The 15th Festival de Jerez will be held in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Spain, from 25 February to 12 March 2011. 

The website is full of information in Spanish, English and German about this year’s Festival. There are also video clips from previous years’ festivals, dating back to 2003.

This year there are 44 classes and workshops being offered in flamenco and Spanish dance; many of the course places are almost full, if not already full.

This is a reflection of the quality of the artists who will be teaching there: Inmaculada Aguilar, Isabel Bayón, Manuel Betanzos, Manuela Carpio, Irene Carrasco, Rafaela Carrasco, La Chiqui, Matilde Coral, Merche Esmeralda, Marco Flores, María José Franco, Angelita Gómez, Joaquín Grilo, Javier Latorre, Leonor Leal, María José León Soto, Manuel Liñán, Ana María López, Manolo Marín, Alicia Márquez, Belén Maya, David Morán ‘El Gamba’, María del Mar Moreno, Ángel Muñoz, Pilar Ogalla, Juan Parra, Andrés Peña, Olga Pericet, Antonio El Pipa, Blanca del Rey, Mercedes Ruiz, Juan Antonio Tejero and Jerónimo Utrilla.

One can enrol in classes via the website.

Each evening during the Festival there will be two performances, starting with the Compañía Antonio el Pipa performing Danzacalí – dazar de los gitanos on Friday 25 February 2011 in the Teatro Villamarta at 9pm, La Farruca – Homenaje a los Grandes (Lola Flores, El Farruco, Carmen Amaya…), the Ballet Shoji Kojima Flamenco, Jesús Fernández, Miguel Ortega, Compañía Javier Barón, Juan Romero Pantoja ‘El Guapo’, Nazaret Cala – Kiko Peña, Ángel Muñoz, Leonor Leal, Compañía Rubén Olmo, Manolo Marín, Compañía Javier Latorre,  Isabel Bayón Compañía Flamenca, Andrés Peña, Miguel Poveda, Olga Pericet, Compañía Manuela Carrasco, Compañía Mercedes Ruíz, Compañía Belén Maya, Compañía Rojas & Rodríguez: Nuevo Ballet Español and Ballet Flamenco Eva Yerbabuena, to name some of the artists performing there… 

© 2011 Thérèse Wassily Saba