The Casal Parroquial de la Sagrada Família was the cradle of the Esbart Gaudí. It was founded in 1949 by a group of young people interested in dance and they adopted the name of the architect, Antoni Gaudí, who designed the neighbourhood's iconic building. It has four sections based on the age of its members. Children aged 4-7 belong to the dance school, where they learn basic movements and their first dances. The youth section includes kids aged 8-15, who then join the main dance corps at sixteen. Finally, there is the antics dansaires section for the group's oldest members and former dancers, which was set up in 1985.

Each year the Esbart Gaudí organises a spring dance festival in which all the sections take part and other esbarts are invited to give demonstrations. In July they pay tribute to their former president Ramon Espín, who died in 2007. And on 10^th June, the dance school and the children and youth sections also make a flower offering to mark the anniversary of Gaudí's death.

The group's dance repertoire includes traditional dances from all the Catalan-speaking lands as well as some they have created themselves. They perform for diadas and revetlles, Catalonia's important festive occasions, especially Barcelona's annual festival, La Mercè, which they have taken part in since 2007. They have also taken part in open-air dance festivals in cities in a number of European countries, including Austria, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Hungary.

Besides performing, its members share their love for dancing with the general public by holding traditional Catalan dance workshops that are open to everyone.