Presented at the IAF the 'XI Tacón Festival' Flamenco from Utrera', dedicated to Manuela Carrasco

The headquarters of the Andalusian Institute of Flamenco in Seville has hosted on the morning of Tuesday, February 4, the presentation of the XI Heel Festival Flamenco from Utrera, an event attended by the mayor of the municipality Francisco Jimenez, its delegate for Culture Maria Jose Garcia Arroyo, Manolito Pelusa y Luis de La Ramona as representatives of the association The compass that unites us –organizer of the festival together with the council–, as well as the artist honored Manuela Carrasco And your daughter Manuela Amador Carrasco.

Christopher Ortega, director of the Institute, highlighted the international projection of the event and pointed out that "Utrera is the only town in Andalusia that has its cultural programme structured around three major festivals: the Tacón Flamenco, in which dance becomes the discipline that gives visibility in the last week of February, where this year the figure of Manuela Carrasco is valued and which is not only a programming of dance shows, but also training, generation of new audiences and a world showcase overlapping with the Jerez Festival; the Gypsy stew, which takes place on the last Saturday of June and was the pioneer, which was later copied by other towns and, in the month of November, The Moustache, which together with the general programming that takes place throughout the year places Utrera as a benchmark in the offer of flamenco» He added that «the Department of Tourism and Sport of the Andalusian Government and the Andalusian Institute of Flamenco Through agreements with the Utrera City Council, we are always present."

Manolito Pelusa, president of the association The Compass that unites us, he was full of thanks to the sponsors, the City Council, the participating artists, Manuel Tagua awarded by the website and Rafael Guerrero Garcia, author of the poster. He insisted that "the association was born with the purpose of preserving, promoting and spreading the dance flamenco in Utrera». Something that has been done with «conferences, workshops, talks and shows with the firm objective of bringing the flamenco to all audiences, being El Tacón Flamenco The most visible fruit of this effort. Since 2013, the festival has been gaining ground, attracting fans from all over the world. This year, it pays tribute to a living legend of dance. flamenco, one of the most emblematic and revered figures of the jondo who has taken his art of unquestionable purity to the most important stages in the world, sharing the stage with Camarón, Angelita Vargas, The Güito, The Lebrijano, Fernanda and Bernarda from Utrera, The Paquera or his sister-in-law The Susie, and having been awarded multiple prizes such as the National Dance and Medal of Fine Arts».

Luis Peña Vargas, known as Luis de La Ramona, outlined the festival's programming and added that the association actively participates in The 600 years of gypsy life, a series of events that come to commemorate the anniversary of the arrival of this community to Spain "We did not see a better occasion than this to begin by paying tribute to a gypsy of flag as is Manuela" He revealed that on February 21 at seven thirty in the evening the exhibition of the French painter will be inaugurated Miguel Alcala, "who knew how to portray like no one else the moments, forms and figures of the flamencosy especially of the gypsies", presented by the gypsy, writer and journalist specialized in flamenco Antonio Ortega and illustrated with the cante from Lebrija Ines Bacán and the guitar accompaniment of Curro Vargas.

Manuela Carrasco thanked “for thinking of me. It is a pleasure when you have been giving your all on stage for so long – since you were 9 years old – that these beautiful moments come. They reward you for the fight.” And also to her colleagues, the artists who will make up the line-up on the day of her tribute, because “when they need me, I am there: you sow and you reap.”

The mayor of Utrera closed the event by thanking the IAF, the Tacón and the person being honoured for their work. He recalled that it is eighty years since the liberation of the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp where thousands of gypsies were also exterminated. And he said he felt "satisfied to represent a town like Utrera to which the gypsy world has given so much." It is not in vain that he will be awarded the gold medal in the events of The 600 years. «I feel in the glory of having the gypsy world pushing in this way, largely through The Compass that Unites Us, and because of the fame and prestige that they have given to Utrera and his flamenco throughout history."

Heel Presentation Flamenco from Utrera. Photo: Kiko Valle

PROGRAMMING

Saturday February 22

Intimate and flamenco.
Manuela Carrasco Daughter. 'In such a way palo'

Ticket sales

Sunday February 23

Dance Schools Meeting. 'My dance and my legacy'
• Academy of flamenco Emma Burgos (Seville).
• Academy of flamenco 'Pure soul', from Leticia Dominguez (The Eagle Hill).
• Flemish school 'Palo a Palo', of Pepi Navarrete (Bellavista).
• Dance academy of Vanessa Montano (Mairena del Alcor).

Free access until full capacity.

Monday February 24

Talks with the teacher Manuela Carrasco.
Journalists, friends and artists participate.
Recital flamenco de Jesus Mendez

Free access until full capacity.

Tuesday February 25

Intimate and flamenco.
The House of the Bolecos. Port de Bouc (France)
Family Boleco.
Special collaboration.
• To the cante: Pepe de Pura, Javier Flores The Indian.
• To the dance: Michael the Rubio, Antonio Amaya The Petete y Rafael Fajardo
• Percussion: Juanini from Los Bolecos.