads. The Flamenco Biennial is a crossroads of musical dialogue and unexpected encounters, of musical and dance forms from different genres, of audience and artists, built on a foundation of guitar, song (cante) and dance.
In nineteen days and five cities, the festival presents a colourful and fresh palette of flamenco expression at over 20 venues, including Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, Bimhuis Amsterdam, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, LantarenVenster, TivoliVredenburg, Rasa Utrecht, Lucent Danstheater Den Haag and Muziekgebouw Frits Philips.

The original flamenco innovators: Maya, Galván, Marín
The Flamenco Biennial celebrates its fifth edition with an adventurous line-up of the top avant-garde artists from Spain, the Netherlands and other countries. The festival kicks off at the Rotterdamse Schouwburg with Los Invitados performed by female flamenco pioneer Belén Maya (Dutch première). The avant-garde of male dance is represented by ‘the Nijinski of flamenco’ Israel Galván and his peer Andrés Marín, ‘the Picasso of flamenco’. Both Galván and Marín have recently explored the Indian roots of flamenco, looking for ways to translate the outcome into a new dance language. Both enter into a challenging alliance with a prominent contemporary dancer or choreographer from outside flamenco. Israel Galván and British-Bengali choreographer Akram Khan perform their new creation Torobaka (Dutch première), which premièred in France in early July to rave reviews. Their show in the Amsterdamse Stadsschouwburg will be the last performance of the festival. Andrés Marín teams up with French-Algerian (hip hop) dancer Kader Attou and the Divana Ensemble from Rajasthan in search of contemporary flamenco dance dynamics in the world première of their piece Yatra in The Hague. Next to these prime movers of flamenco innovation, a new young generation of dancers show works exploring and expanding the boundaries of flamenco, like the contemporary dance troupe Cía Estévez/Paños/Ruz, in their Dutch début performance with a surprising mix of traditional song and modern flamenco sampling.

Crossroads Theme – special collaborations
The theme of this edition is reflected in the many choreographic and musical encounters that the Flamenco Biennial fosters. The programme section Flamenco & Orient features the festival's own creation Qasida, a rousing musical dialogue between Spanish singer Rosario La Tremendita and the rising star of Iranian classical music Mohammad Motamedi in a phenomenal double feature with Iranian kemanche artist Kayan Kalhor. Renowned French-Catalan double bassist Renaud García-Fons (Artist in Residence of this edition) takes his instrument on a tour of adventure, forging new worlds with various musicians and blurring the boundaries between classical, world music and flamenco. Another musical encounter is between guitarist José Manuel Cañizares, who was Paco de Lucía's sidekick for ten years, and acclaimed Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn in a special programme celebrating composer Manuel de Falla. Cañizares and a new wave of young guitarists pay tribute to the late grandmaster Paco de Lucía in the programme section Strings. Next to innovation, the Biennial also makes room for tradition. Razor-sharp gypsy dancer Farruquito puts in a guest performance with the legendary singer, cantaor, Manuel Moreno Maya ‘El Pele’ whose unpolished voice casts a spell that will leave no one untouched. They represent tradition, pure, raw and fiery, at the festival.
The full programme of the fifth Dutch Flamenco Biennial will be published online in October 2014.

For more information, contact: Pieta Koopman pieta@flamencobiennale.nl + 31 6 25381303 flamencobiennale.nl facebook.com/FlamencobiennaleNL twitter.com/flam_bien_nl