Juan
Andrés Heredia Maya
was born for the art of flamenco on the 6th of January 1972
in the heart of the Gypsy quarter of the Sacromonte. With
notable artistic ancestry (he is the nephew of the most famous
flamenco dancers Mario
Maya and Manolete and the no
less famous guitarist Juan Maya
Marote he began dancing at the
age of three in the Cueva de las Rocío, owned by his
parents, where he quickly became the main attraction for the
numerous visitors to this popular venue in Granada.
At the early age of 14 he left for Cairo with Cachado’s
company and since then has continued performing in a variety
of shows.
At the age of 18 he created the choreography for his first
work “Passion”.
His success in Granada led to performances in theatres of
the Community of Madrid.
In
1995 he joined Carmen
Linares for a tour of Jordan
and Tunisia. A year later he was invited by the king and queen
of Spain to perform in the Carmen de los Capiteles and he
made his debut at the Alhambra with “Cautivo”
alongside Manolete, la Hierbabuena and Beatriz Martín.
He took part in “Amor Brujo”
in the leading role. He worked in New York at the Lincoln
Centre and toured Holland and Japan. In September of that
year he presented his new work “Raíces”
sponsored by the Duchess
of Alba.
In 1997 he performed alongside Antonio
Canales in the work “Guernika”.
In 1998 he presented his show
“Gitanos de Sacromonte”
at Tokyo’s Café de Chinitas and in the same year
was invited by the king and queen of Spain to celebrate queen
Sofia’s birthday in the Zarzuela Palace.
In 2000 he toured theatres throughout Europe with Paco Peña’s
company and performed at Tokyo’s Aoyama-Enkei theatre
with his own show.
He
shared the Alcázar theatre stage in Madrid with Antonio
Canales, Sara Baras, Lole Montoya and Suroma
and staged his own production
“Maya II”
at the Isabel la Católica
theatre to wide acclaim.
In 2002 he presented the show of which he is the choreographer,
author and interpreter, “Homenaje a Carmen Amaya”
at Madrid’s Nuevo Apolo theatre. He travelled to Holland
performing at 19 different venues performing “Gitanos
de Sacromonte” with his uncle Toni Maya’s company.
He interpreted his own show Maya III “El Flamenco de
un Marginado” in Casa Patas,
the Isabel la Católica theatre in Granada and the Corral
de la Morería in Madrid.
In 2003 he received the award
as the revelation flamenco artist
along with Nacho Duato.
