Israel Galván

Israel Galván was born in Seville in 1973 and grew up in a world of tablaos, flamenco dance schools and fiestas.
 He has acquired an international stature thanks to daring creations emerging from his perfect mastery of the flamenco choreographic culture and based on his inner feelings. His creations dramatically change the landscape of the baile jondo: in one sense he opens up all known formulas of this art to completely new horizons; in another sense, he returns to the very heart of spareness, interiority and precision and to the characteristic “madness” of the oldest form of flamenco, from which “contemporary arts” perhaps have the most to learn.
 Each of his shows marks the appearance of a new daringness and a rejection of convention: ¡Mira!/Los Zapatos Rojos (1998), La Metamorfosis (2000), Arena (2004), La Edad de Oro (2005), El Final de este estado de cosas (presented at the Festival d’Avignon in 2009), La Curva (2010), Lo Real/Le Réel/The Real (2012), FLA.CO.MEN (2013), the wild and brilliant La Fiesta presented in 2017 in the Cour d’honneur of the Palais des Papes at the Festival d’Avignon, and the 
feline Gatomaquia with gypsies from the Cirque Romanès (2018). 
He has also created La Francesa and Pastora for his sister, the dancer Pastora Galván.
Open to stylistic boldness, he switches between intimate forms, large shows and collaborations with the likes of Enrique Morente, Pat Metheny and Akram Khan (TOROBAKA, 2015).
 He has received numerous awards, including a National Dance Award in Spain, a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award in the USA and a National Dance Award for Exceptional Artistry in the UK. In 2016, he was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
These are honours that others would see as an invitation to keep doing more of the same, but they have merely served to motivate Israel Galván further to share, exchange and try something new.