Do you have anything to say? Well, move over. That’s what some of the artists presenting their shows at the 2024 edition of Grec Festival de Barcelona have been thinking. They are dance performances that use movement to convey messages that speak of social relations and discrimination, but also of intimacy between people and frenetic dances. 

Yes, the programme of the Grec, as far as dance is concerned, is full of great names such as the Hofesch Shechter Company or La Veronal, to name but a few, but also of proposals by artists who are a reference in their own country, such as Alice Ripoll. The Brazilian choreographer had to come to an edition of Grec affected by the pandemic, but now she brings to Mercat de les Flors the choreography she was to perform at the time (aCORdo; 14 July), about the barriers that separate social groups, and also performs a new one, Zona Franca (15 and 16 July; in the picture. Photo: Renato Mangolín), which is made up of dances closely linked to contemporary Brazil. 

If you are fascinated by transgression, however, you must come and see Betty Tchomanga, a French artist of Cameroonian descent who has turned vertical movement (i.e. jumping) into the basis of a proposal in which you will find African goddesses and club sounds. The proposal asks about the relationship between the African continent and Europe. You can see it at Mascarades (Mercat de les Flors; 17 and 18 July). The artist (that’s a clue) has previously worked with the always disruptive Marlene Monteiro Freitas.

Those looking for an artist they don’t know yet should look at Ester Guntín, who is not only stage director of a micro-opera at the Liceu (Òh! pera) but has won the Dance Award of the Institut del Teatre 2023 with the project she is presenting at Mercat de les Flors (23 and 24 July), entitled Quiso negro, which speaks of tarantisme, these frenetic balls that conjure up the effects of the sting of a spider

In Mont Ventoux, on the other hand (Mercat de les Flors; 24 and 25 July), the company Kor’sia takes as its starting point a letter by Petrarch and offers the possibility of re-reading it in the language of movement. And, at one of the city’s great centres of movement, La Caldera, the choreographer André Uerba, a resident of Lisbon in Berlin, presents Æffective Choreography, a delicate study of the intimacy of things. He stages a series of unguarded performers who explore the limits between sharing and withdrawal, between movement and stillness, between vulnerability and exposure. 

Scenic pearls

These are some of the dance and movement proposals that you can still see at the festival, which also has many other proposals. Among the theatrical creations, some of them are signed by well-known names such as Sílvia Munt, director of the staging, and Llàtzer Garcia, author of the text of Les mans (La Villarroel; from 14 July to 4 August. It is an accurate reflection on the priorities (professional and sentimental) that we all have.

Continuing with Catalan authorship, at Sala Beckett (from 26 June to 28 July) Daniela Feixas places a rural agent in a small town to investigate the death of a cat. But what if there is something more important behind this event? Come and see. 

Performance, humour, speech and gesture are, finally, the tools used on stage by the clown and stage creator Guillem Albà and the director Andrea Jiménez in Tota aquesta por que ara tinc (Centre de les Arts Lliures de la Fundació Joan Brossa; from 18th to 28th July), a new exhibition of this artist’s absolutely personal language.

If you don’t want to miss the most outstanding performances of  Grec Festival de Barcelona, check out the complete programme on the website.