Festival de Jerez 2012 lays stakes on spreading information in the related activities program

Free workshops, exhibits and experiences complement the offer of baile courses, which have already reached an occupation of 91%

Flamenco-world.com, February 2012

Festival de Jerez 2012 won’t just happen on stages. The aim of this sixteenth edition “is for flamenco to be breathed in the streets”. The Flamenco Pa’toos Series offers free workshops like 'Comprende el flamenco' by Faustino Núñez, a pedagogical program for schoolchildren, exhibits, book and album presentations, plus the 'Vivencias' (‘Experiences’) of veteran artists such as Luisa Triana and Carrete de Málaga. And all of it will happen from February 24th to March 10th at different venues in the city at the same time as the show schedule, which has already put up the “sold out” signs for certain performances, and the program of flamenco dancing courses. And there have been over one thousand registrations, which means that the student occupation is already about 91 percent. Both the inscriptions for the last places in the courses and ticket sales for the shows are still open.

Festival de Jerez 2012. Related activities

“We’ll contribute to flamenco being breathed in the streets and for citizens and visitors to be able to enjoy it”, affirmed Antonio Real, Culture Delegate of Jerez City Hall, at the presentation of the complementary activities which will be carried out at the same time as the show schedule from February 24th to March 10th. The main aim of the series is to spread information; thus the workshop 'Comprende el Flamenco' (‘Understand Flamenco’), which will be taught by Faustino Núñez at the Centro Andaluz del Flamenco (CAF).

Isamay Benavente, director of Festival de Jerez, described the sessions of the 'Con Nombre Propio: Vivencias' Series as very exciting “living testimonies of other eras”, which will bring now retired bailaora Luisa Triana (February 27th) and bailaor Carrete de Málaga (March 5th) to the CAF. Moreover, “the city and private enterprise are more and more involved in the festival”, the director declared. As proof of it, the photo exhibit ‘Retrato español’ (‘Spanish Portrait’) by authors Gilles Larrain and Cristóbal Hara which will be seen at the Lamadrid+Gómez Gallery.

At La Bodega San Ginés, headquarters of the Jerez Regulatory Council, besides the artists’ press conferences, album and book presentations will take place. The act also served to reveal the image of the 16th Festival de Jerez, elaborated by City Hall’s Image and Design Department. According to Juan Carlos Crespo, who is in charge of this department, this year’s poster “is based on strokes; spirals, which are symbols of baile”. Regarding the choice of the colors red and black, he explained that “black is related to something theatrical, like a stage backdrop; red is a characteristic color of flamenco”.