For the Love of the Art: The WiZink Center Lights Up in the Middle of a Pandemic

On 23 December 2020, when stages across half the world were still dark, Joaquín Cortés raised the curtain at the WiZink Center in Madrid with Vuelta a la Esencia: one of the first major dance shows with a live audience in Spain since the outbreak of the pandemic.

He did so by self-financing the event, “for the love of the art” and as a show of support to a wounded cultural sector. On stage, around forty artists and an irreplaceable lineup of guests: Estrella Morente, Miguel Poveda, Pitingo and Tomatito.

“Dance is the medicine of the soul,” he said in those days. When no one dared, flamenco turned the lights back on.