Neither the regression of the delta, nor the storms, nor the plagues of the river, nor the mosquitoes are such news these days in Deltebre. This remote municipality located almost at the mouth of the Ebre and surrounded by rice fields is profoundly transformed for two weeks. The engine of change is none other than contemporary dance with 250 dancers from all over the world and some thirty companies installed these days and until next Sunday in the town (of 11,500 inhabitants) and turning the area into a hive of activity that impacts at all levels.
Taxis in the area are not enough. Especially the first days. Most of the participants of the Deltebre Dansa Festival arrive in Barcelona by plane from Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Belgium, France, Italy… and then by train to Amposta. Athletic young people from fifty countries move these days through the streets of Deltebre. Some like Jesús, from Costa Rica, repeat. This is the seventh time for him and in the town they already know him as ‘lo xic’.
The Deltebre Dansa Festival is already in its 17th edition. And, except for the pandemic parenthesis, each summer has surpassed the previous one. The interest of the public -local and not so close- is growing in the nightly program (there is a show every night) and it has become a reference event for professionals who want to train with a top-class international cast (there is a list Standby). The creator and ideologue of the Festival is none other than the dancer and choreographer Roberto Olivan (National Culture Award 2014). After traveling the world and growing up as an artist in Brussels, where he lived for fifteen years, Olivan returned to the Ebre and after a failed attempt in Tortosa, his tenacity and commitment took root in Deltebre. Several factors were aligned, such as the support of the then councilor for culture, the municipal technique of this area and the mayor of the time (and successive ones).
“It seemed like a great idea to us, although many thought we were crazy… we had no infrastructure and the first year we used the old residence for the elderly and people camped in tents,” recalls Elena Fabra, the municipal technician. Seventeen years later, the festival has more than taken root and has consolidated itself on its three fronts: professional (with three specialized training itineraries), exhibition and introductory courses – hip-hop, bollywood or contemporary dance – through which about 400 people pass, from village associations, young people, people from the area or even foreigners, such as Rosa, Gioia, Stella and Valerio, a family from Rome that ended up in the Deltebre Dansa in 2015 and since then they have not been has lost any edition. “We fit the holidays with the festival and we are not the only ones… An incredible atmosphere is created between the fans and the professionals…”, says Rosa.
“Part of the magic lies in maintaining this human scale without losing quality, people from New York, from Iceland come here…”, says Roberto Olivan. Her model has been a direct inspiration for other dance festivals such as the Kalamata Festival in Greece, and countries like Japan, Costa Rica, Iceland… have invited her to present the Deltebre Dansa. And in the fall of 2019, just before the pandemic, the European Association of Festivals chose Deltebre Dansa as one of the five best.
And all, with a budget that does not reach half a million euros. Olivan and his team – these days thirty people are working on the event – ??and the City Council have had to manage to find the necessary funding to be able to maintain the structure of the event. Now everything revolves around the six tents that are set up a few days before the Festival begins. The largest, with 900 seats, is the one that stands next to the river, where every night for two weeks the atmosphere that personalizes the Deltebre Dansa and makes it unique is created. Three more tents are located next to the village school, the epicenter of training during the day. With class sessions of an hour and a half and half an hour to rest.
In Deltebre (these days with an extra antenna to guarantee everyone the connection), who more who less, puts their grain of sand or picks it up. Ramon Vidal, for example, from the Enoturisme Nòmada Viatges company, rents bicycles to festival participants at a symbolic price. “It’s our way of helping to consolidate the area as a cultural destination,” he says. Next to the school there is a camping area but almost a hundred of the participants stay in rooms in Deltebre itself. Restaurants, supermarkets… these days are brimming with activity.
“The best economic impact is that behind all this there is a perseverance and a talent that make the festival solid”, maintains the mayor, Lluís Soler. The L’Obrador space, open all year round, is another reality promoted by Olivan and directly linked to the festival. Next to it, the City Council hopes to locate a center for the creation of entrepreneurial talent. An engine that adds creativity to the delta for which Next Generation funds have been requested, “but if they don’t arrive, we will promote in another way”, adds the mayor.
