Girona will once again become the world capital of the circus thanks to a new edition, and there are now eleven, of the International Festival of the Circ Elefant d’Or, which will be held from March 2 to 7 next year. An edition in which the record of participating countries will be broken, with a total of 17, with the notable absences of Russia, due to the war, and China, due to the strong restrictions still imposed by the pandemic.
In total, it will have 76 artists who will offer up to 24 unpublished numbers in Western Europe. Two aerobatic groups from Latin America stand out, among others, such as the Mexican flying trapeze artists of Flying Caballero, a formation that includes the quadruple somersault in its repertoire; and the Colombian quartet The Flyers Valencia, with the double wheel of death.
The Festival will host, as is tradition, numbers from different disciplines such as juggling, acrobatics on the ground (hand against hand or Russian bar), balances (tightrope walking, acrobatic skating) or other forms of aerial acrobatics. Precisely the young Ukrainian refugee of only 13 years Nicole Taranenko will delight the public with a number of aerial tapes.
The artistic direction of the Festival was commissioned at the end of the 2021 edition to select the participating attractions and this year it has had to dispense with numbers from two of the most powerful countries such as Russia, due to the war, and China, where it is still the restrictive policy of its rulers of covid zero.
It has not been the only handicap: most of the big festivals to which the artistic direction of the Circ Elefant d’Or Festival traveled to recruit attractions, which are in these two countries, are still stopped.
In the absence of China and Russia, artists from Central and South American countries such as Argentina, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru or Mexico will gain prominence next year.
The one in 2023 will be the edition of the return to normality. The full capacity of 2,414 seats per function is recovered, something that has not happened since before the pandemic.
Today the festival has presented 18 of the 24 numbers that can be seen and that will compete to reach the final and win the main award.
The festival, which will be held in a large tent located in the Camp de Mart de la Devesa, has sold more than 13,000 tickets to spectators from other editions, schools and sponsors.
Until October 18, tickets can be purchased with a 5 euro discount through the festival website. The price ranges between 16 and 95 euros, with discounts for groups, university students and users of the Youth Card.
