Barcelona Christmas Festival
Over eleven days, Plaça Catalunya will become a meeting place for the performing arts with a programme that includes music, theatre, dance and street circus.
With local, national and international acts, the festival offers shows for all audiences in the morning, afternoon and evening, from 20 to 30 December.
In total there will be 25 shows, 14 of which are premieres in Barcelona, in a square that will become a great epicentre of creativity. With staging designed by Carles Piera, the space will be filled with symbolic windows to evoke home, refuge and openness to the world. Windows that invite us to explore the performances. Some of them will feature innovative and surprising scenic devices, others profound and moving discourse, and others for their intimate and small scale.
The Barcelona Christmas Festival is much more than a cultural event, it is a true celebration of performing arts and music! A unique opportunity to immerse yourself in unique performances that are sure to excite the whole city.
This year we will also have a travelling show that can be enjoyed in the streets and squares of different districts.
Family mornings
Four Catalan companies renowned for their mastery of visual and object theatre, Escarlata, Compañía Ortiga, Xavier Bobés and Les Pinyes, have specially created for the occasion the show Estacions de Nadal: small stage pieces that will fascinate young and old alike. The four pieces are independent of each other, but together they make up a story about the different perspectives of Christmas and the emotions it evokes. They will be performed simultaneously in a small space and will be replicated several times between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. The morning programme will finish with a concert by Ambauka to get all families dancing.
Circus and Dance Afternoons
The afternoon programme will start at 5:00 pm, with performing arts shows every day. In the afternoons, dance and circus offer a diverse variety that captures the essence of the festival. We will see international figures performing for the first time in Barcelona, such as Luuk Brantjes and the companies Adhok and La Migration, well-known Catalan companies, such as Bucraá Circus and Circ Pistolet, and local companies, such as Elelei and Big Bouncers, which will offer fresh and interactive performances.
Music to get the night started
The evening programme will start at 7:00 pm and will feature music. This year's edition of the festival will offer a vibrant musical experience, featuring a rich selection of Catalan and Catalan-based artists, along with female vocals and different styles to appeal to all ages. Alidé Sans, Udolç (Alba Careta and Henrio), Sergi Carbonell, Carlos Sarduy and The Groove Messengers are just some of the names. From modern beats, groove and electro, to jazz, folk and even traditional lullabies.
Spectacular Nights
At 8:00 pm it will be the turn of Animal Religion. Acrobatics, trapeze, singing, dance and electronic music will be the stars of Christmas evenings with the show Natal: music and circus to explore a vast star-filled sky.
Barcelona Christmas Festival in the Districts
On 14 and 21 December the festival comes to the districts with Sound de Secà. The group from La Segarra will visit Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Sants-Montjuïc to reclaim the street as a space to coexist with a healthy dose of percussion, dance, theatre and vocals.
Saturday 14 December, at 12 noon
Jardins Trinidad Gallego Prieto (Nou Barris)
Saturday 21 December, at 12 noon
Pl. Jardins d'Elx (Sant Andreu)
Saturday 21 December, at 6 pm
Pl. del Sortidor (Sants-Montjuïc)
Accessibility
In all the shows of the festival there will be a space reserved for people with reduced mobility.
On the 22nd, 24th and 28th, the show “Peti qui peti!” of the company Ambauka will have sign language interpreting service and reduced volume.
From December 20 to 30 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
*Times may vary depending on the date. Please refer to the specific schedule for each day.
All schedules may be subject to change depending on weather conditions.
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Vocal musicDe 17:00h a 17:15h
Ual·la will be the masters of ceremony of the afternoon programme and will fill the transitions between shows with scenes from their show PLAY!, an invitation to play and explore limitless creativity.
In this “tablemusic” performance, the artists bring together different elements, with no specific meaning, to embrace diverse and surprising forms of everyday reality. With balls, chalk, combs, notebooks and plastic bags, this duo will mix genres such as hip-hop, spoken word and bossa nova.
Both music and comedy for all audiences.
Vocals and Percussion: Alba Rubió, Modesto Lai Photo: Joan Tomás
- Music
Photo: Joan Tomás
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De 17:15h a 18:00h
Modernity impacts the most vulnerable, marginalises the misfits who are torn between rebellion and docility.
Under the artistic direction of Marcos Morau, the Navarrese dance company Led Silhouette will present a meeting of time and languages, with the body and movement driving an exploration of the limits of human endurance.
Los Perros is an energetic and transformative piece seeking a state of resistance. Dogs that meet, that share joy and pain, that fall and get up, that dance, that rebel through love, to find the meaning of their lives. A passionate dance that finds its purest meaning in repetition and catharsis. Dancing to exhaustion, barking until the last breath, living to the point of exhaustion.
Project Director: Led Silhouette Idea and Artistic Director: Marcos Morau Choreography: Marcos Morau, in collaboration with the performers: Jon López and Martxel Rodriguez Sound Design: Juan Cristóbal Saavedra Special Collaboration: Verde Prato Costumes: Cobos Vestuario Production Assistant: Nagore Martínez Distribution: Portal 71, Rocío Pindado, MònicaDeGira With the support of the DNA programme of the Department of Culture of the Government of Navarre and INNOVA Cultural, of the Caja Navarra Foundation - ”La Caixa” Foundation.
- Dance
Photo: Irantzu Pastor
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Vocal musicDe 18:00h a 18:15h
Ual·la will be the masters of ceremony of the afternoon programme and will fill the transitions between shows with scenes from their show PLAY!, an invitation to play and explore limitless creativity.
In this “tablemusic” performance, the artists bring together different elements, with no specific meaning, to embrace diverse and surprising forms of everyday reality. With balls, chalk, combs, notebooks and plastic bags, this duo will mix genres such as hip-hop, spoken word and bossa nova.
Both music and comedy for all audiences.
Vocals and Percussion: Alba Rubió, Modesto Lai Photo: Joan Tomás
- Music
Photo: Joan Tomás
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De 18:15h a 19:00h
What happens when the chick leaves the nest? This dance-theatre show for all audiences depicts the transition from childhood to the first stage of adulthood, as we leave the protective family nest behind.
With a group of young people in their twenties and thirties, the stage becomes a space to reflect on the future, in a complex world with uncertain prospects.
The nest is the ideal play space to express their concerns. A poetic metaphor-filled space, where the great small human tragedies are explored through a lens of humour, poetry and hope.
Director: Doriane Moretus, Patrick Dordoigne Interpreters: Jonathan Aubard, Nathan Chouchana, Inès Grunenwald, Marine Garcia, Mattia Maggi, Yoanna Marilleaud, Eliot Maurel, Ugo Strebel, Jacob Auzanneau, Laura Tomás, Tom Verschueren Production: Achil Bras Lighting: Julien Barbazin Scenography: Yanosh Hrdy, Achil Bras, Magali Castellan Costumes: Fabienne Desfleches, Mélanie Clenet Assistant: Guillaume Servely Sound and light technician: Antoine Moriau Administration: Les Thérèses Diffusion and communication: Hélène Bourdon
- Teatre
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De 19:00h a 19:45h
Alidé Sans, a powerful and moving voice from Vall d'Aran, presents her project Arraïtz. Meaning “root” in the Aranese variant of Occitan, the artist updates Occitan oral traditional songs with elements of current musical production, fusing modernity with tradition. Arraïtz is a tribute to the Occitan language and popular culture, to rural mountains and to female empowerment.
The melodies of rondèus, borrèies and vals, filtered through modern musical codes, will make you dance and enjoy the music as a community.
Vocals, guitar and accordion: Alidé Sans Guitar: Virgi Borràs Violin: Núria Llobet Keyboards: Gerard Farré Drums: Pol Alonso Photo: Cedrick Nöt
- Music
Photo: Cedrick Nöt
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Verticals – AcrodanzaDe 19:45h a 20:00h
After presenting El patio (work in progress) last season, Juan Carlos Panduro returns to the Catalan capital to offer the second part of this interdisciplinary poetry-circus piece.
This time, the creative power of circus and poetic techniques act as the framework, creating an aesthetic, plastic and vertical language that aims to be an end in itself. An acro-dance solo in capital letters that amazes and thrills.
“I spent the night in the courtyard waiting for the moon
I put my hands together to make an offering
do you think sorrow is something you can see?”
Idea, Creation and Performance: Juan Carlos Panduro Music: Toni Kelm Stage Design: Jean-François Keller and Juan Carlos Panduro
- Circus
- Dance
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De 20:00h a 21:00h
The Christmas period enjoys the longest nights of the year. The stars shine more brightly and, just like when we were children, we try to understand what lies beyond the stars and the universe. Natal brings us closer to this immense, magical and unknown sky, where music and contemporary circus go hand in hand.
A group of old friends reminisce about the genuine and innocent questions they asked each other as children. The starry Christmas sky invites them to rediscover and recover that childhood feeling of immensity and surprise, of curiosity and, above all, of the desire to continue to be amazed and to learn; a feeling that, as we grow up, can fade away until it completely disappears.
Through acrobatics, aerial acts, songs, laughter, dances and live electronic music performed by kids, the protagonists of this piece will play with everything they have left to discover and invite us to enjoy a winter evening under a great starry night sky.
Artistic Director: Quim Girón Assistant Director: Moon Ribas Music Director: Joan Cot Ros Dramaturgy: Irene Vicente Stage Design: Laura Clos “Closca” Costume Design: Adriana Parra Costumes: Núria Monfort Lighting Design: Roc Laín Technical Director: Benet Jofre Technical Production: Larry’s SCCL Flying Directors: Germans Pruna Flying Effects: Accialt Flying Effects Executive Production: Elclimamola Performers and co-creators: Berta Contijoch, Núria Dardinyà, Teo Martín, Pablo Molina, Ivan Morales Ruiz, Luna Papia, Luis M. Roldán Santiago Musicians: Mel Comas Anguera, Kilian Díaz Espín, Abril Espinosa Pérez, Martina Espinosa Pérez, Jonc Mas Aliberas, Bruna Navarro Tuxuera, Èric Pau Cozza, Èlia Santaflorentina Cortés
Thanks to the Mataró Music School.
- Circus
Photo: Felipe Mena