Cristina Hoyos plans to create a
flamenco dance museum in Seville

The eighteenth century building will house both classes and displays

Flamenco-world.com

Cristina Hoyos is embarking on a project in Seville to spread the gospel flamenco dance. The dancer from Seville plans to set up a museum devoted to this particular branch of flamenco with exposition areas and complementary formative activities. The project will include temporary displays, presentation of new artists, conferences and dance classes. The museum, which is scheduled to open its doors in 2003, is housed in an eighteenth century building in the Andalusian capital's historic old city.

Cristina Hoyos

Cristina Hoyos has set the goal of getting people familiarized with flamenco dance by founding a museum which the Seville dancer explains, "has been conceived as a meeting place geared toward flamenco dance, delving into its history and background in order to gain a better understanding of the subject". With this goal in mind "there will be a permanent display to introduce the visitor to this art form". In the beginning, the museum's holdings will consist of the founder's donation of objects collected throughout her artistic career such as wardrobe, props and graphic images. The offering will be progressively enriched by "temporary expositions by various representatives of the art world, photography and fine arts, as well as audiovisual shows, because dance needs to be seen".

Teaching is the other foundation upon which the museum will be based. In the dance studios on the premises, "there will be rehearsals, choreographing, courses for professionals and beginners". The teaching activities will also be enriched by talks and roundtable discussions not only by experts in the field and international artists from the world of dance, but by cultural representatives as well. There will also be special study days, congresses and presentations related to flamenco dance and which "may take place in the museum's own installations or in outside convention facilities" to which end agreements and contacts are being established with other national and international institutions.

Virtual image of Museo del Baile Flamenco

Concert facilities

The museum will also house a new venue for flamenco performances to add to Seville's present offering. The building will include a recreation of the type of café cantante which existed in the city at the turn of the last century. In the central patio whose design is in the typical Seville style, there will also be occasional performances. In this way Cristina Hoyos hopes to make visitors realize that "this is not a haphazard art, but rather the fruit of daily hard work, and you have to go through many pairs of shoes and dance boots before getting up on stage."

The artistic director of the future museum feels "it is going to be a positive thing, not only for the local visitor, since flamenco dance is an important part of the city's culture which this center will help bring into focus, but also for foreign tourists, many of whom come to Seville looking for a romantic vision of something like Carmen, and which many times they are unable to find".