Fira Mediterrània collaborates with Off de Calle in Zaragoza

Three Catalan groups are taking part

Fira Mediterrània de Manresa is cooperating with the 10th Off de Calle competition organised by Zaragoza City Council. The competition is part of the famous Pilar festivities in the capital of Aragon and is one of the most prestigious street arts events in the Spanish State. Fira is a member of the judging panel watching the competition finalists perform in Zaragoza on 8, 9 and 10 October. The competition winner will be featured in the programme for the 2014 Fira Mediterrània of Manresa, due to be held from 6 to 9 November next year.

The Off de Calle competition is aimed at solo artists and at dance, street music, theatre, clown or circus companies who use open-air spaces as settings for artistic expression. The finalists performing in Zaragoza next week have been chosen from the first round of entries received.

Finalists include Catalan groups Obskené, with Fuenteovejuna, breve tratado sobre las ovejas domésticas; Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra, with Fiesta balkánica; and Desastronauts, with Circo expreso, un día de playa. Other selected groups are Calabaza Danza (from Andalusia); Campagnie with Balls (Belgium); Model Breakers (from Madrid); Circo Jotero (from Aragon); Nostraxladamus (Aragon); Cia. Garrapete (from Castile-Leon); Cia Treperté (from Andalusia), Cia yo misma (also from Andalusia), and Amoramar danza (Aragon).

As part of the Competition jury, Fira Mediterrània will be joined by a number of performing arts professionals who will award the Prize for Best Show. The prize consists of performing at Fira Mediterrània 2014, Fira Tàrrega 2014, Umore Azoka in Leioa (Basque Country) and at the 2013 Sant Mateu Festival in Logroño (La Rioja). The jury’s decision will be made public on 12 October.

2012 winners at the 16th Fira Mediterrània

The show you can watch in Manresa as part of the next Fira Mediterrània of Manresa will be performed by La Rueda Teatro Social, a group from Madrid that distances itself from conventional theatre to offer the purest form of street theatre, finding new ways of connecting with audiences and with society. Their aims are to discover and develop new theatre formulas which they can use to democratise the relationship between artist and spectator; create shows that emphasise both social values and artistic quality; think and perform a theatre that is useful and able to trigger change, and develop artistic processes for promoting people and groups at risk of exclusion. In the show Los Rodríguez: Una familia en crisis, the characters have just been evicted and are living in the street. La Rueda tackle this dramatically current topic with gusto, managing to give it a hilarious twist.

La Rueda Teatro Social will be performing in Manresa on Saturday 9 November at 16:30 and 19:00, plus on Sunday 10 November at 17:00 in Plaça Major.