A renowned Spanish dancer who was secretly detained for 22 years at an asylum in Epsom, is finally to be celebrated in the town

 

A renowned Spanish dancer who was secretly detained for 22 years at an asylum in Epsom, is finally to be celebrated in the town.

 A series of classical music and dance concerts will pay tribute in July to dance prodigy Felix Garcia.

 Garcia was brought to London in 1918 by the Russian impresario Felix Diaghilev to star in a new ballet which also involved the composer Ravel and the painter Picasso.

 But after a dramatic falling-out ahead of first night he was declared insane and sent to the Horton asylum while his family were told he was dead.

 He died there in 1941.

 His story has been researched by musician and historian Antonio Hornandez Moreno who put together the programme for the arts centre which now occupies a former chapel on the Horton Hospital site.