Montes, Miguel

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

D A N C E  
CONTEMPORARY DANCE 
CESC GELABERT AND LYDIA AZZOPARDI HAVE ACCOMPLISHED 
SOME OF THE MOST PERSONAL AND INTERESTING WORK TO BE 
ACHIEVED BY THE CATALAN CONTEMPORARY DANCE 
MOVEMENT. 
he return of democracy brought 
with it new ways of thinking and T forms of expression that are less 
restricted by prejudice and convention. 
At the same time freer attitudes and 
habits developed with regard to the 
body. The body began to be viewed in 
a healthier, more liberated way, as a 
result of which the number of gymna- 
siums, dance studios and academies 
rose sharply. It was around these same 
studios and academies that the whole 
contemporary dance movement in Ca- 
talonia was to take shape. 
The centres set up by Ramon Solé and 
Anna Maleras were to some extent the 
MIGUEL MONTES DANCE CRITIC 
pioneers and as such deserve special 
mention. Ramon Solé, who had a classi- 
cal background and considerable pro- 
fessional experience in this field, found- 
ed the original Ballet Contemporani 
de Barcelona. Later the group changed 
directors and adopted a group mana- 
gement formula, though it always kept 
the same name. The BCB has always 
been highly eclectical, its repertoire 
ranging from jazz dancing to theatrical 
dancing, and it has even branched out 
occasionally into the neo-classical 
sphere. It is  possibly one of the best 
established and most professional 
groups in existence today. 
The first attempt to introduce jazz dpnc- 
ing to Barcelona took place in the stu- 
dio of Anna Maleras. It is thanks to the 
American teachers who visited it that 
the famous American schools of danc- 
ing, those of Graham, Limón, Humphrey 
and others, became known in Catalo- 
nia. The company founded by Anna 
Maleras, the Grup Estudi Anna Male- 
ras, was almost exclusively devoted to 
jazz dancing but also displayed a cer- 
tain fascination for American musicals. 
Though short-lived, it served to launch 
many of the members of the present 
generation of dancers on their careers. 
The most conspicuous among them is 
perhurs Cesc Gelabert. After a brief, 
but very interesting solo career, and a 
short stay in the United States, he pared 
up with Lydia Azzopardi, who came 
from The Place, in London, where the 
Graham movement was born, and to- 
gether they set out to accomplish some 
of the most personal and interesting 
work to be achieved by the present Ca- 
talan contemporary dance movement. 
During these same years a permanent 
Department of Contemporary Dance 
was set up at -the lnstitut del Teatre 
and various shows were put on in order 
to introduce new dance companies. This 
gave new dancers and groups the op- 
portunity to acquire training in tech- 
nique and stage performance. Particu- 
larly worthy of mention is Heura, a 
company initially made up solely of wo- 
men, which won instant acclaim on ac- 
count of its refreshingly new and dyna- 
mic approach but had a short existence 
as a group. Out of it carne-the present 
group Mudances, led by Angels Mar- 
garit, which comes close to a real-life 
form of dancing based on gesture and 
shunning narrow demarcations, and the 
Grup de Danga de Avelina Argüelles 
which, using the basic techniques of Li- 
D A N C E  
món and Humphrey, includes literary 
elements in its choreographic design 
and makes the maximum possible use of 
stage equipment. 
Acord, a group with a clear jazz orien- 
tation which originated around Anna 
Maleras' studio, and L'Espantall, head- 
ed by Gerard Collins, which attempted 
a more experimental form of dancing, 
have also now disappeared, though al1 
of their productions caused a certain 
impact. 
Metros, led by Ramon Oller, and Lasiti, 
under the direction of Francesc Bravo, 
are two of the newest companies, both 
of which fall within Cesc Gelabert's 
sphere of influence. Their aesthetic ap- 
proaches are similar and they seek to 
reflect overwhelming environmental and 
social pressures in a choreography that 
is deliberately arid and severe. Taba 
(another exclusively female group, 
founded. in Germany around the Folk- 
wang Schule and Pina Bausch, which 
started out in the field of theatrical danc- 
ing) and Empar Rosselló (the only group 
active in the totally experimental field 
which also reveals certain orientalizing 
influences) are two more representa- 
tives of the undoubtedly promising 
contemporary dance scene in Catalonia 
today. 


Contemporary dance

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Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert