Creating in Barcelona

For the last three weeks, I have been creating with the graduating students of the contemporary dance department of the Institut del Teatre, Barcelona's Dance Conservatoire. I was invited by Keith Morino, the director of the school, following the premiére last September of SIN with Thomas Noone Dance, also in Barcelona.

 

The Institut has recently celebrated its 100th anniversary and is one of the most significant cultural institutions of the city. Since 2000 the school has been located at a new state of the art building on the mount of Montjuïc, in the Ciutat del Teatre (City of Theatre) complex, home to several theatres, the School of Drama, the Dance Conserva-toire, a Documentation Centre and the Museum of Performing Arts.

 

The work, Flors i violes, questions the idea of national identity, how do we a build a notion of group, and the strenght and risks that come with it. I was also interested in exploring the tension between collective and personal identity, which I see as a recurring theme in my work. The piece originated from the need to respond in some way to the deep political and social crisis that Catalunya and Spain are living at present moment, and the question of how do I position myself as an artist in relation to it.

 

Flors i violes will be officially premiered next June at the Teatre Ovidi Montllor in the Conservatoire, before going on a small tour to the city of Figueres. More information on times and venues closer to the date.