Serving as prelude and advertisement for the Festival Flamenco Madrid 2018 that opens next Wednesday May 16th, once again flamenco fans gathered in the Plaza de Colón. Last year nearly 3000 people showed up, and this year, with official figures not yet in, the organization confirmed that the occasion was a success and attendance was higher, although I don’t know if this is actually important.
A mass dance class directed by the grace and art of two men from Cádiz, musician Riky Rivera and El Junco, a dancer who served as master of ceremonies as well as singer when required. A class to learn a few flamenco dance steps in order to end up with the chronometer ticking, with all the participants dancing to fulfill the objective.
The pretext was the Récord, but the objective was to promote, in a festive participative way, the current edition of the Festival Flamenco de Madrid 2108. On stage was the maestro Manuel Reyes, an important component of Amor de Dios who is presenting his show “Tan Sólo” next May 29th at the Sala Jardiel Poncela. Also on had, to continue the class, Antonio Fernández “Farru”, and the unpredictable much-loved Enrique Pantoja who accompanied “Las Turroneras”, young students of La Truco, whose videos have become very popular – the first one from just one year ago in the first edition of the Récord Flamenco Madrid in 2017 – and which eventually took them to several television programs. Last year they were part of the audience, and this year, participating artists.
The barefoot princess, that is to say, Miriam Méndez, flamenco pianist, also showed one of the steps from the choreography, and did a bulería rap of her version of flamenco. She’ll be at the Sala Jardiel Poncela on June 8th at the Teatro Fernán Gómez, one of the principal venues of this edition.
And Alfonso Losa, the Madrid dancer, closed out the choreography along with Rivera and Junco with his “Viernes 25” in May, at the Sala Guirao presenting his latest show “Con-Secuencia” which was a success in Jerez and will surely triumph in Madrid.
And we can’t go without mentioning “¿Qué Pasaría si Pasara?”, the show of the hosts, Riki Rivera and El Junco, which is only half the cast, to be joined on May 17th by two others from Cádiz, David Palomar and Roberto Jaén, in one of the shows every flamenco fan should see, read our review about its presentation at the Festival de Jerez and get your ticket.
We leave you with the final video of the record, and be sure to follow our Youtube and Facebook channels where we’ll put up some more, as the time draws near of each show. In our agenda you’ll find the complete program of Flamenco Madrid.
Photos and video: Rafael Manjavacas
