Between the 10 of March and the 13 of May 2017 will be celebrated in Valencia the following bullfights:
Friday March 10th. Erales de Aida Jovani para Miguel Senent “Miguelito” (Escuela de Tauromaquia de Valencia), Ramón Serrano (Escuela de Tauromaquia de Murcia) y Álvaro Passalacqua (Escuela de Tauromaquia de Málaga).
Saturday 11th: Toros de Alcurrucén para Juan Bautista, Fortes y Álvaro Lorenzo.
Sunday 12th: Toros de Fuente Ymbro para Juan José Padilla, Curro Díaz y Manuel Escribano.
Monday 13th: Novillos de El Parralejo para Diego Carretero, Leo Valadez y Jorge Rico.
Tuesday14th: Novillos de José Vázquez para Cristian Climent, Andy Younes y Marcos.
Wendsday 15th: Toros de Jandilla y Vegahermosa para David Mora, Paco Ureña y Javier Jiménez.
Thursday 16th: Toros de Victoriano del Río y Toros de Cortés para Sebastián Castella, Miguel Ángel Perera y Román.
Friday 17th: Toros de Núñez del Cuvillo para El Fandi, José María Manzanares y Roca Rey.
Saturday 18th: Toros de Juan Pedro Domecq para Enrique Ponce, Cayetano y Ginés Marín.

Sunday 19th: Matinal. Toros de Fermín Bohórquez para Diego Ventura, Manuel Manzanares y Lea Vicens.
Sunday 19th : Toros de Garcigrande y Domingo Hernández para El Juli, Alejandro Talavante y López Simón.
Además, también se ha dado a conocer la novillada que tendrá lugar en el marco de la 

Feria de la Virgen de los Desamparados

Saturday, 13thMay: Novillos de Sánchez Herrero para Fernando Beltrán, Alfonso Cadaval y Carlos Ochoa.



When bullfights took place in plazas, royal civil servants had to clear the
people from the plazas before letting out the first bull. But nowadays
when a bullfight takes place, in bullrings, clearing out the ring is a mere
formality. In remembrance of this tradition today, two “Alguaciles” on
horseback (persons responsible for opening the bull pen at the beginning of a bullfight) are dressed in the old style clothing from the time of Felipe
IV. Their job is to go around the ring to make sure that it is devoid of
people.
Once the “despejo” is finished, the “Alguaciles” greet the president,
nodding their heads and taking off their hats. Other duties of the “Alguaciles” include picking up the key from the bullpen, conveying and executing orders from the President, and giving out prizes to the bullfighters.

What is the Stage of “Banderillas”?
One of the things that most impresses those who attend a bullfight for the first time is the stage of banderillas ( Tercio de Banderillas). It is brief, since it usually does not last more than five minutes, but very intense, because the man faces the bull without the protection of the cape or the muleta. It can also become an aesthetic experience, if the banderillero does his job well and the bull charges fiercely. However, it is not easy to understand its meaning and sense within the framework of the entire bullfight.
The main objective of the Stage of “Banderillas” is to prepare the bull for the next stage: The Stage of Muleta (Suerte de Muleta).
Three bullfighters’ assistants or sometimes the bullfighter him or herself jab the bull’s back with three pairs of “Banderillas”. The bull feels a sharp pain when the “Banderillas” have pierced its back.
In the chapter X of “Death In The Afternoon”, Hemingway wrote about the Stage of “Banderillas”, Providing very interesting data to better understand this important part of the Bullfight.

“Act two is that of the banderillas. These are pairs of sticks about a yard long, seventy centimetres to be exact, with a harpoon-shaped steel point four centimetres long at one end. They are supposed to be placed, two at a time, in the humped muscle at the top of the bull’s neck as he charges the man who holds them. They are designed to complete the work of slowing up the bull and regulating the carriage of his head which has been begun by the picadors: so that his attack will be slower, but surer and better directed. Four pair of banderillas are usually put in. If they are placed by the banderilleros or peones they must be placed, above all other considerations, quickly and in the proper position. If the matador himself places them he may indulge in a preparation which is usually accompanied by music. This is the most picturesque part of the bullfight and the part most spectators care for the most when first seeing fights. The mission of the banderilleros is not only to force the bull by hooking to tire his neck muscles and carry his head lower but also, by placing them at one side or another, to correct a tendency to hook to that side. The entire act of the banderillas should not take more than five minutes. If it is prolonged the bull becomes discomposed and the fight loses the tempo it must keep, and if the bull is an uncertain and dangerous one he has too many opportunities to see and charge men unarmed with any lure, and so develops a tendency to search for the man, the bundle, as the Spanish call him, behind the cloth when the matador comes out for the last act with the sword and muleta.”

FRANCISCO DE GOYA was 70 years old when he made “TAUROMAQUIA”, a series of 33 engravings about bullfighting scenes. He used techniques of etching and aquatint. Since he was Young he liked bullfights very much. Some of these prints were made to ilustrate the text by Moratín “Historical Letter about the origins and progress of bullfights in Spain, publised in 1777.
This amazing engraving by Goya represents El Salto De La Garrocha ( The Garrocha’s Jumping).
The Stage of Varas is the phase in which the bull is lanced by the Picador in order to weaken it and prepare it for the Stage of Muleta. The Picador uses the Garrocha ,a lance with a 16 cm steel tip.
But The Garrocha has been used in the past differently.
El Salto de la Garrocha ( The Garrocha’s Jumping) consists in the fact that, the bullfighter goes whith the Garrocha to the center of the Arena and calls the bull; and When the bull charges and gets close to the bullfighter, he leans on the Garrocha and jumps over the bull.