Israel Galván de los Reyes (Seville 1973), son of Sevilla dancers José Galván and Eugenia de los Reyes was awarded the National Prize for Dance in the category of Creativity » for his ability to generate, in an art such as flamenco, a new creation without losing sight of the true roots that are its foundation even in present times and which constitute a universal art form», an extremely apt description of this man’s contribution.
Previous
winners of the prize which includes thirty thousand euros in cash are
Antonio Gades, Antonio Canales, Aída Gómez, Sara Baras,
María Pagés and Eva Yerbabuena among others.
At a very early age the boy’s great ability was noticed. In 1994
he became a member of the Compañía Andaluza de Danza under
the direction of Mario Maya and in the short space of two years he obtained
the three most important flamenco dance prizes: the Vicente Escudero prize
at the Córdoba Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco (1995), El Desplante
at the Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas de La Unión
(1996) and first prize at the Concurso de Jóvenes Interpretes of
the 9th Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla (1996).
He debuted with his own company in 1998 with “¡Mira!/Los
Zapatos Rojos”, and other works include “La Metamorfosis”,
“Galvánicas”, “Las Palabras y las Cosas”,
“Dos Hermanos” with Pastora Galván and “Arena”
which was presented at the twelfth Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, a work
that won the Giraldillo prize. His most recent work, “La Edad de
Oro”, represents a return to the most classical flamenco but as
always, through Galván’s unique vision, with the collaboration
of singer Fernando Terremoto and guitarist Alfredo Lagos. He is currently
preparing “Tabula Rasa” with pianist Diego Amador and singer
Inés Bacán.
