The visual and sound landscape of Seville is transformed into movement in a dance solo that alludes to childhood innocence through the so-called “Baile de los Seises” (Dance of the Sixes) and the voices of a choir of white voices.

Seville’s cathedral is not only the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and one of the main buildings in the Andalusian capital, but it is also the setting for a tradition known as the “Baile de los Seises”, a dance originally performed by six children (now ten) dressed in traditional 16th century costume, who only perform three times a year: on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, during Carnival and on Corpus Christi.

The Seises are an inherent part of the childhood memories of Israel Galván, a transgressive dancer born in Seville and son of the Sevillian dancers José Galván and Eugenia de los Reyes, who has taken flamenco into avant-garde territory and now uses this Andalusian tradition with religious roots to construct a choreographic solo in two parts. In the first, he recreates the visual and sonorous landscapes of Seville from the sonatas for harpsichord and pianoforte by Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, the Fandango by Padre Antonio Soler, the imaginary hyper-realistic bodies of the Sevillian painter Diego Velázquez and the childlike innocence summed up in the “Baile de los Seises” (Dance of the Sixes). A second part of the choreography celebrates the beauty and glorification of the body through its martyrdom and consumption, in a contradiction that has as a sound background the reading of poems about love, and concludes with the voices and silences of a children’s choir.  The children interpret themes that intertwine and dialogue with the dance of Israel Galván.