Israel Galván

After discovering “FLA.CO.MEN” during the 2016/17 season, Porto once again welcomes Israel Galván, one of the greatest flamenco innovators nowadays, who returns to Rivoli’s stage to literally party with “La fiesta” [The party]. Heir to Seville’s school and Franco dictatorship, Galván covered the four corners of the world as bailaor until he decided to experiment with, dramatise and reinvent flamenco. He says he just changed the syllables, without ever leaving its territory or its memory, but broadening the choice of codes it encloses. “La fiesta”, however, entails an about-turn. The awarded artist now decides to return to the essence, to his childhood, a circle of life closing “as if he had travelled hundreds of miles to return to where he started.” Back to the tablaos where his parents used to dance, to flared skirts, to the peinetas that undo at the end of the presentation, the energy of this party starts by its very ending, when roles are exchanged, when a dance not meant to be seen is played. The energy spreads to the audience through the music, which relies on the contribution of the Byzantine Ensemble Polytropon and emphasises the tragic feeling of life and its lamentations, and through the movement one feels even with one’s eyes closed. “La fiesta” goes from virtuosity and tradition to breaking canons and to the freedom to dance. The audience are invited to vibrate and most importantly to unravel the riddles of this party filled with personal and collective recollections.


Israel Gálvan was born in Seville, in 1973. His parents were flamenco dancers. He started practicing with his father at a very early age, performing for the first time at the age of five in Seville’s tablao, La Trocha. He went on to study with Mario Maya and later became the lead dancer in his company. He worked with a number of famous names, including Manuela Carrasco, Manuel Soler and Vicente Amigo. It was during this period that he won three of the most prestigious flamenco awards — the Vicente Escudero Award in 1995, and the El Desplante Award and the I Competition of Young Performers Award in 1996. He set up his own dance company in 1998.