The bailaores will be chosen from among second-year students of the Center of Performing Arts Studies, which will take place from January to June 2004

S.C.O., December 2003

Moved by the hope that traditional culture might recover the place which has been snatched away from it by the "empire of the ephemeral", Mario Maya is fighting to go forward with an ambitious project. From the Mario Maya Center of Performing Arts Studies, the veteran bailaor and choreographer wants, on the one hand, to offer training and re-training to young professional flamenco dancers; and on the other hand, to create the Granada Flamenco Dance Company with the most outstanding pupils. Backed by the success of the first pilot edition, the center is convening its second course of stage flamenco, which will be held at La Chumbera, located in Granada's Sacromonte neighborhood, from January to June 2004. The student admission tryouts will be held on January 8th and 9th, 2004.

Mario Maya is prepared to turn Granada into the international hub of flamenco dancing. The Mario Maya Center of Performing Arts Studies will be the test tube for two interrelated projects: a school and a company. Following last year's pilot experience, the school is now convening the 2004 Stage Flamenco Course which, "intended for high-level bailaores and bailaoras, aims to perfect baile flamenco". The course will be split into two groups; one at an advanced level and another at a professional level, with a maximum of twenty students. The classes will be held from January 12th to June 11th, 2004, with a total of 450 hours of class.

Mario Maya in 'Flamenco de Carlos Saura'

The contents are shared out between baile flamenco technique, interpretation and flamenco on stage; baile flamenco; classical discipline; and theory classes focusing on the history of flamenco, musical analysis and dramatic art. The faculty of instructors is headed by Mario Maya himself, who besides taking charge of the coordination and artistic directing, teaches technique classes. Along with him are flamenco instructors Belén Maya, Alejandro Granados, Yolanda Heredia, Rafaela Carrasco, Mercedes Ruiz, Andrés Peña, Juan Andrés Maya and Juan Carlos Lérida. They also have classical music teachers Ana María Villafranca and Coral Benítez. The guitars will be handled by Emilio Maya and Marcos García; and cante by Antonio Campos and Víctor Quero.

Admission and registration

The course is aimed at professionals and non-professionals from anywhere in the world who have a good base of baile flamenco and some base of classical music, between the ages of 15 and 33. The admission tryouts will be held on January 8th and 9th, 2004, before a jury consisting of recognized baile maestros. The registration fee is 3,250 euros. Granada City Hall, besides lending the facilities of La Chumbera, is financing scholarships aimed at students with limited economic resources.

Mario Maya in 'Flamenco de Carlos Saura'

Company

From among the most outstanding pupils the members will be chosen for the Granada Flamenco Dance Company, which will make its first public appearance, as a sort of dress rehearsal, at the 2004 Jerez Festival, on Saturday, February 28th, with Belén Maya, Alejandro Granados and Rafaela Carrasco as guest artists. The company is scheduled to "offer its repertoire locally, nationally and internationally", which will help "Granada offer an appealing and at the same time formal image and become a catalyst of flamenco". And to achieve said goal, the center wants to involve other institutions such as the University of Granada, the International Music and Dance Festival, the conservatories..., "with the complete backing of political and social organizations".

Traditional culture

"A great irritation and, at the same time, a great pleasure" push Mario Maya to devote body and soul to the consolidation of the Flamenco Center of Performing Arts Studies. The project began one year ago with the goal of "creating a flamenco training center which would fill the current void as far as the teaching of this art, intended for the professional world and conceived in a complete way". The Granada-born bailaor and choreographer believes that, "once retired from active dancing is the time to offer my experience and knowledge at a time when flamenco is suffering a process of adulteration which I'd like to correct as much as possible". And he understands that "nowadays, there's more and more ignorance of what is genuine, possibly because the genuine is more concealed, more misrepresented and removed from the original". The hope is that "we re-encounter the essential structure; I want to have the pleasure of believing that traditional culture can and must be recovered".

Mario Maya (Photo: www.centroflamenco.org)

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