This Tuesday evening at the Nîmes theater, Israel Galván revived, 20 years after its creation, “La Edad de oro”, a legendary piece from the contemporary repertoire.
20 years ago, Israel Galván created The golden age. Now in his fifties, the dancer resumed his show this Tuesday at the Nîmes theater for the 35th Flamenco Festival. And the piece, which has become legendary, has lost none of its freshness.
The golden ageit is the golden age, that of the beginning of the 20th century, for singers and dancers. Israel Galván very freely reinterprets this heritage, the spirit of these times, with a lightness and joy that are immediately communicative. Accompanied by María Marín on vocals and Rafael Rodríguez on guitar, he delivers a new grammar as soon as he enters the stage. In a costume neither masculine nor truly feminine, Israel Galván, with a flower in his hair, mixes repertoires, blurs boundaries and conventions.
A new golden age
In his flamenco, a multitude of influences intersect and intertwine, but it is not only intellectual, it is joyful, playful, quite simply free. Some gestures are feminine, others come from childhood postures, contemporary creation, classical dance, ballroom dance, even the street. We find its singular geometry and the ancient curves, the sensuality, the fun, the sudden ruptures. Israel Galván is irreverent, but never provocative, he is of his time, he knows where he comes from, he knows where he is going. For two decades, he has brought a devastating breath to flamenco and this return to its roots is a joy shared by the artists and the public who gave him a standing ovation.
The golden age from which he draws inspiration, no one has experienced it anymore except perhaps a few Andalusian centenarians in their tender years… But Israel Galan’s contemporaries know it, they also went through a new golden age thanks to him.
The Flamenco Festival continues this Wednesday, January 15 at 6 p.m. with the young audience show Solea my neighbor by Maria Pérez at the Christian-Liger theater and at 8 p.m. at the Bernadette-Lafont theater with Matarife / Paradise by Andrés Marín and Ana Morales for a flamenca rereading of the Divine Comedy of Dante.
Belgium
