2023 has been maybe the most exciting year in our history! We have been performing worldwide, everywhere (except in Antarctica!): in Australia for the first time, America, Africa, Asia and mainly in Europe!
We have implemented concrete sustainability actions, like obtaining sustainability certificates or carbon offsets for our emissions, planting trees through the European Festivals Forest, or staying for longer while doing an artistic residency in Cape Verde.
We have also recycled and reused the costumes from a show that we premièred in 2017 at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, “Flamenco, Tradition, Avant-garde” by the Andalusian Flamenco Ballet for our own events. Thanks to a Sustainability grant from Cámara del Comercio, we were able to improve our headquarters in Seville by having more natural light and ventilation, plus changing three old air conditioning machines into only one.
The 2023 tour plan took us to many EFA and EFFE label festivals within Europe. That way, we performed in Ankara for the first time and also attended the Arts Festivals Summit in Peralada. After some performances in Italy, we closed the 31st edition of the VIA Fest and the 97th edition of the Varna Summer International Music Festival. While our goal is to promote the art of flamenco at an international level, we also presented Flamenco locally in Seville through many different productions and experiences.
In Flamenco Agency Management & Tours Limited Society, touring is part of our DNA. After touring 3 cities in Hungary, we helped celebrate the 30th edition of Sibiu International Theatre Festival thanks to the grants for flights and accommodation provided by Acción Cultural Española.
We went to Australia to celebrate Adelaide Festival Centre’s (AFC) 50th birthday, defined as “the heart of the arts in South Australia”, and to make the connection between Adelaide and Seville through the UNESCO Creative Cities Network within the frame of the Adelaide Guitar Festival: https://flamencoagency.com/australia-the-land-of-natural-wonders-and-flamenco/ We brought back the production “Flamenco Suite” by Compañía Flamenca Antonio Andrade for this occasion: https://flamencoagency.com/flamenco-suite/
After a stellar performance at the prestigious 25th Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance & Music with “Carmen” and “Dance for Me” by Granada Flamenco Ballet, we also collaborated with other AAPPAC members like the Cultural Center of the Philippines to tour in Cebu and Manila.
In addition to the Philippines tour, we also offered workshops on the Nordic tour through Sweden and Denmark and in Portugal, where we collaborated with the flamenco singer star Duquende for a Fado, Flamenco & Cante Alentejano festival.
One of the most special productions this year was “Shakespeare Flamenco. Hamlet, the dance of the melancholic” with a tour in Poland, at the Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival, an EFA member, and Lithuania, in an EFFE label festival. Later on, we went to Shanghai to attend China SPAF and give a pitch session about this project with the promotional video recorded at that prestigious Polish festival. It was also very moving to participate in the Q&A for the Shakespeare Festival audience: https://youtu.be/fRnwD0eLeqM
In the last quarter of the year, we travelled to Latvia twice to perform in contemporary festivals, with the Flamenco Machine Project at Liepāja Art Forum, and with Maestro Andrés Marín in Riga. We also performed in Finland, at Savoy Theatre, and Norway, at Drammen Theatre, with “Luxurîa” by Barcelona Flamenco Ballet.
We are preparing the 2024 tours, starting in Florida, USA. We will also go to Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Spain and many more countries! You can follow our tours at https://flamencoagency.com/news/ and https://linktr.ee/flamencoagency.
