ISRAEL GALVÁN, choreographer and bailaor
Israel Galván de los Reyes, (Seville 1973) was awarded National Dance Prize 2005, section “Creation” by the Culture Department of Spanish Government, " for his capacity to generate a new creation in an art such as flamenco without forgetting the real roots that have sustained it to the present day and that make of it an universal gender ", thanks to his work in ARENA, seis coreografías para el mundo del toro (Six choreographies for bullfighting’s world) and LA EDAD DE ORO (the golden age).
Son of sevillian dancers Jose Galván and Eugenia de Los Reyes, since he was five years old, he naturally grew up within the atmosphere of tablaos, fiestas and flamenco dance academies, where he used to accompany his father. But it’s only in 1990 that he does really fell like being a dancer.
In 1994, he joined the recently created Compañía Andaluza de Danza, directed by Mario Maya, and this was the beginning of an unstoppable career that would bring him the most important prizes in flamenco (and) dance.
He has done many collaborations in projects of very different nature and with very unliked artists, some of whom stand out as references in his career, as Enrique Morente, Manuel Soler and Mario Maya, without forgetting Sol Picó, Pat Metheny, Vicente Amigo, Alfredo Lagos, Manuela Carrasco, Lagartija Nick, Fernando Terremoto, Miguel Poveda, Diego Carrasco, Gerardo Nuñez, Belén Maya, Chicuelo, Joan Albert Amargós, Diego Amador, Arcángel, Inés Bacán, Estrella Morente …
In 1998 Israel premiered ¡MIRA! / LOS ZAPATOS ROJOS, the first creation of his own company. Praised by all the specialist critics as a stroke of genius, it was effectively a revolution in the entire conception of flamenco shows.
Since then he presents LA METAMORFOSIS (2000), GALVÁNICAS (2002), ARENA (2004), TÁBULA RASA (2004) and LA EDAD DE ORO (2005), two last awarded with the Prize Flamenco Hoy to the best flamenco dance show of the year.
Pedro G. Romero is behind the artistic direction of all his works, which were first staged by Pepa Gamboa and in his most recent shows, by Belén Candil.
In 2006, for the first time he signs a choreography that he doesn’t perform, LA FRANCESA especially created for his sister Pastora Galván, who appears as unique leading dancer. It received two Giraldillo prizes, to best music and to the most innovative show.
2007 starts with a peak in ARENA’s diffusion, while LA EDA DE ORO continues turning all over the world, overcoming widely the hundred representations.
Still in 2007 Israel premiered his SOLO in the Cinémathèque de la Danse of Paris, an extremely personal work of inner observation about flamenco dancing, without music or any kind of adornments. This research experience has been presented also in the Hermès Dance Foundation in Paris (December 2007), in the DIA Art Foundation of New York City (June 2008) and in the last São Paulo Biennial of Contemporary Art.
His last work, EL FINAL DE ESTE ESTADO DE COSAS, REDUX (inspired by some passages from ‘The Apocalypse’), before being premiered in its definitive version during the 15th Flamenco Biennial of Seville (September 2008), it had been presented twice as a work-in-progress in the 2nd Málaga en Flamenco festival (September 2007) and in the 12th Festival de Jerez (March 2008).
Seville, January 1st, 2008 |
