NEW YORK, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Andalucia region of southern Spain warms up New York during February 2010 with its 10th Annual Flamenco Festival, thrilling audiences while inspiring them to visit Andalucia, birthplace of the art of flamenco.
Among several stellar productions, Seville-born, "extraordinarily sinuous" Maria Pages, performs her evocative Autorretrato (self-portrait) at the NY City Center.
Also during February, the Festival tours to Miami, Washington DC, Boston, Vancouver, as well as to London.
Flamenco Festival, an organization directed by Miguel Marin, promotes and showcases flamenco and Spanish artists internationally.
Evolving from centuries of folkloric fusions, flamenco flourishes today with diverse regional styles characteristic of each of Andalucia's eight provinces (whose capital cities bear the same name): Almeria, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaen, Malaga and Sevilla.
Flamenco song, dance and guitar, whether onstage or in a local tavern, are prime attractions to experience at the source, especially at festivals and fairs in Andalucia throughout the year.
Coinciding with the New York Flamenco Festival, the Andalucia Tourist Board (www.andalucia.org) in conjunction with the Tourist Office of Spain (www.spain.info) is conducting a series of events promoting tourism to Andalucia. Visiting dignitaries and marketing executives, together with Andalusian hotel and resort representatives, are hosting seminars, receptions and presentations to the travel industry.
Traveling to and within Andalucia has become increasingly easy.
Delta Air Lines resumes its nonstop flights between New York/JFK and Malaga on May 28, with convenient system-wide connections from cities such as Boston, Atlanta, Orlando, Los Angeles and San Francisco. (www.delta.com)
Iberia Airlines offers extensive service from New York, Chicago, Miami, Boston and (resuming March 29) Washington DC nonstop to Madrid with connections to cities in Andalucia. (www.iberia.com)
A transportation milestone in Andalucia is the high-speed AVE (Alta Velocidad Espanola) futuristic bullet train between Madrid and Malaga in less than 2-1/2 hours (velocity up to 215 mph) with over a dozen departures throughout the day in each direction. Inaugurated in December 2007, it has transported millions of passengers. This Madrid-Malaga route compliments Spain's first AVE service between Madrid and Seville (with an en-route stop in Cordoba), also a 2-1/2-hour trip, launched with extraordinary success for Seville's Universal Exposition 1992. A growing high-speed train network connects several Andalusian cities such as Malaga, Seville and Cadiz. (www.renfe.com)
SOURCE Andalucia Tourist Board
