II Carmen Amaya Festival

The festival, organised by Poble Espanyol’s El Tablao de Carmen, pays tribute to Carmen Amaya, who was born in 1913 in the Somorrostro neighbourhood and became one of the most internationally renowned flamenco dancers of the 20th century.

Carmen Amaya returns to the stage. As part of this edition, the Tablao de Carmen Amaya company will premiere a show that takes its inspiration from the Barcelona bailaora.

That is on the first night of the festival, on 28 October, at the Teatre Coliseum, where, directed by José Luís Ortiz Nuevo, four bailaores, two guitarists, a percussionist and three cantaores will present El ritmo de las olas [The Rhythm of the Waves].

The title refers to some remarks by Amaya, who once explained that her sense of dance came to her when she was very young, while listening to the sound of the sea waves.

The Carmen Amaya Festival aims to establish itself as a prestigious event on the flamenco scene, recovering its most important values: purity, essence and spontaneity.

Coliseum -> G.V. Corts Catalanes, 595 | Eixample

48Hours Open House Barcelona

48H Open House BCN will take place on 22-23 October in 2011, following the success of the inaugural event in 2010 – and being the first Mediterranean city to adopt the initiative. Hotels, palaces, apartments, churches and all sorts of other buildings will be open to the public this weekend as part of the 48h Open House Barcelona architecture festival. Architects and experts will be offering tours of 160 buildings all over the city.

The 48H Open House Barcelona activities program is built around the broad network of buildings that will open their doors to the public. The event is set within the ten Barcelona boroughs (Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Gràcia, Horta‐Guinardó, Les Corts, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu, Sant Martí, Sants‐Montjuïc and Sarrià‐Sant Gervasi). Architects are on site within many of the buildings, the event also includes special activities and conferences. Completely free and designed to enhance participation and encourage dialogue between all.

The event aims to encourage locals to appreciate the value of good architecture and urbanism, opening over 150 great buildings of different styles, forms and sizes to the public.

Plus, Open House, a free festival, is also running a range of activities, including routes, competitions and dance and architecture workshops.

From Broadway to Barcelona: Chicago at Teatre Tívoli

A thirteen-year run in Broadway, six Tony awards and an audience of 17 million. These spectacular figures bear witness to the success of Chicago, the Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb musical with music by John Kander, which has seduced half the world and which is now coming to Barcelona, backed by the international show’s very producers.

Teatre Tívoli‘s will become 1920′s Chicago to bring audiences the story of Roxie Hart, a woman who kills her lover and ends up in prison. There she meets Velma Kelly, another crime-passionnel killer, her rival in securing the services of the best criminal lawyer, Billy Flynn, and turn herself into a star.

The sensuality of the music and dancing, and the great songs that everyone already knows, set the pace of a show where characters and story never lose their power. And that is because the stage, which is practically bare, only makes rooms for the actors and orchestra, delighting us with their live music.

Chicago is playing at the Tívoli for eight weeks, to the sound of jazz!

La Mercè festivities 2011

La Mercè festivities (from 22 to 25 September), they will once again be offering a broad, varied programme featuring traditional activities, spectacles, shows and plenty of entertainment.

The Correfoc (fire run) is premiering a new Porta de l’Infern (Hell’s Gate), which will extend across Via Laietana, until it becomes a hell’s wall, to quote Xavier Cordomí, the artistic director of Tradicional.

Dance companies and contemporary dancers will be performing at Ciutadella park to the chimes of a travelling carillon, a very unusual instrument hailing from the city of Douai. What’s more, the Mercè Dansa display will once again be taking over the stage opposite the Cathedral.

The La Mercé parade is expected to be the largest ever, with participants joining in from all over Catalonia.

Ciutadella park is one of the main settings of La Mercè. During the day it becomes a Dance and Street-Theatre Park and during the night, the Lights Park, with shows making use of new technologies.

These two approaches meet in El Llac dels Cignes (Swan Lake), one of the star shows of the La Mercè, combining dance with spectacular screenings at the park’s fountain, among other surprises. This is a local production featuring over a hundred dancers, whose main figures come from the Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg, the guest city at this year’s La Mercè.

The music programme’s details are not yet out but most of the groups taking part have already been announced, with the venue being shared between BAM and Mercè Música.

Antònia Font, Javiera Mena, Mazoni, Els Pets, El Columpio Asesino, Fangoria, Antonio Carmona, Anímic, Astrud & Col·lectiu Brossa and Gràcia Power are just some of the groups who’ll be playing at the La Mercè festival.

As for the Pyromusical, which will conclude the festivities once again, this year tribute will be paid to the four Puig i Cadafalch columns.

Poster for La Mercè Festivity 2011

A festival brimming with colour, energy, joy and light. That was how the Colombian illustrator Catalina Estrada wanted to portray Barcelona’s annual festival in the poster for La Mercè 2011.

Using the style and shapes she is known for, she has brought together the traditional features of the festival and the essence of this year’s, which will see lots of circus activities, music and art on the city’s streets.

With this in mind, this year’s guest city will be St Petersburg, one of Russia’s cities with a very strong dance and circus tradition.

The festival’s other big name revealed this Wednesday was that of journalist Joaquim Maria Puyal, who will get La Mercè 2011 under way with the traditional opening speech in the Saló de Cent at the City Hall on 22 September, over the three days of the festival, one less than last year because the 24th falls on a Saturday .

More than 40 Catalan street art companies will demonstrate the high standard of the shows produced here, some of which have received international awards. Parc de la Ciutadella and the Castell de Montjuïc, two star festival venues, will provide a showcase for these artists to put on their creations.

Inevitably tradition will play a unique part in the festival. This year the fire-totting devils and beasts will lead the way through Hell’s Gate, which will span the whole of Via Laietana.

And once again the City Council facade will turn into a cinema screen for La casa màgica, by Franc Aleu.

25th Anniversary Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona

The Mercat de les Flors is 25 years old and to celebrate that they are reasserting the quality work of home-produced creators. The first cycle of the season, “Miraquiballaquí“, offers ten shows from Catalan and Spanish companies.

The cycle will take place in September and October in the Sala Ovidi Montllor, with notable shows like Sònia Gómez’s Mi madre y yo, Mopa Producciones’ Espérame despierto and the Trànsit Dansa company’s Désir.

November sees a retrospective of works by Àngels Margarit’s Mudances company, also celebrating its 25th anniversary. And, moving on to 2011, the Mercat will be paying tribute to Pina Bausch, staging her work for teenagers, Kontakthof, from 20 to 23 January.

This year the Mercat will be concentrating on London shows, Europe’s new dance centre, such as Akram Khan’s Vertical Road and choreographer Hofesh Shechter’s Political/Mother. There will also be projects from Quebec, with the common feature of nude dancing.

The Mercat de les Flors’ 2010-2011 programme is opting for public participation in various ways, such as including amateur dancers in some shows, and a programme of works requiring audience interaction.

For example, the Nicole Seiler company are presenting “Living-Room Dancers“. Audiences will receive a map of the Poble-Sec neighbourhood and have to go and look for several apartments where they will be able to watch people dancing in various styles.

What is more, the Mercat are continuing their commitment to training, offering workshops to introduce young people to the world of dance, and a cycle of talks on writing plays.

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.

Boston Ballet in Barcelona

Boston Ballet is a leading company perform both classical and contemporary dance and is led by acclaimed Finnish Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen. Based at the Boston Opera House, it boasts the largest ballet school in North America.

Forty-five dancers from Boston Ballet make their first stop in Barcelona, before embarking on a five-week tour of Spain. Unique to the city, four diverse and original works have been selected from their two programmes: one piece by master choreographer George Balanchine and four pieces from their Made in Boston programme, most of which were created specifically for the company.

Russian-born George Balanchine (1904-1983) was a hugely influential figure in the development of 20th century ballet. Founder of the New York City Ballet, he also helped establish Boston Ballet in 1963. From the Made in Boston programme: Boston Ballet’s resident choreographer Jorma Elo presents Brake the Eyes, where ballet at breakneck speeds serves to parody the nature of dance itself.

Canadian choreographer Sabrina Matthews’ ein von viel is set to the Goldberg Variations of Johann Sebastian Bach, and is a challenging piece for two athletic male dancers.

‘Ultimate Balanchine’, by Boston Ballet perform Ballo della Regina
From 08/06/2010 to 13/06/2010
Coliseum Theatre -> GranVia de les Corts Catalanes, 595

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.

Spirit of the Dance are at the Tívoli

They are one of the most successful traditional Irish dance acts, as shown by the awards they have received over eleven years of bringing awareness to and modernising Irish dance.

Now, Spirit of the Dance, a company with over 20 dancers, are coming to the Teatre Tívoli to put on their latest production, The Best of Celtic Dance, which we are promised will contain lots of rhythm, energy and passion.

Where:  Teatre Tívoli – Casp, 8 – Eixample | Until 27/03/2009

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