The premiere of the show Voluxa, by the Marboleny Beta group, begins this Monday the 41st edition of the Ésdansa Festival in the municipality of Les Preses (Girona), considered the benchmark in Catalonia within the field of root dance, which this year will have young people as protagonists.
The director of the festival, Núria Feixas, together with the mayor of Les Preses, Albert Danés, and the president of the Cercle de Cultura Popular Marboleny, Roger Casalprim, presented the program, until the next day 27, in an act that ended with the performance by one of the participating groups, Crane, from Uganda, in the Town Square.
The festival has been planned based on two itineraries: Youth and Root and Plan to promote root dance.
With the first, as Feixas has highlighted, the aim is to “promote and value the work that young Catalan creators are doing”, at a time when the organizers understand that “the root is once again a global trend and serves inspiring a whole new generation of artists.
The shows that can be seen will be: Parlem de…joves i arrel”; If I Vaguez, by Lali Mateu, Roger Cusidó and the Compañía MINIMíssimo; L’Hereu Riera, by Pere Seda; Flor de Maig, by Xavier Gumà and Verònica Hernández, and Lo Faunal, by Pol Jiménez.
In the second of the itineraries, the intention is to show the results of the lines that are being developed in the Root Dance Impulse Plan, which arises from the General Directorate of Popular Culture and Fira de la Mediterrània, with the support of festival, the Agrupament d’Esbarts Dansaires, the Federation of Universities of Catalonia, the Dansàneu festival, and the program Mans, from Catalunya Ràdio.
The shows that have been scheduled in this itinerary are: Raepte, from Esbart Manresà; Testimony, by Esbart Santa Tecla, and Era, by Esbart Rocasagna and Quim Bigas, which was the winning proposal for the Delfí Colomé prize.
In addition, performances of Si em vagés, L’Hereu Riera and Flor de Maig will be repeated.
Regarding the inaugural show, Voluxa, which that night can be seen in two different shows, at 9:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., the organizers have advanced that it is a reflection on “segregation and signaling, on paganism and freedom, order and repression , light and darkness”.
The creators of the montage want to explain “the shadows of witchcraft and discrimination from traditional music and dance fused with current trends”, asking themselves: “Have we all been victims or harassers at some time? Is it possible that we heal from all evil caused?”.
Regarding the international groups that will be performing throughout the week at Les Preses, this year they will be Viorica, from Moldova; Minchanzaman, from Peru; Crane, from Uganda, the Julio Sos Tango Company from Uruguay, and Guru from India, which will replace the company initially announced Istanbul Esenyurt Municipality Folk Dance Group, which has not been able to travel to the Girona town.
During the next few days, in addition, editorial news related to root dance will be presented, there will be concerts such as the Julivert group, popular and tavern songs, or it will be possible to learn about the process of creating a show such as “Bodas y heridas del duende”, as well as live the experience of a multisensory blind concert, on August 26.
On the other hand, between today and August 25, the “Campus Ésdans’T” will be held, which hosts traditional root dance workshops for all ages.
The organization has highlighted that without the work of hundreds of volunteers the festival could not be held.
