News of the Muse

Flamenco, Ole! The Adi Foundation will present Flamenco Days for the 12th time between March 23-25 at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv. Featuring local and visiting flamenco artists, highlights will include Seville-born Maria Angeles Gabaldon, a prize-winning dancer and and a teacher at Seville's Taller Flamenco school of Spanish language and dance, who will present the fiery Andalusian flamenco of her native region. She'll be accompanied by two singers, two guitarists and a pianist. Gabaldon has performed all over the world and also has her own company. She and the company will perform at a special gala in Haifa on March 22. The Panov Ballet and flamenco artist Sharon Sagui with her Duende company will present Carmen in a mix of classical ballet and flamenco. Children can also get a taste of flamenco from "Don Juan in Flamencoland" and will be able try out its steps for themselves. The Adi Foundation is named for Adi Agmon whose life was cut short by cancer at the age of 23. Before she died, she requested a flamenco scholarship be established in her memory. In addition to this yearly festival, therefore, the foundation promotes flamenco in all its facets with master classes, workshops and competitions, and also provides scholarships to gifted students who wish to study abroad. Bring on the literary floats Caricatured heroes of children's literature, the movies and TV are the theme behind this year's floats in the traditional Purim Adloyada that will wend its colorful way through the streets of Holon on March 14. Among others, Condi, Bush and Bin Laden replace the traditional goodies and baddies of the Purim story, Batman and Spiderman reflect the perils of gluttony, and Miss Piggy meets E.T. Cartoonists who recently set up a national association in Holon, let their imaginations run riot on the 15 huge floats that make the main body of the parade. The floats themselves range from 15 to an incredible 30 meters long. Altogether there'll be 4500 participants. Most of them are groups, ranging from marching bands to acrobats to circus acts to street theater - and they come from all kinds of organizations such as the Israel Motorcycle Association, the orthodox scouts, and the Africana Troupe.The Children's Channel is co-sponsoring the event and the winner of its annual drawing/cartoon competition will be crowned king or queen of the Adloyada. The parade starts at noon, but street events will begin at 11 am. Now all we need is a sunny day.