Director
CurrentWe intend to celebrate the opening of our arts centre Myrmidon 360 in 2015/16 with a three day flamenco festival whose format is still very fluid, but in my formal capacity as artistic director I wish to let those who are intrigued by the new and we hope annual event to know more about what to expect. At present I am gathering in costs in order to calculate the extent of corporate sponsorship. I have long adored the films of Carlos Saura, his Carmen being one of my most cherished cinematic moments. Some time ago I was watching his Flamenco, Flamenco and the thought stuck me, apart from being a tourist sitting in a bar or nightclub watching frothy style cafe au lait ole flamenco or as a concert goer sitting in a dark auditorium detached from the staging and evocation of El Duende, I had no intimate place for to go where I could be with others hovering on that edge where your blood is about to be burnt into powdered glass. This festival is for 1,500 persons where aficionados can attend a three day summer event in a private forested valley setting where during the day rehearsals and master classes take place and in the evening outdoor performances as we celebrate flamenco around open fires or upon a stage with full lighting facilities. As a professional theatre person who started in 1963 by performing for nothing, just a meal, the usual contractual amount of alcohol and a share of the gate in order to demonstrate my worth, I also hope this festival can do the same for emerging talent eager to strut their stuff in front of professional artists from all over the world, who I hope will not be jetting or motor-homing in just for their performance, but will allow the gravity and magic of the event to fix them in place as exotic butterflies for the festival's three day entirety.