{"id":14226,"date":"2019-07-23T22:54:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T20:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/?p=14226"},"modified":"2019-07-23T22:56:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T20:56:27","slug":"the-flamenco-puro-contest-moves-from-turin-to-jerez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/en\/actualidad-en\/the-flamenco-puro-contest-moves-from-turin-to-jerez\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Flamenco Puro\u2019 contest moves from Turin to Jerez"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u00a0Flamenco Puro<\/a> international contest is back in Jerez de la Frontera in it\u2019s 7th edition, which will take place between February 16th<\/sup> and February 22nd<\/sup>, 2020. Thus, this contest abandons its official headquarters \u2014 located in Turin \u2014 for the second consecutive time to move to one of the cradles of flamenco. This decision was taken by Manuel Betanzos<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0M\u00f3nica Morra<\/strong>, the organizers and artistic directors of this contest.<\/p>\n

The Festival de Jerez<\/a>\u00a0has always cared about the Flamenco Puro contest, offering prestigious grants. But it wasn\u2019t until the year 2018 when this Festival added a gala performance to its 22nd<\/sup> edition featuring previous winners of the Flamenco Puro contest. From then on, Manuel Betanzos and M\u00f3nica Morra decided to relocate their contest from Turin to Jerez de la Frontera in 2019, and also in 2020.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 2019 edition of Flamenco Puro<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Palacio de Villapanes hosted the selection phase of this contest between February 17th<\/sup> and February 20th<\/sup>, 2019, while the grand finale took place at Sala Compa\u00f1\u00eda on February 21st<\/sup>. Among the members of the jury were Manuel Betanzos himself,\u00a0Alicia M\u00e1rquez<\/strong>\u00a0and the bailaor<\/em> and maestro<\/em> from Jerez\u00a0Andr\u00e9s Pe\u00f1a<\/strong>\u00a0as invited guest.<\/p>\n

Isamay Benavente<\/strong>, director of the Festival de Jerez<\/a>,\u00a0awarded a new prize, the most prestigious, created to celebrate this twinning with the goal of further promoting the training of new flamenco stars<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M\u00f3nica Morra, creator of <\/strong>Flamenco Puro<\/em><\/h3>\n

\u00abThe word contest conveys the idea of a cold competition, where it\u2019s important to stand out and where the main goal is not to enjoy the experience, but to win the prize. Indeed, the main contests feature professional bailaores who use these events to advance their career.\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00abThe word contest also evokes the idea of judgement, because evidently the contestants perform before illustrious personalities whose only purpose is to judge. There is also the concept of justice, or rather injustice, because often it\u2019s hard to objectively value the participants and accept the decisions of a jury whose purpose is to judge.\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00abThus, the simple idea of associating art with the plain concept of competition leaves us with a bitter aftertaste. Since the beginning, I\u2019ve thought about this event in a different way, more foicused on concepts, experiences and goals\u00bb, explained M\u00f3nica Morra, director of this event.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Manuel Betanzos, artistic director<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00abFlamenco Puro\u00a0<\/em>is opened to bailaores <\/em>and bailaoras<\/em> from all over the world and all levels. Young students who are not professional yet, aficionados and professionals, divided in categories \u2014 students, solo performers and choreographic groups \u2014 according to age and experience, who have the opportunity to perform before maestros of great prestige who are at the same time mentors, masters and jury.\u00bb<\/p>\n

\u00abEach category is developed in a different way. The non-professional students take part in a general lesson, where they learn a choreography created by the masters in the jury and perform it the same day. The solo performers \u2014 non-professional\/aficionado\/professional \u2014 present to the jury a solo number in the traditional style, accompanied by the musicians of the contest, with whom they only have a few minutes to finalize the structure of their performance. The choreographic groups \u2014 non-professional students in academies or professionals \u2014 present their choreography to the jury, with live or pre-recorded music\u00bb, tell us Manuel Betanzos, artistic director of this event.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n