Amid COVID-19, Israel's Flamenco Days Festival heads online

The Flamenco Days Festival will take place on March 18, 19 and 20.

THE FLAMENCO Days Festival will take place on March 18, 19 and 20. (photo credit: EYAL HIRSH)
THE FLAMENCO Days Festival will take place on March 18, 19 and 20.
(photo credit: EYAL HIRSH)
 For 27 years, Eva Agmon has upheld the memory of her daughter Adi with an annual flamenco festival. Following Adi’s untimely death, Agmon poured her passions into finding a way to enrich the Israeli flamenco scene, of which her daughter was a fan. Agmon eventually selected two paths: the establishment of the Adi Foundation, which supports young dancers in their dreams to become professional flamenco performers, and the annual Flamenco Days Festival.
In March of 2019, Agmon pulled out all the stops for the 25th edition of the festival. She invited leading artists from Spain, as well as local talents, to perform on the main stage of Tel Aviv’s Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater. She hosted an expansive competition, the winner of which received a grant to pursue flamenco studies in Spain. Immediately following the festivities, she went back to work planning the next event. Only, like so many annual events, 2020’s program had to be placed on hold.
Now, having taken one year away from the stage, Agmon has decided that Flamenco Days cannot wait any longer. Presenting a fully live event is still not possible, so Agmon has opted to go virtual. Starting this Thursday, the entire festival program will be streamed online, with each performance available for a 48-hour period.
The festival will kick off with Dependence by Mijal Ben Zvi. In this work, Ben Zvi explores the dependence of individuals on society and those surrounding them. Inspired by psychoanalyst Erich Fromm’s Escape from Freedom, Ben Zvi brings a physical, musical perspective on the evasive nature of liberty.
On Friday, the second stage of the competition will be live-streamed, followed by Flamenco Natural’s Cenicienta. In this production, writer Yossi Zabari and choreographer and performer Sharon Saguy give a new take on Cinderella.
On Saturday, the winners of the competition will be announced followed by the main event from abroad, Cazas Flamenco Project. Manuel Cazas is a celebrated guitarist. In this performance, he pays tribute to his hometown of Hervas, Spain. He will be joined by dancers Abel Harana and Lucia La Pinon.
All three of these productions were created with the support of the Adi Foundation.
The Flamenco Days Festival will take place on March 18, 19 and 20. For more information, go to screenz.live and search for “flamenco.”