The Grec Festival 2011

Almost half of the programme of the coming Grec Festival 2011, taking place from 17 June to 31 July, is to have a Catalan flavour. From its official opening, care of the Cesc Gelabert company, to latest offerings from directors such as Calixto Bieito, Mario Gas and Àlex Rigola.

Calixto Bieito, who will be presenting two events at the Grec, one with Marc Rosich, Voices, a production from Denmark performed in Danish with Catalan subtitles.

Àlex Rigola’s production for the Grec is similarly unclassifiable. Christening it Tragèdia, the director offers a visual poem on Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy.

France will be the festival’s guest country, with Patrice Chéreau’s I am the wind and Peter Brooks‘ Une Flûte Enchantée (a French production of The Magic Flute) as the highlights. There will also be an opportunity to discover the new French theatre (take note of these names: Joël Pommerat and Olivier Cadiot) and see Philippe Decouflé’s dance production, Octopus.

The coming Grec Festival’s graphic image, a series of photographs of navels by the artist Joan Coberta, says a lot about what the cultural event will be, as it will be contemplating its own navel somewhat. In other words, local creation will be its main focus.

.:. Grec Festival website .:.

Dies de Dansa Festival in Barcelona

Núñez i Navarro Hotels, with 9 hotels in the center of Barcelona, sponsor the Dies de Dansa Festival Barcelona from 1 to July 5, 2010.

Dies de Dansa is an international contemporary dance festival in urban spaces. It is a free annual cultural project born in Barcelona, which is part of the GREC Festival de Barcelona. During five days buildings, streets, parks and plazas flood with life in this encounter between dance, urban space and community.

Dies de Dansa takes place in different points of Barcelona, such as the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB), the Joan Miró Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), the Picasso Museum; as well as in the cities of Mataró, Sabadell and Sitges. The daylight programme consists on the presentation of short performances that artists elaborate specifically for each place, with the participation of over 25 national and international companies.

Dies de Dansa also programmes Workshops for the community, a series of free dance workshops suitable to professionals and amateurs, and the workshops Dance within the Family, which throughout experimentation, creativity and research, stimulates the emotional bonds in a fun way.

The Barcelona Grec Festival 2010 dedicated to Japan

In its 34th edition, the 2010 Barcelona Grec Festival continues to opt for innovative, quality, newly created and varied shows. This year the Grec will be opting for the Japanese performing arts, with fifteen productions from Japan. The production, entitled Panorama Japó will enable audiences to enjoy a son et lumière show directed by Rioji Ikeda, in collaboration with the Sonar, and see Joan Ollé’s take on the non-modern theatre of Yukio Mishima.

Mention should also be made of “Ki“, an initiative from Cesc Gelabert and Frederic Amat (who is in charge of the programme for the 2010 Grec) to mark the centenary of Yamaga city’s Kabuki theatre, featuring a Japanese Butoh performer and a contemporary dancer.

Of the 65 shows making up the festival’s programme, it will fall to Prometeu to open the event, starring Carme Elias, though the amphitheatre will also be the setting for a mixture of music and poetry with Bolívar, fragmentos de un sueño, Chouf Ouchouf’s circus show and several dance and music performances.

As every year, the Grec, being held from 13 June to 1 August at 29 venues located throughout the city, seeks to find a balance between foreign and local offerings and among the various art forms: theatre, dance and music.

The national scene will be represented by Sergi Belbel, Julio Manrique, Oriol Broggi, Joan Manuel Serrat, Jordi Savall, T de Teatre and La Caldera.

The big international names attending the festival will include Corinne Bailey Rae, Bijan Sheibani, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Aydin Tejer and Omar Porras and William Ospina.