Cristina Hoyos

Biography

Cristina Hoyos was born in Seville in 1946. After a large period training she became the first "bailaora" (Flamenco dancer) for Antonio Gades, a position she occupied for two decades, so she was involved in almost all his great works, such as "Crónica del suceso de Bodas de Sangre", "Carmen" and "El Amor Brujo".

At the end of the eighties she founded her own company, since by then she had become such a renowned artist. As director of her own group she has also created important shows and taken part in a number of films. The film “Montoyas y Tarantos” will serve as an example.

After the success of this first stage, Cristina wished to turn her career around and return to the Flamenco of her roots where she had begun. She returned to Seville in 1989 alongside her husband Juan Antonio Jiménez, also a great dancer. Together they set up their own company and since then they have been delighting a wide variety of audiences, not only throughout Spain, but on the main stages around the world (Opera de Paris, Stockholm, Covent Garden in London…), and she is particularly acclaimed in Japan, a country where she periodically performs and organises courses. More recently, she has been discovered in China, where and 2011 she was awarded the title of Ambassador for Cultural Tourism in Beijing.

In 1992 she performed at Expo' 92, with “Yerma” and” Lo Flamenco” and at the opening ceremony - her performance was hailed for its direct impact on millions of people- and closing ceremony of the Barcelona'92 Olympic Games. In 1994 she presented her show “Caminos Andaluces” at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. In 2002 she presented “Tierra Adentro” in the main Theatre in Valencia, for which she was given the Performing Arts Award by the Government of the Community of Valencia for the best show.

From 2004 to 2011 she directed the Flamenco Ballet of Andalusia, a body dependent on the Andalusian Regional Government, for which Hoyos has provided major promotion outside Andalusia, with unquestionably successful productions like "Poema del cante jondo", "Romancero gitano" and "Viaje al Sur". In 2012 she choreographed the opera “El Gato Montés”, directed by José Carlos Plaza. She is currently focussing most of her efforts on one of her most important projects, the Museo del Baile Flamenco in Sevilla, with the primary objective of promoting this art which represents Andalusia's most important cultural asset Andalusia, El Flamenco, recognised by UNESCO with its designation as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.