On Thursday, at El Canal de Salt, there was an open rehearsal. It was the turn of the company AzkonaToloza, backed by suggestive proposals such as Canto mineral. Now, Laida Azkona and Txalo Toloza are finishing preparations for Celestial Body, which opens on May 22 in Madrid, at the Condeduque center, and which will also be seen at the CCCB, within the Grec (July 10-12).
At El Canal they are working on this montage, which covers the space race from the beginning to the present, all real, and which is projected into the future, with a character who lives on Mars, Valentina Kutznesova Arteta, and explains that not-so-future. far. “From yesterday to today we have cut it by a quarter of an hour, and we still have to cut it more,” Azkona tells La Vanguardia. “And we have to set text and movements. Now we collide and that has to be a choreography,” says Toloza.
“Theatre has to ask questions, not give answers,” he says, and that is why the show begins with questions like: “Do you know how many dozens of minerals a solar panel has? […] Do you know how many minerals make up your body?”
In the stands, a large score of spectators, the only thing they have to do is register in advance; admission is free. “We don’t have regular programming,” explains Xavier Díaz, artistic director of El Canal. What we do are rehearsals open to the community, with a conversation with the artists. In Salt, almost half of the population is migrant, and these activities favor the creation of community.”
In 2007, the development of El Canal began, which in 2012, in the new headquarters, was consolidated as a creation center, along the lines of those in Reus and Terrassa, with three million euros used to condition the equipment as a first class theater. “The objective is to create productions that feed theaters with shows,” says Díaz. “We don’t do exhibitions, because we want to provide the creation with the maximum possible resources.”
For this objective, El Canal has 400 m2 multipurpose space, has created a new rehearsal room and has warehouses for the circus. Díaz also says that work will soon begin on the Marta Font house, which the artist bequeathed to the town, where there will be accommodation for up to ten artists. “In October it will be ready. Beyond the rehearsal rooms, we want professionals to be able to stay, to do technical and artistic residencies if they request it. The residences have a use contract. In these two years, 83 companies have already passed.” In fact, the budget in the three years that Díaz has been in charge of the El Canal project has quadrupled, from 230,000 to 950,000 euros.
In this way, El Canal becomes a complete space for artists and companies to work with all the facilities, and without the pressure that comes with the exhibition and the box office. “We don’t give subsidies, but rather production contracts,” recalls Díaz. That means an average of 18,000 euros per project, and there are 14 per year. “This way we encourage other facilities or festivals to be co-producers of these productions.” And he reflects: “It seems that there are not enough exhibition spaces, but what happens is that perhaps there is a lot of production with few resources, and that is what should be modified.”
It said above that the only thing the public has to do is fill out a prior application, but that is not true. Since El Canal is a test bed, the artists also want to know first-hand the opinions of the viewers. On Thursday, the AzkonaTolozas were the first time they had an audience: “Today we have begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” declares Azkona.
And the public intervenes, of course. The first one to open the fire says: “The space you build is beautiful. And things are understood, but maybe not everything.” The second to say his points out a hypothesis: “If I understood it correctly, a body becomes a molecule.” And Toloza responds: “If you have understood that, we are satisfied. A body becomes matter and we are all the same. What Valentina says is a mix of all the interviews we have conducted. Curiously, many of the people who are dedicated to space scientific research recognize that Carl Sagan’s Cosmos marked them.”
The third person who intervenes considers that it is not quite clear what is true and what is not, and Azkona agrees with her: “I think it needs to be emphasized more, with that we disagree with Txalo.” With all these suggestions, we will have to wait for the premiere to see what they have modified and what suggestions they have incorporated. Creation without conditions. A luxury.
Catalan version, here