To mark the 15th anniversary of Flamenco¿s designation as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Andalusian Institute of Flamenco has organized Flamenco Exposed, an artistic project that brings together a group of artists to explore flamenco from personal and contemporary perspectives, linking it to spaces associated with other arts such as painting, photography, and visual arts. The Andalusian Center for Contemporary Creation - C3A will host the performance by the company La Venidera, titled What Others Once Were.

Description

We take flamenco as a starting point. A premature choice. The root that was born within us has now grown, transformed, and shaped who we are today. Flamenco is part of our culture, of our identity as human beings; it tells our story, our way of feeling and engaging with life. Flamenco comes from the people, from the streets, from family and love ¿ it tears your soul apart and teaches you, from the gut, the art of deep emotion.

Flamenco, and all the artists who have nourished it throughout its long history, have been, are, and will continue to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration. A landscape full of nuance that we always want to gaze upon.
Today, we take flamenco as our beginning and subject it to a new reading ¿ through the eyes of two young people born in the late 1990s, fascinated by the idea of expanding boundaries and engaged with a world that is ever-changing and tumultuous.

Bio

Directed by Albert Hernández (Barcelona, 1997) and Irene Tena (Barcelona, 1998), La Venidera seeks to expand the boundaries of Spanish dance and flamenco, exploring points of tension between roots and contemporaneity, and incorporating a modern perspective ¿ that of the generation born in the late nineties. Their work shows a love for detail, craft, and the handmade, embracing slowness in an age of technological frenzy. In their pieces, movement responds to a concept, an idea, a story of the present. Not through an explicit language, but through a creative process rooted in the social and artistic context around them.

Albert Hernández and Irene Tena developed their artistic careers at the National Ballet of Spain, where they served as first dancer and soloist respectively under the direction of Rubén Olmo. Now, having left the company and leading their own, they continue to collaborate with the institution as guest dancers in Afanador, the acclaimed production directed by Marcos Morau.

La Venidera's debut show, Hilo roto, made an impression at the 2019 International Festival Madrid en Danza and earned Irene Tena a 2020 Max Award nomination for Best Female Performance. Loca, an excerpt from Hilo roto, won First Prize for Choreography at the Madrid Choreographic Contest, as well as the AISGE Foundation Award for Outstanding Female Dancer for Irene Tena. In 2020, both were invited as choreographers by the National Ballet of Spain to create Sevilla, a piece now part of the company¿s repertoire. In 2021, they premiered their first two site-specific works: Acompanyament a l¿arquitectura, part of the "L'Herència" dance cycle in Hospitalet de Llobregat, and Paseantes, within the "Vortex" program at the Goethe-Institut Madrid.

In 2023, their pieces Loca and Paseantes were selected for the Acieloabierto Network and toured various street festivals such as Mas Danza, Trayectos, Lekuz Leku, Traslación, Cuadernos Escénicos, among others. That same year, Loca was a finalist at the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition (RIDCC) and won the Audience Award. They were also invited as choreographers at the Mariemma Royal Professional Dance Conservatory for the "Larreal" Choreographic Workshop, and collaborated as choreographers in Recelo by Rafa Ramírez and Pasaje by Juan Carlos Avecilla.

In 2024, they choreographed and starred in a documentary about Antonia Mercé "La Argentina" alongside the Juan March Foundation. They also participated as guest choreographers in Pineda, the new production by the Andalusian Flamenco Ballet, which premiered at the Generalife Theatres.

NO, premiering in October 2025 at the Centro Danza Matadero in Madrid, is their latest production and the first since leaving the National Ballet of Spain.

Derek Van den Bulcke (Lorca, Murcia, 1991). He holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Murcia and a Master¿s in Research and Art Production from the University of Granada. After complementing his studies in Bilbao, Italy, São Paulo, and New York, he settled in Granada, where, upon completing his university studies, he began to develop his career as an independent artist¿bringing together all his technical knowledge and artistic and theoretical concerns. He joined the art studio EL RAPTO, and both collectively and individually began to gain presence in major Andalusian and national art venues and institutions (Museo del Prado, C3A, Faculty of Fine Arts, Cines del Sur Festival, FIJR, AlRaso, Arrabal Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts of Granada, José Guerrero Center, CAC Málaga, or the Convent of Santa María in Coín). At the same time, his work as a DJ and music producer has taken him to clubs, festivals, and events throughout Spain.

FLAMANTE is a music research and production project led by audiovisual artist Derek Van den Bulcke. In recent years, he has carried out numerous concerts and sound performances, with notable appearances at the Museo del Prado, alongside Rocío Molina, at the Flamenco Madrid Fest, and at the Palace of Charles V in the Alhambra of Granada, sharing the stage with Isidoro Valcárcel Medina, Llorenç Barber, Niño de Elche, and Dellafuente. A unique live show combined with a striking visual setup has quickly earned him a place in the Spanish underground scene and within the cutting-edge southern artistic landscape.