Spanish Dance Ensembles to be the headliners of the Bratislava in Movement Festival
The award-winning La Veronal and the distinctive Daniel Abreu will come to Bratislava
The 28th year of the international festival Bratislava in Movement (Bratislava v pohybe) will take place from 5 to 28 October 2024 and will present works from Spain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Spectators can look forward to performances full of energy, emotions and expressiveness performed by leading artists from Spain. The exceptional and award-winning ensemble La Veronal and the prominent personality of Spanish contemporary dance, Daniel Abreu, will come to Bratislava.
“Spanish dance is expressive, full of energy and imagination. Sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s colorful, but always full of emotions that are sometimes hidden, then suddenly come out in full force. It is a dance influenced by tradition, from which some artists draw and others try to break away. Above all, however, the dance art of Spain is intoxicated with life – it is a celebration of it, it embodies its energy and transience, it expresses its multiplicity, its joyful and difficult aspects and mostly hides its messages under the guise of symbols, metaphors and images,” explains the artistic director of the Bratislava festival, Miroslava Kovářová.
The energy of Spanish dancers and an expressive male solo
Daniel Abreu, an important personality of the Spanish dance scene, will visit Slovakia for the first time ever. He will perform an expressive solo full of metaphors, El hijo/The Son, which is on the program for two days on October 13 and 14, 2024 at the SND Studio. In his work, Abreu tries to deal with relationships with parents and the past. “El Hijo (The Son) talks about specific ties to parents and places and how to deal with them. In a certain way, we see the descendants as individuals who have freed themselves from the connection, but at the same time they are hopelessly entangled in repetitive patterns of behavior and actions,” says Daniel Abreu about his choreography.
One of the highlights of the festival will be the performance of Sonoma by the Spanish ensemble La Veronal (October 28, 2024 at the SND Theater). Marcos Morau created a captivating and magical choreography, inspired by the surrealism of Luis Buñuel. The main roles will feature a group of women who want to break free from the bonds of the past and use their intuition and instinct to push the boundaries. Their collective cries intensify and turn into a celebratory ritual with hypnotic songs and dances.
La Veronal is one of the most important dance groups on the European scene. Their productions, known to audiences in more than 30 countries, have received recognition from the international professional public and numerous awards.
Selection of young talents: two pairs of dancers in one evening
This year is special for us because we are hosting the meeting of the Aerowaves network. Representatives from various European countries will select the TOP 20 young dance talents for 2025, which will subsequently open the way to European stages.
For this year’s festival program, we have chosen two duets from among this year’s TOP 20 Aerowaves, which we will present in one evening on 12 October 2024 in A4 – the Space of Contemporary Culture. In the performance of Reface by the French ensemble Les Idoles, the audience will become mesmerized by the constant but imperceptible movement of two women. On the contrary, with the choreography Born by the Sea by the German creator Fran Diaz, the viewers will see the sharp and plastic dance of two dancers who act like two well-oiled machines.
With kindergarteners to a dance performance?!
From what age should children go to contemporary dance performances? How will they perceive it? Will they understand it? The answer to this question is the performance of Microworlds or Mikrosvety by Czech authors Jazmína Piktorová and Sabina Bočková, another couple from Aerowaves TOP20. In an interactive performance, they dive into the world of children’s fantasy, discover the world of little things together with the children and stimulate their sensitivity to the world. The performances will take place on 5, 6 and 7 October 2024 in the Studio 12 Theater and are suitable for children aged four and over.
Slovaks at the festival: dance science fiction and bodies in an intricate structure
Slovak artists will also bring interesting themes to the program. Movement improvisation, limited by a complex construction, IHOPEIWILL by the threeiscompany ensemble and Jaro Viňarský (October 21, 2024 in A4 – space of contemporary culture) is reflective of the current development of society and talks about the climate crisis or growing tension in society. Starring in a dance sci-fi called The Story of Yuri Korec & Co. (22.10.2024 in A4 – the space of contemporary culture) presents five dancers and creation together with a special situation, since time-space coordinates nor progress do not exist..
Festival Bratislava in motion will once again offer a series of accompanying events. In addition to workshops, a lecture on Spanish dance or an evening of dance films, there will also be a site-specific performance by Yuri Korc Pulz Prešpork, in which the creators will select representatives of minorities living in Bratislava.
