We borrowed the title from the most recent album by The Child of Elche: If he sings like a gypsy on his album, we could say that it is the same thing he does Israel Galvan in his most recent show, Eldorado, premiered on Friday, May 30 in Getafe as part of the festival Madrid in DanceGalván dances in a gypsy style, a tribute to his mother, Eugenia de los Reyes, a flamenco dancer before him and a gypsy. He himself explained it during the subsequent meeting with the audience: "It's a tribute to my mother, who always asks me to dance bulerías."
We've been going to theaters for over twenty years to see the always highly original performances of the most unique flamenco dancer of the 21st century, and he always surprises. And perhaps it's now that he does so by approaching the opposite of what is expected of him. Eldorado, a show that he shares with The Huelva Twins and in which the music is generated mainly from percussion –from the palmas, feet and even voices–, Galván no longer seeks to generate that permanent tension in the audience. He no longer seeks the grotesque –or he does so from another place– nor shockcante. It's still Israel Galván, let's not be mistaken, but now he seems to want to look for lightness, enjoyment, laughter.
In this show, which lasts just over an hour, Galván poses a flamenco party. In his own way, but not from pain or anguish, as he did in Party (2017), but in the most literal sense. Perhaps times are dark enough to warrant seeking even more darkness on stage.
During the subsequent meeting with the audience, Israel Galván explained the key points of his proposal: "I wanted to do something that made me dance again, even though I'm a dancer, because I'm a dancer and a troublemaker."
Dressed in black with a morning coat, short tights, an apron as a skirt, executive socks and a headdress with a flower and side comb, Galván has this time chosen the path of the celebration, of filial homage and shared revelry.
On a minimalist stage, where the lighting of Benito Jimenez Creating the necessary spaces and accompanying the moods desired through dance, Israel Galván deploys a repertoire that embraces tradition through its own uniqueness. The scene, sober and far removed from what the Sevillian artist has accustomed us to, dispenses with discomfort and tension to focus solely on dancing and enjoyment, always in his own style.
"An Israel Galván who dances like a gypsy and, in doing so, reminds us that revolution can also be an act of love."
Bulerías party
The show starts with the dancer walking around the stage, playing and joking while Los Mellis repeat a jingle that seems a party of bulerías. The connection between the dancer and the Huelva musicians is established through precise codes: he marks them with his foot, with his hand, and they read him with the naturalness of someone who knows the common territory of the beat.
The tour of the palos of the flamenco It happens with a fluidity that eliminates any hint of gravity to establish lightness as the protagonist. From the change to the soleá, which is not solemn despite the fact that the light is adjusted to the requirements of the palo, to the tangos, passing through the alegrías where, while Los Mellis sing a chorus, Galván reviews all his known poses, his profiles, his gestures, his unmistakable seal.
At the Federico Garcia Lorca Theater Getafe, with an almost full capacity of 675 seats and with the presence among the public of Muriel Romero, current director of the National Dance Company, the show garnered several minutes of standing ovation from the audience.
There are moments of special visual power, such as when he stands in the center of the stage with a giant tambourine on a platform, creating a powerful image enhanced by the lighting. The beat is Bolero by Ravel, but the music is not present, only pure rhythm exists. It is then that one of the Mellis sings A lifetime and Galván dances a bolero that is revealing: we had never seen the Sevillian artist dance face to face, do finishing moves on a platform or awaken a ole spontaneous in the public.
"That's when one of Los Mellis sings 'Toda una vida' and Galván dances a bolero that is revealing: we had never seen the Sevillian artist dance face to face, perform top-down moves on a platform, or spark a spontaneous cheer from the audience."
Dancing Ravel's 'Bolero' without listening to it
"There's no music," he would emphasize about Ravel in his conversation with the audience afterward. "But we've chosen pieces like this because the audience already hears it with the rhythm alone."
That unmistakable stamp of the strange, the uncomfortable, or even the grotesque that characterizes his work, Galván rescues it in the transitions, moving around the stage like someone searching for something that only he knows how to find. The appearance of a square metal table marks another of the high points: with his feet he seems to approach the rhythm of the Holy Week drums, but the proposal is taken towards the very essence of the flamenco, some tonás that accompany the percussion of Los Mellis with a kind of anvils and forge hammers customized for the occasion.
The closing could not have been more emotional and meaningful. Galván ends up dancing bulerías, just as his mother asked him, on the cante de the legend of time by The Mellis. Later, with the audience, he would admit that he had great reservations about dancing to the great singer of the Island. "All the maestros before were revolutionaries. I'm afraid to dance to Camarón"There's an atmosphere that feels like he's here and he couldn't even dance. But I think we're grateful for him."
The curtain falls mid-leg as he dances across the stage and the voices fade into echoes. that linger in memory.
With Eldorado, Israel Galván demonstrates once again his chameleon-like ability, his ability to surprise from tradition and his talent to make flamenco An ever-expanding territory. A Galván who dances like a gypsy and, in doing so, reminds us that revolution can also be an act of love.
Credits
The gold, by Israel Galván
XL Madrid Dance Festival
Federico García Lorca Theatre, Getafe
May 30th 2025
Conception, choreography and dance: Israel Galván
Palmas: The Twins of Huelva
