Stars of the Festival
Rocío Molina

The iconoclastic choreographer Rocío Molina has coined her own artistic language based on a reinvented traditional flamenco style which respects its essence, but embraces the avant-garde. Radically free, she combines in her works: technical virtuosity, contemporary research and conceptual risk.
Rocío Molina, a restless dancer, was born in Malaga in 1984. She started to dance at the early age of three years old. At seven, she was outlining her first choreographies. At 17, she graduated with honors at the Royal Dance Conservatory in Madrid and became part of the cast of professionals companies with international tours.
At 22, she premiered Entre paredes (Among the Walls), her first work, which was followed by many more self-creations, all of them with a thing in common, a curious and transgressor look at a flamenco style escaping from the well-trodden paths: El Eterno Retorno (The Eternal Return) (2006) Turquesa como el limón (Turquoise as a Lemon) (2006), Almario (2007), Por el decir de la gente (As People Say) (2007), Oro viejo (Old Gold) (2008), Cuando las piedras vuelen (When Stones Fly) (2009), Vinática (2010), Danzaora y vinática (2011), Afectos (Affections) (2012) and Bosque Ardora (Ardora's Forest) (2014), Caída del Cielo (Fallen from heaven) (2016) and Grito Pelao (2018).
At 26, the Spanish Ministry of Culture awarded her the National Award for Dance for "her contribution to the renewal of flamenco and for her versatility and strength as a performer capable of handling the most diverse registers with freedom and courage."
At 28, after her outstandingly successful performance of Oro Viejo (Old Gold), Mikhail Baryshnikov kneeled before her at the door of her dressing room at New York City Center.
She's been associated with the Chaillot National Theater in Paris since 2014 where she premiered in November 2016, Caída del Cielo.
She premiere in the Festival d’Avignon in July 2018 Grito Pelao she create with the singer Sílvia Pérez Cruz and Carlos Marquerie.
Her artistic research has been recognized with awards at a national and at an international level - Spanish National Award for Dance, Best Dancer Award in Seville Bienal, Gold Medal awarded by the Province of Malaga, Max Award in 2017 (Best dancer ; Best choreography for “Caída del Cielo” – Fallen from heaven), and in 2015 (Best choreography for "Bosque Ardora" - Ardora's Forest), Dance National British Award in 2016 - and with the unanimous praise of the audience and the critics: “One of the best flamenco dancers I've ever seen" (THE NEW YORK TIMES).
In 2011, Rosio Molina came to Moscow for the anniversary X International Flamenco Festival ¡Viva España! And in 2013 for the XII International Flamenco Festival ¡Viva España! with the play Danzaora y vinática.
In 2019, in the framework of the festival, Rocio Molina will present his performance Caída del Cielo on November 20 in Moscow.