Mal Pelo proposes the second laboratory of Before the words, researching the language of movement and its transmission.
A group of people of different ages and backgrounds will meet to share their tools for working with movement, text, composition, musicality and space.
Transmission is always in two directions, from one body to another, enriching the vocabulary and the vision of each of them.

Terra de Fuga is the title of Paula Ramis’ final piece of work for her degree. It is a short solo in which she explores what a landscape is for her, the identities of people, spaces and times and the relationship between them. Through movement of her body, voice, music and drawing she hopes to discover and travel through the infinite, constantly changing layers that form landscapes, from the most familiar to the imaginary.

VICINI is a creation traversed by different practices and tools for movement improvisation, objects manipulation and writing.

Throughout the residency periods, the team organizes open workshops to share these tools and to generate a dialogue springing from the physical experience of the materials they are investigating.

The workshops are a space for participative and guided explorations based on somatic practices and concepts such as the dialogue between bodies through contact or an object that connects them, the forces of attraction and repulsion that this may generate, and the structural imbalance in relation to an interdependent stability.

We invite you to the next meetings on the 22nd and 23rd of April, from 6.30pm to 9.00pm, at L'animal a l'esquena.

Notes:
Limited places. ?For more information and to join the laboratory write to federica.porello@gmail.com

“Practiquem i estudiem això tant intangible i fulminant de la improvisació.
Tenim una llista de desitjos, una herència de llenguatge, una confusió de temps verbals, dobles personalitats, una cantant que no hi és mai. Fem trampes, escrivim i parlem molt en serio. Ens il·luminem i perdem tota èpica en un mateix matí. I sabem segur que
si neva, no venim.”
Glòria Ros

Aquest és un projecte d’investigació i experimentació sobre la disciplina de la improvisació, enfocada en els camps del moviment i el so. Planteja un estudi interdisciplinari d’aquesta pràctica com a fet escènic especí?c i autònom, entenent la pràctica mateixa com a font de coneixement i pensament. Es tracta d’una recerca col·lectivitzada impulsada per la ballarina Glòria Ros, en col·laboració amb les següents artistes improvisadores: Celeste Alías (veu), Clara Lai (piano), Joan Cot (electrònica), Ariadna Torner (violí), les ballarines Anna Fontanet, Miquel Fiol, Ona Fusté, Iver Zapata, Milagros García, Majo Villafaina i Glòria Ros, i la càmera-performer Mila Ercoli.

Terra de fuga és el títol que porta el treball de final de grau de la Paula Ramis. És un solo de format curt on explora què és per a ella un paisatge i la relació d’aquests i la identitat de les persones, espais i temporalitats. A través del moviment del cos, veu, música i traç desitja descobrir i viatjar a través de les infinites capes en constant transformació que creen paisatges, des dels més coneguts fins als imaginaris.

Durant aquesta setmana de residència a L’animal a l’esquena Martí i Ari han iniciat el procés de re-imaginar i refer la peça que van presentar l’any 2023 al festival L’Arreplegada. Durant la residència han treballat en un format de laboratori, en què han provat diferents propostes a nivell compositiu, estètic, plàstic i de moviment, que servirà de base per continuar amb la construcció d’una nova peça.

A two day workshop focussing on instantaneous composition and gangster films (following on from their recent piece Casa Nostra). The workshop will finish with a performance by all the particpants, open to the public.
SLMFV’s performance improvisation workshops provide a space for investigation and experimentation with the tools that enrich and free artists when they face composing in real time. Taking as their starting point their recent piece Casa Nostra, the aim is to offer a space for physical practice where the body will set out to invent instantaneously in relation to the poetic world of gangster film.
They will share their study of dance improvisation: a practice to develop the sense of stage presence in a technical and multidirectional way. SLMFV describe stage presence as a state of readiness and creative responsibility, physical power and risk-taking performance. All these elements will be put into play in relation to different stage variables (in this case sound and costume) as part of a collective creation and for one basic audience: the public.

This is aimed at everyone interested in improvisation and who wants to learn more about the work of Si Los Martes Fueran Viernes.


detalls

Mal Pelo begins the creation process for its new piece, to be premiered at the next Grec Festival in
Barcelona.
Inventions focuses on the relationship between live music and dance, situating the results of this research in
spaces that, due to their acoustics or architecture, make possible the magic triad of space-music-movement.
In each of these places Inventions will take a different form, adapted to the specific venue.
The aim of Inventions is to look into the particular acoustic and performance characteristics of each venue, of
the architecture and the dynamics of the space where the piece is to be performed. The research will cover
the historical background, materials, light, sound and capacity for transformation of each of the chosen
places.
Listening to these details enables us to reveal performance potential and construct unique proposals
specifically for each environment.
The first stage of this new project will take place in 2020 at the following festivals: Grec Festival de
Barcelona-Festival Bachcelona, Festival Internacional Música de Torroella and Festival Internacional
Temporada Alta de Girona.

The dancer Leonor Leal has her own way of doing things and the idea of the project LOXA is to consolidate
that. She sticks to her collaborators and so here we have Pedro G Romero as writer. María Muñoz and Pep
Ramis (Mal Pelo) will also be there, directing the performance as María Muñoz has already done on “J.R.T.”
and “Nocturno”.
Here too are Antonio Moreno (percussion) and Juan Jiménez (sax) of Proyecto Lorca, who live, as she does,
in Utrera. Then the great Tomás de Perrate (song), the very essence of Utrera, and María Marín (guitar and
song), who is also from Utrera though now in the Netherlands. And Dani de Morón (guitar), an impressive
guitarist who, as his name suggests, comes from Morón de la Frontera, so closely linked in Flamenco to
Utrera.

Contrakant is above all a space that doesn’t yet exist and needs to be activated. The energy that activates this space of real friction is rage. Rage against Kant. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who developed his ideas during the 18th Century, was the first proponent of Criticism and the father of German idealism. He is now considered one of the most important figures of modern European and universal thought.
Contrakant will consist of a series of encounters between artists using the practices and tools they each bring to look into a set of questions. To avoid an excess of a priori work that might somehow kill off the unknown paths down which this research might reach, we’ll only settle on the basic questions to be put in play at the first meeting. Contrakant will be a series of encounters numbered Contrakant 1, 2, 3… so that following on from the work done in Contrakant 1, and according to the results, problems and questions arising from it, we’ll think how to go about the next encounter.

This year we will be holding the fourth season of Dance December, which builds on the long history of training and creative projects in the municipality of Celrà since the 1990s. The Arts Department of Celrà Town Hall, in collaboration with the Escuela Municipal de Danza de Celrà (Celrà Municipal Dance School) and L’animal a l’esquena, are organising for the fourth time this season of dance, held in various locations around the town.
The programme of shows is complemented by workshops led by some of the guest dancers and artists for young people of 15 upwards and also for adults.

For more information see:
https://ateneucelra.koobin.com/

We have planned our first international outreach project as part of our collaboration with La Caldera Les Corts, enabling figures from the world of contemporary dance to visit Catalonia and putting on a programme of events so as to bring these international names together with Catalan creators whether in the context of training, exhibitions, master classes, communication or laboratories. It is within this framework that from 28th October to 15th November this coming autumn, L’animal and La Caldera are inviting the distinguished US movement researcher and creator Lisa Nelson to be their guest.

Since both organisations were interested in the legendary US choreographer Lisa Nelson, they held discussions with a view to inviting her to spend a week at L’animal a l’esquena with creators connected to this arts centre in Celrà and regular members of the company Mal Pelo. Later some of these artists and other international guests invited by Lisa held a week-long creation laboratory at La Caldera, the results of which will be presented as part of the Corpografías programme. To complete this immersion in her world, Lisa will share her working methodology Tuning Scores as part of the Sporá Prógram season.

In this first phase of the creation of El aspecto sensorial de las cosas (provisional title), Federica Porello will look into the multi-faceted potential of the various elements of the stage: the performer, objects, light and sound. She is interested in studying the different degrees of presence in a performer, from being observed to addressing the audience directly, and the different states of the silent audience: contemplative, decoding enigmas, receptive…
The ingredients for the research will be the different kinds of relationship between movement and music (visual representation of the sound, coexistence, dialogue…) and between actions and objects (manipulation, animation, interdependence…).
Her original reference points will be the musical pieces Il trillo del diavolo by Giuseppe Tartini, Sonata for Cello Solo by György Ligeti and Moto perpetuo, Op. 11 by Niccolò Paganini.
The objects she will begin working with will be pieces of wood, either singly or linked to create jointed objects.

During this residency Idoia Zabaleta will revise the lateral material from her recent creation processes. By lateral materials I mean those that are not central to the creation process but nevertheless keep me company as “good friends” and help me much more than they think. They are modest materials, simple passers by, loyal, that are there through thick and thin, that remind you where you come from, that help you distract yourself or confront contradictions when necessary, that come to visit you, that you can call anytime, that know they won’t come out in the film but don’t mind, even prefer it that way because they are embarrassed, but that always somehow end up as extras or making the sandwiches for the trip. It’s a question of friendship and therefore of time. These are latent images (doors, windows, walls, holes, meadows, caves…), ways of doing things (horizontal, from cold to hot with nothing in between, getting dirty…), gestures (opening and closing your hands, opening and closing your mouth, irradiating the sternum…), prayers (I have time, come on, it wasn’t me, get out if you can, for dear life…), songs (hil zara by Ibon r / g, gure oroitzapenak by Mursego, como lobos by Ainara LeGardon, a shepherds’ song by Chumo de Alvaro Barriuso…) and tangential thoughts (throwing things in the air to see what happens, crosswords, journeys…).

Contrakant is above all a space that doesn’t yet exist and needs to be activated. The energy that activates this space of real friction is rage. Rage against Kant. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who developed his ideas during the 18th Century, was the first proponent of Criticism and the father of German idealism. He is now considered one of the most important figures of modern European and universal thought.
Contrakant will consist of a series of encounters between artists using the practices and tools they each bring to look into a set of questions. To avoid an excess of a priori work that might somehow kill off the unknown paths down which this research might reach, we’ll only settle on the basic questions to be put in play at the first meeting. Contrakant will be a series of encounters numbered Contrakant 1, 2, 3… so that following on from the work done in Contrakant 1, and according to the results, problems and questions arising from it, we’ll think how to go about the next encounter.

Leonor Leal vuelve a L’animal en l’esquena en un primer laboratorio durante este 2019 para iniciar un nuevo trabajo de solo de esta bailaora de Jerez de la Frontera.
En esta ocasión habrá un trabajo de investigación entre las dos creadoras a partir de la formación en flamenco de Leonor Leal. María Muñoz ha colaborado en las últimas creaciones de Leonor Leal desde la ayudantía artística. Leonor viene a L’animal para compartir con María Muñoz su disciplina e iniciar así un nuevo proceso creativo entre ambas.

María Muñoz’ residency at L’animal a l’esquena from 17th to 22nd December is part of the project Counterpoint and choreographic composition (The voices of the body, space and the contrapuntal music of the baroque), for which she has obtained a research grant from the Arts Department of the Generalitat de Catalunya. She has worked on this project during 2018 at L’animal a l’esquena, the Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz (Berlin, Germany), the Centro de Creación Azala (Basque Country) and at Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson’s base in Vermont (USA).
The performance on 22nd December will be structured as a talk and practical demonstration and María Muñoz will be joined for this by Jordi Casanovas, Pep Ramis, Federica Porello and Zuriñe Benavente, who have followed the various research workshops that have been held during the year.

Summary:
Research into the possible relationships between the contrapuntal music of the baroque, the body as a framework and source of different voices, and space as a generator of choreographic experience. Through a methodology based mainly on practice but also on reflection and analysis, the idea is to approach the work by focussing on all the possibilities that can be offered by a single body, so as to define different phases of choreographic composition and afterwards transpose this study onto several bodies in a joint composition.
The question being asked here is how the technique of musical counterpoint might find a correlation in choreographic composition.

Key Words:
Choreographic composition, counterpoint, fugue, canon, imitation, variation, fragmentation, subject against subject, tensegrity, kinosphere, improvisation.

Background:
In 2004 María Muñoz presented a project based on pieces taken from The Well Tempered Clavier. The performance piece Bach grew out of a study of the pieces that make up this long work by Johan Sebastian Bach, a collection of two series of twenty four Preludes and Fugues. The piece combines dances to preludes played live with the memory of fugues danced in silence. The many performances of this piece between then and now have provided an opportunity to develop the composition in detail, through learning to listen to the music.

This experience has awoken in María Muñoz a curiosity to broaden her knowledge of counterpoint as a tool for composition and of the concepts of the body and movement in space set out by great artists such as Laban, Forsyth, Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson.

The ideas and considerations that María Muñoz would like to put at the heart of her research and study proposal are related to fundamental aspects of choreographic composition and to a particular way of approaching creation, the fruit of long practical experience as a performer.

TERCERA EDICIÓN DEL DESEMBRENDANSA
EXHIBICIÓN-FORMACIÓN-CREACIÓN alrededor de la DANZA

La tercera edición del ciclo llamado "Diciembre en Danza" se llevará a cabo en Celrà del 29 de noviembre al 2 de diciembre. Aprovechando la larga trayectoria en formación y proyectos de creación que se han desarrollado en el municipio de Celrà desde los años 90, el Área de Cultura del Ayuntamiento de Celrà con la colaboración de la Escuela Municipal de Danza de Celrà y el animal en la espalda, organizan un tercer ciclo de danza, centrándose en la exhibición (en el Teatro del Ateneo de Celrà), la formación (a través de talleres en la Escuela de danza) y la creación ( abriendo al público procesos de creación de compañías residentes en el Animal a la Espalda).
La muestra tendrá lugar en diversas localizaciones del pueblo, concretamente en L'animal a la espalda (Mas Espolla), la plaza de la Iglesia, el Teatro El Ateneo de Celrà, el Pabellón de las Piscinas y en la Escuela Municipal de danza.
Esta propuesta de espectáculos se complementará con diferentes talleres, dirigidos a jóvenes a partir de 15 años y adultos, que realizarán algunos de los bailarines y creadores invitados. Estas sesiones se llevarán a cabo en la Escuela Municipal de Danza de Celrà y se trabajará el lenguaje artístico y el movimiento específico de cada creador / a.
La inauguración del ciclo "Diciembre en Danza" tendrá lugar el jueves 29 de diciembre a las 19 h, con la presentación del trabajo de residencia de creación de María García Vera (Cataluña) y Juan Pablo Miranda (Argentina), bajo el título 'Werner o el azul de los orígenes ', en el centro de creación el Animal en la Espalda (Mas Espolla de Celrà).
A partir del viernes y hasta el domingo por la tarde, se combinarán espectáculos y talleres.
En esta tercera edición participarán, entre otros, la bailarina, coreógrafa y performance inglesa Yael Karavan, la compañía francesa Les Chasseurs Cueilleurs, la compañía balear Cia. Baal Danza, y los catalanes Magí Serra, la Cía. Los Moñekos, la bailarina Ariadna Montfort y la Cía. La Mujer del Carnicero.

Mal Pelo propone un tercer encuentro en este 2018 que tiene como punto de partida el trabajo de investigación que María Muñoz hizo por su solo Bach, pieza que ha tenido una acogida excepcional en todo el mundo. Un laboratorio que invita a poner en juego los universos de la danza y de la música contrapuntística de Johan Sebastian Bach. Un trabajo sobre la mirada precisa, sobre el gesto, y sobre la musicalidad de cada uno de los cuerpos en la exploración de este mundo único del compositor alemán.

El lenguaje escénico de Mal Pelo está en tránsito constante y se alimenta de la búsqueda personal y colectiva de los potenciales expresivos de cada una de las herramientas de que dispone: cuerpo, texto, audiovisual, iluminación, banda sonora y espacio escenográfico . En las creaciones de María Muñoz y Pep Ramis encontramos diferentes aproximaciones al lenguaje del movimiento y sus hibridaciones con otros lenguajes, pero siempre hay una centralidad específica del cuerpo y el movimiento de manera profunda y comprometida.

Mal Pelo plans a second gathering in 2018, taking as its starting point the research María Muñoz did for her solo Bach, a piece that has won world-wide acclaim. This laboratory invites us to bring into play the worlds of dance and the musical counterpoint of Johann Sebastian Bach. It is a piece about looking with precision, about movement and about the musicality of each of the bodies exploring the composer’s unique world.
Mal Pelo’s performance language is constantly changing and is nourished by their individual and collective search for the expressive potential of each of the tools at their disposal: body, text, audiovisual, lighting, sound and set. In the work of María Muñoz and Pep Ramis we find different approaches to the language of movement and its combinations with other languages, but there is always a specific centring on the body and movement that is deep and engaged.
This laboratory will take place behind closed doors with guest performers and creators for two weeks, with a public performance at the end of each: at 7pm on Friday 25th May and Friday 1st June at L’animal a l’esquena

A research laboratory on the scores of J.S. Bach, following on from the work begun by María Muñoz with her solo Bach, that has had such exceptional success around the world. This work is concerned with movement and its relationship with musical counterpoint. A precise vision, pared down movement, musicality and a care for the meaning of each body in exploring the composer’s unique world. The laboratory aims to broaden the relationship between the worlds of dance and contrapuntal music.

This laboratory will be held behind closed doors with the creators who have been invited. It will continue in May, when we will show the public what we have done.

Performers: Lucia Marote, Joan Catalá, Federica Porello, Jordi Casanovas, Rosalía Zanón, Ona Fuster, Leo Castro, Enric Fàbregas, Laura Alcalá, Zuriñe Benavente, María Muñoz and Pep Ramis.

And the musicians: Joel Bardolet – violin, Maria Titova – viola, Bernat Bofarull – violin and viola, Albert Barbeta – violin.

Process of construction for the stage: architecture, memory and objects
The line: as a place, as a separation. As a drawing from which comes a plan, a model, a house. The line of the life of this place, the voice of all those who lived there. The staircase as an object that joins its sections and its times. The disappearance of the staircase as a symbol of fracture, as the appearance of a new way of life.

The residency at L’animal is intended as a space for dialogue between Andrea Díaz and Xavier Bobés, a week of engagement in which they can explore together a drama that intertwines object manipulation and words. This performance creation process began in December 2016 at their first residency at L’animal and during this second encounter they will continue their research based on objects gathered around the construction of a home.

What is misióndivina?

Let’s imagine we go running from time to time and someone asks us why we do it. Why do we put on a pair of trainers and set out to run ourselves ragged? We don’t know how to answer because we don’t know why. We’re not hoping to make any money out of it, or win fame or even the recognition of others. Running serves no concrete purpose, it’s not a means to any end. Seen in this way, running is a form of counter-cultural expression as it cannot be measured in cost and benefit.

Piece for eight humans, a horse, birds, mikes and two colours.
The Cliff is a village above the ground.

In group work, our idea is that the question is not so much “what” as “how”. The quest of a team trying to develop its ability to adapt and transform itself, without seeking any similarity among its members, is a constant challenge.

Trying to push the limits of each artist, to strip each of them bare, demands working with trust so as to be able to take real risks.
We construct little ceremonies so as to be together, dance, hold each other and lead each other towards a shared rhythm.

Alain Fourneu has known Geneviève Sorin for thirty years. She is a dancer, musician, choreographer and improviser; he a theatre director, performance space programmer and provocateur. Alain was there for Geneviève when she was starting out, including several of her shows in the programme of the theatre he directed in Marseilles. Later, since 1995, they combined their respective roles and collaborated on each other’s pieces. Now they come together again in an attempt at a new relationship in which she will play the accordeon and he will recite texts by Raymond Carver.

The line: as a place, as a separation. As a drawing from which comes a plan, a model, a house. The line of the life of this place, the voice of all those who lived there. The staircase as an object that joins its sections and its times. The disappearance of the staircase as a symbol of fracture, as the appearance of a new way of life.

This project is in its initial stage, where the disorganised material seeks order, to settle down. We see the residence at L’animal as space for dialogue between Andrea Diaz and Xavier Bobés. A week of meetings in which to explore together a drama that will thread together the manipulation of objects with words. A process of performance creation based on objects gathered around the building of a home.

L’animal a l'esquena, EMDC and the Ateneu de Celrà are coming together for this dance season, to be held in December: four days of performances and workshops in various spaces in the village dedicated to dance.

The season known as Desembre en Dansa (Dance December) will take place in Celrà from 8th to 11th December. Taking advantage of the high profile of dance in this village, shows will be presented in various locations, specifically L’animal a l’esquena, La Plaça de l’Esglèsia and el Teatre Ateneu.  
Some of the dancers and choreographers involved will also give workshops to dancers at the Celrà Municipal Dance School (EMDC), where they will work with the students on specific characteristics of their artistic work.

NEVADA Lab is a group of creators/performers, each with their own artistic career, who meet to make themselves a good space in which to exchange ideas and strategies, share tools and methods of study and research around performance, which they see as being where the body acts as a reference point for thought and writing.
Each member of the group may at any one time be the guide for one line of enquiry and a participant in another.

For five days, these five choreographers and dancers will meet to share their different approaches to movement and composition. After working together on the creation process for the piece JRT, directed by Pedro G. Romero and premiered at the Jerez flamenco festival, they decided to meet to pool the tools of their work, accepting and contrasting their different visions and backgrounds.

During this encounter they will also review, from a new perspective, the choreography and performance in the piece JRT, which will be performed again at the Seville Flamenco Biennale in September this year.

What is misióndivina?

Let’s imagine we go running from time to time and someone asks us why we do it. Why do we put on a pair of trainers and set out to run ourselves ragged? We don’t know how to answer because we don’t know why. We’re not hoping to make any money out of it, or win fame or even the recognition of others. Running serves no concrete purpose, it’s not a means to any end. Seen in this way, running is a form of counter-cultural expression as it cannot be measured in cost and benefit.
If we had to give an answer, the closest to the truth would be: “so as not to go mad”. This was the response given by that great humanist and human Oscar Cornago, when someone asked him why he did yoga every morning. So that’s what misióndivina is for, to prevent us going round the bend.
Just as we put on our trainers to go out for a run and then see what we find along the way, the premise of misióndivina is to bring together a group of people to share their knowledge about physical practices and then get down to work.

What is the past and future of misióndivina?

At the moment, it’s like going for a run on a mountainside, in an area you are not familiar with: you carry on and at the crossroads you take decisions by intuition, without any certainty. The sum of all these decisions determines the route.

Bach is a piece based on a selection from J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier that María Muñoz premiered in 2004 and has since performed over a hundred times all over the world.
In this special laboratory, María Muñoz works on passing on and reinterpreting this solo with the Italian performer and creator Federica Porello.

NEVADA Lab is a group of creators/performers, each with their own artistic career, who meet to make themselves a good space in which to exchange ideas and strategies, share tools and methods of study and research around performance, which they see as being where the body acts as a reference point for thought and writing.

Based on the individual baggage of each of them, their training and performance experience, the idea of this second laboratory is to work on the musical pieces in Proyecto Istanbul/Istanbul Project, to be shown on 13th February at the Mercat de les Flors, as a special encounter between Jordi Savall-Hespèrion XXI and Mal Pelo.

L’animal a l’esquena has been invited to the next MES DE DANZA/DANCE MONTH Festival, an international showcase for contemporary dance in Seville, which will be held from 30th October to 8th November, as the first organisation to which the festival is offering CARTE BLANCHE to put forward artists who have residencies at the creation centre or are associated with it.

CARTE BLANCHE TO… consists in giving free rein to a collective whose main focus in its aims and actions is to encourage, promote, highlight and suppport contemporary choreographic creation. The initiative aims to encourage dialogue between different communities in Spain, creating synergies in the development and promotion of contemporary dance and supporting and raising the profile of the work of the guest organisation.

NEVADA Lab is a group of creators/performers, each with their own artistic career, who meet to make themselves a good space in which to exchange ideas and strategies, share tools and methods of study and research around performance, which they see as being where the body acts as a reference point for thought and writing.
Each member of the group may at any one time be the guide for one line of enquiry and a participant in another.

In the municipality of Celrà, where L’animal a l’esquena is based, associations are very active, many of them focussing on the arts, education and social activities. Taxeks is a group of young percussionists who combine music and movement in their projects. They rehearse every week and perform at events in different towns, cultural festivals and all kinds of social occasions.
During their stay they will work intensively together to create the choreography for their new piece and will receive artistic and technical advice from the team at L’animal.

NU2's, in collaboration with L'animal a 'esquena, is holding its tenth laboratory. This year's is intended as a continuation of last year's. With the same title, Filmar la danza II (Filming Dance II), it will again focus on how to make audiovisual adaptations of choreography presented or created for performance. This time we shall be working with loscorderos.sc and experimentiing with the stereoscopic 3D format.

The organisation of this 3D filming Laboratory has been made possible with the help of Bloom, a centre for 3D and emerging technologies in Gerona.

The results of both laboratories will be performed in Barcelona at the fifth Festival IDN 2015, Image, Dance and New Media, to be held from 26th February to 1st March at the Mercat de les Flors.

During this third laboratory, which will take place at L'animal a l'esquena over three weeks, Pastora, her band of musicians, el Niño de Elche, Mal Pelo and Pedro G. Romero will meet to share their work tools and set up a conversation in the process of creating the piece La diferencia/The Difference.

Dance: Pastora Galván /Song: Niño de Elche, Cristian Guerrero.
Clapping, cheering and dance: Mª del Mar Montero / Assistant choreographer y repeater: Marco de Ana / Artistic direction: Pedro G. Romero / Stage direction: Pep Ramis, María Muñoz.
Rest of cast to be arranged.

Pastora Galván, in her research into the experience and feelings of flamenco, seeks to pay homage to the previous generation of dancers, who played a key role in its history: Eugenia de los Reyes, Carmen Ledesma, Rocío de Loreto, Manuela Carrasco, Ana Mari Bueno and Loli Sevilla, among others. This was not a tragic generation. The period after the Second World War was a time of modernisation. They worked in Flamenco venues, tourist spots and ballets, at parties and US bases, on international tours. Myths abound: the Sevillian School, the differences between Seville and Triana, the gypsy style. The interest of this research lies not just in biographies, but in understanding a way of dancing that has names yet belongs to no one.

This will be the second creation laboratory for the new project by Mal Pelo, L'animal a l'esquena's associate company. The aim of this encounter is to research, with Fanny Thollot, the tools for composing the sound track for this new piece.

El quinto invierno (The Fifth Winter) brings María Muñoz and Pep Ramis together again to create a new duet. In the course of this project the relationship will be revealed between two people and a space where they "wait in silence" for another winter to pass. The fifth. Their wait is accompanied by a series of games and strategies, filling the silence in an unexpectedly constructive way.

Pastora Galván, in her research into the experience and feelings of flamenco, seeks to pay homage to the previous generation of dancers, who played a key role in its history: Eugenia de los Reyes, Carmen Ledesma, Rocío de Loreto, Manuela Carrasco, Ana Mari Bueno and Loli Sevilla, among others. This was not a tragic generation. The period after the Second World War was a time of modernisation. They worked in Flamenco venues, tourist spots and ballets, at parties and US bases, on international tours. Myths abound: the Sevillian School, the differences between Seville and Triana, the gypsy style. The interest of this research lies not just in biographies, but in understanding a way of dancing that has names yet belongs to no one.

El quinto invierno (The Fifth Winter) brings María Muñoz and Pep Ramis together again to create a new duet. In the course of this project the relationship will be revealed between two people and a space where they "wait in silence" for another winter to pass. The fifth. Their wait is accompanied by a series of games and strategies, filling the silence in an unexpectedly constructive way.

Pastora Galván, in her research into the experience and feelings of flamenco, seeks to pay homage to the previous generation of dancers, who played a key role in its history: Eugenia de los Reyes, Carmen Ledesma, Rocío de Loreto, Manuela Carrasco, Ana Mari Bueno and Loli Sevilla, among others. This was not a tragic generation. The period after the Second World War was a time of modernisation. They worked in Flamenco venues, tourist spots and ballets, at parties and US bases, on international tours. Myths abound: the Sevillian School, the differences between Seville and Triana, the gypsy style. The interest of this research lies not just in biographies, but in understanding a way of dancing that has names yet belongs to no one.

NU2'S in collaboration with L'animal a l'esquena and Graner/Mercat de les Flors, organizes his 10th annual research laboratory.

This year the subject of the LAB will be "Filming Dance" or how to adapt dance from the stage to the screen, how to capture and re-write choreographic works originally made for theatre.

Up to now NU2'S has worked mainly on Dance video projects, which were created for the camera from the start. This year we propose a step further, a time to think and share experiences, to practice different ways to adapt a dance piece already existing for the stage, how to find a new interesting visual point of view for the screen while respecting the original work.

We have selected a few fragments from four new choreographic pieces premiered recently, and we have invited their choreographers to think and practice with experienced audiovisual directors.

Raffaella Giordano and María Muñoz met again in 2012, after taking part in the training project Scritture per la danza contemporanea (Writings for Contemporary Dance) in Italy, directed by Raffaella. They both felt an immediate interest in working together and this was when they had the opportunity to hold their first laboratory at L'animal a l'esquena, with the support of Alain Forneau of the Théatre des Bernadines in Marseille.

"When you know the dancing of María Muñoz, when you see that of Raffaella Giordano, when you try to visualise the two together, you are surprised by both physical and dynamic differences in their dance. Afterwards, secretly, in the imagination, the pair appear as a possible team with a presence of integrity and intensity."
(Alain Forneau)

Body Weather Laboratory USA is a non-profit organization

Body Weather Laboratory (BWL) is a research forum open to anyone interested in investigating expression through the body within different environments.
A demanding attitude toward a thorough reexamination of the body and movement is a main theme in all the aspects of the training. Originally founded in 1978 by Min Tanaka in Japan, BWL workshops currently exist throughout the world, expanding and reinterpreting the format for exploration. The workshop consists of three-parts:

1) MB Training: Rigorous mind/body, muscle/bone training; rhythmical and dynamic.

2) Body Manipulation: A series of specific stretching and relaxation exercises concerned with breathing and alignment. The work is done in couples, exchanging passive and active roles.

3) Body Weather: Explorations designed to sharpen focus and develop the scope of
expression through the body. The work encompasses sensitivity training and discovery of movement from images.

details

Raffaella Giordano and María Muñoz met again in 2012, after taking part in the training project Scritture per la danza contemporanea (Writings for Contemporary Dance) in Italy, directed by Raffaella. They both felt an immediate interest in working together and this was when they had the opportunity to hold their first laboratory at L'animal a l'esquena, with the support of Alain Forneau of the Théatre des Bernadines in Marseille.

"When you know the dancing of María Muñoz, when you see that of Raffaella Giordano, when you try to visualise the two together, you are surprised by both physical and dynamic differences in their dance. Afterwards, secretly, in the imagination, the pair appear as a possible team with a presence of integrity and intensity."
(Alain Forneau)

Tras años de colaboración con Mal Pelo como observadora privilegiada del lenguaje artístico y de movimiento desarrollados por María Muñoz y Pep Ramis, Núria Font propone revisitar Bach a través de la cámara. Un trabajo de laboratorio a la búsqueda del encuadre, la coordinación entre el movimiento de la cámara con la danza que captura, en un intento (quizás imposible) de retener la emoción que nos convoca la pieza bailada en vivo.

El objetivo de esta propuesta no es presentar el solo íntegro ni tampoco realizar una grabación del mismo, es hacer un estudio sobre el movimiento, sobre la experiencia vivida por María Muñoz interpretando este trabajo y recreándolo ahora después de muchos años como pedagoga.

Bach, espectáculo creado entre los años 2004 y 2005 producido por el Teatre Lliure y el Teatro Real, ha viajado por diversos países de Europa, Estados Unidos, Oriente Medio y Sudamérica. Este año ya se ha presentado en Santo Domingo (República Dominicana), Vorno (Italia) y Zaragoza.

En Bach el discurso se articula únicamente a través del cuerpo y la música. Una aproximación al Clave bien temperado de Johann Sebastian Bach, donde María Muñoz combina la danza de algunos preludios que suenan en directo con la memoria de algunas fugas bailadas en silencio. La presencia del intérprete evoluciona en un puro trabajo de movimiento.

Investigating ways to induce a dancing state from any starting place using communication tools of Tuning Scores, an improvisational approach to ensemble collaboration initiated by Lisa Nelson. With multidisciplinarian performers including Nelson, Scott Smith, Maria Munoz, Pep Ramis, Pascale Gilles, Baptiste Andrien, Franck Beaubois, and Nuno Rebelo.

Another NU2'S Laboratory at L'animal a l'esquena, offering time for research and the creation of pieces centred around the body and movement, that establish a dialogue between disciplines and use audiovisual tools in their presentation.

Band, a laboratory of the creation group Mal Pelo (María Muñoz and Pep Ramis), constructs its own universe based on the concept of group, feelings of identity, and belonging to a community and a particular context. The discourse is expressed through the body and its capacity to generate action and improvisation, using what can not always be spoken or seen.

4th July 2009, 7:47 P.M
Samuel Pajand and Marta Izquierdo are in the Paris-Bercy Omnisport (Concert & Sports Arena)

9:03 P.M.
Britney Spears enters on stage

5th July 2009, 0:27 A.M
Samuel & Marta drank three beers. The bitterness of their beers mingles with the disappointment of having seen the singer buried under an unfailing speactacular machine. A too full show. Too smooth. Too well-done.

7th July 2009, 8:03 A.M
Samuel spills his coffee cup. He picks up his phone and calls Marta.

8:57 A.M
It's settled. They will make a performance out of their frustration.

My name is Britney Spears is not just another performance, It's one less performance, It's about, how from the same songs, choreographies and visuals, we simplify, lay bare, substract in order to find... something else.

MY N.I.B.S.
THE PERFORMANCE THAT BRITNEY WOULD HAVE DONE IF SHE HAD BEEN US.

CREAtion 2012/2014

SAMUEL PAJAND music
MARTA IZQUIERDO dance
RIMA BEN BRAHIM light and pyrotechnic
BRUNO FAUCHER creating scenery and lights
NICOLAS CADET production

[lodudo] producción

Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas work with the perception of the senses through changes in channels of perception. Talking Feet is a performance piece in which they work on communicating spoken language through other parts of the body.

A project of collaboration between Oguri, a Japanese dancer based in Los Angeles, and Andrés Corchero. The two dancers met in Japan in 1986 as members of Mai-juku, the company directed by Min Tanaka. After the first show in Los Angeles in March 2012, they continue the process at L'animal a l'esquena.

"What do these words mean? I hope to make them felt through physical and poetic work to delve into the subject" In collaboration with Quim Paredes, among others.

Raffaella Giordano and María Muñoz met after taking part in the contemporary dance training project Scritture in Italy, directed by Raffaella. Both were immediately keen to collaborate but it is only now that they have the chance to work on this first laboratory, which is planned to be continued in 2013, finishing with a performance at Marseille 2013, European Capital of Culture.

Both Raffaella Giordano and María Muñoz have long careers as dancers and choreographers and are well known both in Europe and other parts of the world. They are both also especially concerned to pass on their artistic experience to new generations. In Black Sun their two languages approach each other for the first time, a first pooling of two creative worlds of great strength and poetry. Pep Ramis will document and contribute artistically to this first encounter.

This is the third laboratory for the creation and communication of artistic knowledge and language, a project launched in 2010 with the aim of setting up a space to teach directly about the experience and practice of creation. The idea lies somewhere between the training of performers and a search for artistic language. In recent years Mal Pelo have formed long term relationships with performers and creators with established artistic careers, in order to familiarise them with the company's working methods and be able to carry out ongoing laboratory work in which questions and suggestions will arise from both individual and group experience.

El Laboratorio de NU2s 2011 en L'Animal a l'esquena, encuentro anual de investigación entorno la danza y su relación con los medios se propone para la edición de este año convertirse también en un laboratorio de creación y producción. La idea es que durante el Laboratorio se produzcan 5 piezas de entre 3 y 4 minutos basadas en una propuesta que articula la relación entre ellas: una canción, un intérprete, un espacio... y una cámara.

Presentation of Laboratoy directed by Jordi Galí with the collaboration of Pep Aymerich, Pep Ramis and Xavi Bobés.

In 2006 Mónica Valenciano participated in the activities of L'Animal with the project "Un pescador con subtítulos" (a fisherman with subtitles). She collaborated in this project with the cinema maker Chus Domínguez and the video maker and choreographer Olga Mesa. In this process they worked on the interrelation between body, poetic architecture and image. After this work many professionals were interested in knowing about the key concepts Monica Valenciano uses in her work.

This laboratory aims at offering an encounter between Mónica Valenciano and a reduced group of professionals to interchange ideas on the tools she explores and uses in her work.

As well as her activity within the dance world, Mónica Valenciano has developed a type of poetic language through her poems and drawings. Fragmentation, repetition, fragility, scribble, whisper, suggestion... these are words which belong to her creative universe.

details

The laboratory organized by NU2'S every year at L'animal a l'esquena is an activity focused on the research, learning and debate on new technologies applied to dance.

This annual laboratory usually chooses a topic around which the research elements and debate sessions are focused. In parallel, several artists are invited in order to contribute with new points of view and information around these elements. The aim this year is to center the attention on new image recording technologies (3D, lowcost systems- video and online TV-, new formats for stage image showing, etc.)

Last editions have been focused on interactive technology but the idea this year is to return to the essence of movement image and the new challenges raised by professional formats for image creation and by the wide range of dissemination and showing possibilities, both in the stage or exhibition frames and in the film or in the on-line dissemination fields. The technological tools needed will be analyzed and discovered and other questions will be raised related to the creation with the body and movement as subject or around the shift in the ways of looking in cinema or video imposed by the Contemporary Culture.

The laboratory starts with an open call for participants which results will be announced in July. NU2's will select around 10 projects among all the applications that will be sharing a week of work in residence at L'animal a l'esquena. Once the group of artist participating in each project is set up, NU2's will contact experts from different fields – film-makers, visual artists, technologists, choreographs, dancers, musicians, that will be invited to participate and help in the development of the projects.

In previous occasions Mal Pelo has already organized research laboratories focused on future creations (An el silenci, 2003, Testinoni de llops, 2006, Jukebox, 2009, Amadou 2009 and He visto caballos, 2008). These are encounters where a first approach is made to certain starting ideas and ways of focusing the work.

We propose the creation laboratory La esperanza de vida de una liebre
("A hare's life expectancy") for 2010.


This project is framed in a general idea of transmitting María Muñoz and Pep Ramis' artistic language developed by the company all along its career.

NU2's proposes an international meeting of artists from different disciplines who are interested in developing theoretical and practical aspects around the use interactive tools that focus on the body and movement as their main object.
This year's event will pay special attention to exhibition-based projects. It is aimed at artists and collectives who have a work in progress or an idea they are waiting to develop, and are interested in sharing and analysing their work with the other participants.
A professional team of experts in the use of systems, software designers, choreographers and visual artists will contribute to the research project with the intention of helping the projects to move forward.

The Laboratory is organised by NU2's in collaboration with l'Animal a l'esquena in the framework of the euroregional project Corpus Media.
Registration is free and the organisation will cover accommodation and living expensed for participating artists. Interested artists should contact NU2's by sending an email to info info@nu2s.org, and NU2's will evaluate submissions based on the projects and the professional and educational background of the artists.

This lab-workshop intensive by Rabih Mroué (Lebanese actor, director, dramaturge, and writer) proposes working with the idea of absence from a point of reflecting on the ways in which we relate to the themes of disappearance, emptiness, memory, rumors, war, and death. Open to a small group of performers, theater and dance-makers, writers, and dramaturges, the work sessions will attempt to bring together these aforementioned questions through the experiences and personal circumstances of the participants.

This lab is part of the apap network and the project Autonomía y complejidad.

A five day intensive practical and theoretical Lab workshop about different approaches to textual practices in collaboration with the MA Program MACAPD (L'animal a l'esquena / University of Girona). This Lab was led by Ric Allsopp and was open for artists and professionals from different disciplines to participate.

The Lab focused on the relationships between writing (using found, remembered, and existing texts); the physical experience of place (in process in everyday and local environments); and the construction of personal and public memory (as textual practice). Participants were involved in making book, page and sound works, presenting 'small memories' for the public that are derived from embodied experience and found or assembled materials. The workshop started with recent and historical examples of textual practice and performance.

Kònic Thtr invites the catalan choreographer María Muñoz to visit its universe (technological devices, audio-visual displays and music) and to revisit the own one (choreography), through a crossing experience of research and creation: new technology-choreography-interpretation-music.

This activity is part of the process of research-creation which will be presented within the frame of the Festival IDN at the Mercat de les Flors in January 2009.

As part of its larger project to contribute to the development of theoretical reflection and practical uses of interactive digital media in performance projects, NU2's is organising another international workshop for artists from different disciplines who are interested in sharing, analysing and developing ideas based on projects currently in progress.

The Tuning project is a meeting place between scenic artists (Lisa Nelson, Scott Smith, Philip Jeck, Steve Paxton, Peter Hulton, Pep Ramis and María Muñoz) to investigate the basic premise of dance on stage through the tools the Tuning Scores that Lisa Nelson has developed in the last 20 years.With key players including Nelson and Scott Smith, the scores are a communication framework for ensemble collaboration.

Where does the dance image come from-dancer, choreographer or viewer? Is there a unified experience of a dance event we-performer and spectator-can agree upon? As performers, what is the relationship between our spectator-selves, our composer-selves and our performing-selves?

L'animal a l'esquena fosters other ways of seeing in which tradition, thought and practice flow together in a space of reflection and exhibition about the body and its contexts. Toni Serra will coordinate this dialogue with L'animal a l'esquena.

Public concerts at 8 p.m. at L'animal a l'esquena:
- Wednesday October 8th, with Mohammed El Bouzidi (Marrakech): Gnawa ritual and music.
- Friday October 10th, with Oruç Guvenç (Turkey): Sufi and shamanic dance.

Katrina Brown (NL/UK) in collaboration with invited artists worked on the dialogues between drawing and movement, thinking and body, process and form. Simultaneously, Katrina Brown led different workshops in Celrà for children of 6 to 10 years of age, based on her movement research. The workshops took place in collaboration with the pedagogic team of the Municipal Dance School of Celrà (EMDC).

Marcel·lí Antúnez will further develop his project Hipermembrana that belongs to a wider project: Membrane. Hipermembrana is a performance that uses interactive audiovisual media and different interfaces that are presented in the space by means of a multi-screening and interactive light system, aiming at recoveing the emotive capacity of both the image and the sound as a critical and subversive element.

This lab was the first research period for a new show ANIMAL Pur et Dur, the third part of a trilogy called ANIMAL. The original inspiration for the ANIMAL came out in 2003 during a presentation in L'animal a l'esquena. In this laboratory men and women met for the first time.

Third part of the research workshop conducted by Ric Allsopp and analysis of the textual practice in the context of the Contemporary interdisciplinar creation. This workshop proposes an approach to the processes and works of the different artists taking part in the workshop who come from different areas and practices through the exploration of the relationships among writing, body and the construction of the personal and public memory.

Kònic Thtr investigated the relationship among the software, the interactive communication language mechanisms and the choreographic languages used in the performing practice. It was a collaboration between Alain Baumann who guided the investigation with the choreographer Rosa Sánchez.

Laboratory about Writing-Body-Memory conducted by Ric Allsopp. This laboratory was the continuation of the workshop held in April. In this occasion the laboratory had the participation of the same attendees with the aim of deepening on the exploration of the relations between writing, body, and the construction of the personal and public memory.

Investigation laboratory directed by Julyen Hamilton. 'The Open Book' was a laboratory where the choreographer/visual artist Pep Ramis (Catalunya), the video/film producer Saso Podgorsek (Slovenia), and the creator/dance improviser Julyen Hamilton (UK/Catalunya), had freedom to decide and create through dialog and from silence and observation.

Workshop – laboratory carried out by the Company Mal Pelo. In this workshop a work pattern was used which allowed each person to achieve a study and a thinking over about the relation between the column and the extremities, weight use, suspension, and the use of momentum to achieve trajectory changes and the possibilities of movement from the extremities natural way of moving about.

Workshop – laboratory carried out by the Company Mal Pelo. In this workshop a work pattern was used which allowed each person to achieve a study and thinking about the relationship between the column and the extremities, the use of weight, suspension, and the use of momentum in order to achieve trajectory changes and the possibilities of movement from the joints natural moves.

Workshop about Writing-body-memory conducted by Ric Allsopp. In this intensive workshop relations between writing (using texts made, remembered and existing), the body (in the day to day process and in the local scope), the personal memory construction and the public one (as a textual practice) were explored.

Creation Laboratory. The project Tuning was a meeting place for 6 artists from the scenic and musical arts at L'animal a l'esquena whose purpose was to search the fundamentals of dance in the scene through instruments related to Tuning Scores by Lisa Nelson.

Documentación: Julyen Hamilton

Workshop–laboratory given by Julyen Hamilton (England – Fontcoberta, Girona), who analysed the use of the chamber as an antagonistic and catalyst in the performance process.

Vídeolab which was developed at the same time during the second week of the get together 'The community as an identity', coordinated by Toni Cots and the creators of video and media Leire Llano (Barcelona) and Alessandro Quaranta (Italy). Activity organized together with 'Espai de Música i Dansa de Barcelona (Generalitat de Catalunya)' (Space of Music and dancing in Barcelona) and with the collaboration 'Centre Cultural de La Mercè (Ajuntament de Girona)' (Mercè Cultural Centre). Part of the program Danza / Conflicto.

With the aim of opening artistic processes of get together and creation from different cultures and artistic experiences that form the shared space Euro-Arab opened to the Mediterranean. 14 creators from Turkey, Palestine, Italy, France and Spain were invited to the residential. The first week of the get together was coordinated by Lisa Nelson (USA) and María Muñoz (Celrà, Girona).

Workshop conducted by Katie Duck & Magpie focused on improvisation for choreographers as well as for performers.

Presentation to the general public: Magpie Music Dance Company and OVNI (Non-identified video observation) - Babylonia Archives.

Workshop based on a critical analysis and observation of different ways of bonding image and dance developed in paralell to the laboratory "Entre les côtes de la balêine". The participants of the workshop took part in some of the sessions with the lab's artists.

Seminar–laboratory about the contemporary creation, the main objective of which, was to combine the creative work of a group of dancers, choreographers and musicians, invited to L'animal a l'esquena to develop an open process, supervised by a professional group of observers of this process development, within a certain period of time and a determined location. The lab ended with the presentation on stage of "Entre les côtes de la baleine" within the Festival Temporada Alta 2002.

Creation laboratory where 7 international creators met to be able to explore and analyse the processes in relation to creating and thus add another experience to their own methodology, allowing influences from the others.

Investigation project put forward by Patrícia Lamas (performer), to shelter different creators from different places around Madrid.

An approximation to body and word). Summer course with the collaboration of 'Fundació Innovació i Formació, Universitat de Girona' (Foundation for innovation and formation of Girona University), by Andrés Corchero. Collaborators: Feliu Formosa (writer and dramaturg), Joan Saura (musician).