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.

La Cursa de La Mercè 2011

The ‘Cursa de la Mercè‘ keeps on growing: The fun run sees August end with 10.000 entrants already registered.

The organisation recommends that all those people who want to ensure their place in this 10 km race, due to kick off the sports events of the big annual festival in Barcelona, should register as soon as possible, as there are only 4.000 places left. Although the registration period is due to stay open until 9 September, it could close earlier if the participation limit is reached sooner, set at 14:00h entrants according to regulations.

You can enter via the race website or in person at the permanent race office, which is at the Joan Serrahima Municipal Athletics Stadium, from 1 September. The registration cost is 5 euros, which will be put towards Unicef schooling projects in Africa.

:: La Mercè 2011 website ::

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.

Festa del Cel: Barcelona Airshow

Barcelona’s seafront will be filled this weekend with the 19th edition of the Festa del Cel, air festival that closes the festivities of La Mercè 2010.

If you will attend the Barcelona Airshow is recommended by public transport, especially metro, and follow the marked routes for pedestrians and bicycles private.

Following, we list some airshow performers during la Festa del Cel:

Patrulla Águila
The Spanish Air Force jet display team returns to Barcelona to cellebrate its 25th anniversary. The 7 CASA C-101 Aviojets will close the airshow with their spectacular nature and precision.
This year, Patrulla Águila’s leader is from Barcelona, Comandante José María “Pep” Alonso.

Patrulla Aspa
Along with Patrulla Águila, Aspa is one of the favourites among Barcelona’s airshow visitors. The display team turns 5 years old and add novelties to their routine, such as a smoke system which makes them even more impressive. They are probably the best helicopter display team in the world.

F-18 Ala 12
The Ala 12 Display Pilot from the Base Aérea de Torrejón will leave us dumbfounded while he makes his McDonell-Douglas F-18 Hornet dance in the sky. Get ready for a performance which will take the jet to its limits.

Puma SAR Escuadrón 801
The Puma helicopter from Search & Rescue Escuadrón 801 in Palma de Mallorca will perform a sea rescue simulation. These helicopters and their crew are in charge of looking after the ships sailing through the Mediterranean.

Patrouille de France
Lead for the first time by a female pilot, Commander Virginie Guyot, the french display team, one of the favourite foreign performers most endeared by Barcelona’s airshow audience, returns to our city with a new routine for 2010.

In these links you can see all the schedules and the plane of the area where the stunt will take place.

La Mercè- the Festivity of Barcelona!

Every September, a huge festival incorporating hundreds of free outdoor performances is organised to honour La Mercè – the patron saint of Barcelona. The festival starts on the 24th, a public holiday in the city, and it goes on all weekend.

Lively street processions of giants, dragons and ‘capgrosses’ – literally, ‘big heads’ – take place on the in the old quarter of the city. This year, two new giants step out, one dedicated to the Polish composer Frederic Chopin and the other to writer George Sand – a pseudonym for French Baroness Aurore Dupin. See if you can spot them!

Another major event is the Correfoc on Saturday night at 8pm. This is a wild procession of devilish fire swinging for which the public are advised to keep a safe distance.

On Sunday at midday, squeeze into plaça Sant Jaume to witness the extraordinary Castellers create human towers. Teams compete to get as high as possible with a brave youngster right at the top!

For this edition of La Mercè, Barcelona is twinned with Dakar, the capital of Senegal. The two cities are brought together in collaborative performances and art projects, such as Africa Camut Band: a lively day performance of percussion and dance that takes place in the Grec Theatre on the 24th and 26th.

A major part of the festival in 2010 is ‘Mercè Arts al Carrer’ or MAC which brings inventive international street performers to the city. Contemporary circus and puppetry is celebrated at the castle on Montjuic; while in Parc Ciutadella there is dance and theatre in the daytime, and spectacular ‘light shows’ at night.

La Mercè: city festival of Barcelona

Designer Claret Serrahima, the creator of Barcelona Football Club crest, is the artist behind the official image of La Mercè (city festival of Barcelona), for which she engaged some thirty of the city’s key personalities to design a letter.

He used these letters to create as many as five different versions of a poster based on the notion of simplicity, using a plain white background to give prominence to the letters themselves. “La Mercè is a festival of the people, one of participation“, said Serrahima, when explaining the concept behind the poster.

Sol Picó, Tortell Poltrona, Tomàs Molina, Josep Bohigas, Lucrecia, Ferran Monegal, Eugènia Balcells, Ada Parellada and El Delgado Buil are just some of the Barcelona residents whose handiwork is featured in the poster for the upcoming Mercè celebrations.

At the poster unveiling, some of the contents of this year’s festivities were also revealed. The guest city for this year’s Mercè celebrations will be Dakar, and this will be the first time that a city of the Sub-Sahara has ever participated in one of Barcelona’s fiestas.

The capital of Senegal will bring you the contemporary dance group Tenane, percussionist N’Diaye Rose and even fashion designer Cheicka, among others.

Asia Festival in Barcelona

The Asian Festival is back for the 8th edition and the second year in succession it forms part of the La Mercè festivities. This year’s festival will have a star guest to open it: the Chinese rocker Cui Jian, a key figure in China’s current music scene. He will be performing on 23 in Plaça Reial.

Participating in this year’s festival will be members of the Asian communities resident in Barcelona: from China, Pakistan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan and Nepal.

These communities will be the protagonists in the free activities making up “Un dia a l’Àsia” (A day in Asia), a part of the festival that will be held on 24 September and includes about fifty different activities to show the culture of 17 countries.

So, on 24 September, various parts of Ciutadella Park will be turned into little corners of Asia and offering stories, workshops, music (with performances, among others, by Famiya Khan and SK1), games, displays of several kinds of art (calligraphy, Wushu, Ikebana etc.) and sport (Kabaddi), cinema, dance and massage practices, street music and even track games.

In addition, from 23 to 27 September, Ciutadella Park will have a gastronomic area where visitors can savour Asian flavours and cuisine.

More inf@ : www.casaasia.es

Enjoy the summer: beaches & open-air swimming pools.

The beach is one of the favourite places for doing a bit of sport over these hot months, but though there are also open-air municipal swimming pools, which make Barcelona an ideal city for any type of sports: scuba diving, windsurfing, sailing, surfing and water skiing, among other sea sports activities.

Going to any of Barcelona’s beaches early in the morning is a whole experience. Not just because of the refreshing sea breeze beach-goers are treated to as they enjoy complete peace on healthy walks, but also because the beach becomes a big open-air gymnasium.

And that is because beaches are a great place for doing every kind of sport. For those who get up early to do their Tai Chi or Yoga sessions on the sand, they then start the day with fully renewed energy.

However, beaches are the usual haunts for groups of runners too (some of whom are already starting to train for the La Mercè fun run, which will be held on 20 September) who determinedly run up and down Barcelona’s sea front.

Whether in the sand or in the water, beaches are also an iconic space for doing one of the world’s increasingly popular sports: beach volley. In addition, you’ll find fixed nets in some of Barcelona beaches, where beach-goers can play volley in comfort. And let’s not forget the other activities like beach tennis, three-aside football, beach aerobics and sand skiing.

Finally, you can also achieve a great, overall muscular tone by doing a Passeig Marítim sports circuit, and the Parcs del Litoral’s urban fitness circuit, with 4.000 metres to cover between the parks of the Olympic Port, the Nova Icària and Poblenou. This circuit also has points adapted for doing flexion, stretching and assorted exercises which, combined with a cardiovascular exercise, such as running, provide full training.

And as you probably already know, once you’ve finished your training outside water and you’ve done your share of sweating, there’s no better way to face the heat than with a good dip in the sea.

Enjoy the Summer! Sink into Barcelona!