Author: Kate Wilson

A little more about Cesc Gelabert

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Do you think the sign of great art is that it lingers on in your imagination after you have seen or heard it?  The book that stays with you, the painting that sometimes flashes into your mind, the music that haunts you.
Today I found myself thinking about last nights performance. Actually even in the middle of the night as I fumbled my way in the dark to the toilet, I remembered some movements of the dance and my own body started to move in a different way.  Walking Bonnie to the park, suddenly my hips started to swing and my feet to place themselves more carefully on the pavement.
I haven’t been dancing so much recently but watching Cesc Gelabert last night made me want to get started again.

Here is another short video I found – it’s a mixture of dancing and talking. He is speaking in Spanish but you can put on the subtitles and anyway, his face is so expressive and kind that it is a pleasure to watch even if you don’t understand the actual words. I find his dance mesmerising.

Last night after the performance he talked a little in a questions and answers session. It was all in Catalan so perhaps I missed about half of the content but one thing he said that was very interesting was about the tension – creative tension perhaps – between people of the north and the south. Protestantism and Catholicism. Perhaps the head and the heart. Not that one group is only head or only heart but that there are different balances and norms.
There was so much that was stimulating.
The first performance I’ve seen in a long time that has touched me in this way.

Cesc Gelabert

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

We went to the theatre twice this weekend.

The first outing was to see a play called Incendis and I’m afraid we left at half time. It is a struggle for me to watch a long piece in Catalan and it was a very wordy production;  very long scenes of talking talking talking and very little action. Also the theatre was totally full and it felt a bit claustophobic. The man sitting beside me had decided to come along in spite of his streaming cold and I was leaning more and more in the opposite direction to escape his viral loaded breathing.

But our second try tonight was a great success. We went to exactly the same place in Granollers, the Teatre Auditori de Granollers, and had better and more spacious seats near the front.  The audience was smaller than the other night but made up for lack of numbers by their intense interest in the dance.

And the sneezers were much further away!

The show was by Cesc Gelabert who is an incredible dancer with a body so fluid and expressive I didn’t see one moment that he was not 100% present. He danced solo and in between the acts he spoke about the dance and what it meant for him. It is incredible how he can change his form from one moment to the next. Also he comes across as a really intelligent and humble person.

The first piece was amazing – a large amorphous white form was moving and changing and gradually out of it emerged the artist, shedding one skin to move into many others.

I came out feeling better than when I went in which is one of the things Cesc says he aims for.

Opinions about Independence

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

In Fridays edition of El Nou, a newspaper in Catalan covering stories in the Valles Oriental where I live, they printed the results of a survey about Independence.
Twenty local people every week will be asked three questions:
1/ Do you believe there should be a referendum about independence?
2/ Why?
3/ If it happens, what will you vote?

This first week 18 out of 20 said Yes to question 1. And 15 out of 20 said Yes to question 3.

Here are some of the responses in more detail. It is interesting because this really is a subject of discussion here at the moment.   I’ve been part of numerous conversations about the possibility of an independent Catalunya.  The most recent being last night with a Spanish woman standing outside a bar in Granollers having a cigarette in the rain!

Lluis(architect)
1/ Yes, obviously!
2/ To assess public opinion and if the citizens of Catalunya say yes then to start the process as quickly as possible
3/ Yes Yes Yes!

Vicenç (artist)
1/ Yes, of course
2/ When one and a half million people come out on the streets demonstrating in this way, no democracy can escape from paying attention. It was a turning point.
3/ Yes. Catalunya has to be an independent state because anything else is not viable. What future is there in having a relationship based on threats?

Julian (President of Football Club)
1/ No
2/ Catalunya has to fight to achieve the best possible economic pact with Spain. But spare me the rest! I don’t agree with independence.
3/ No

Vicenç (President of PIMEC)
1/ Yes
2/ Because the the country’s situation is very bad and I believe in having our own state and in the idea that the civil society of Catalunya can decide freely what it wants in the future.
3/ I will vote Yes.

And what about my own answers?
1/ Yes
2/ The longer I live here the more I realise that Catalunya is not Spain. So long as the Spanish government continues to treat Catalunya as a milk cow, using it for the money that it produces but treating the culture and the people with disrespect and no regard for equality or fairness, then it seems inevitable that people here will want to create their own free and democratic country.
3/ I won’t be eligible to vote but if I could I would vote Yes.

Celtic 2 Barça 1

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Just got home from Amma.  Can’t sleep so we turned on the TV.
The day began with news of Obama’s victory and now has ended with Glasgow Celtic beating Barça!
Life feels good!

I still support Barça but it is great to see the Scottish team prove wrong all those who said they were just lucky last time. I haven’t seen the whole game but it looked a bit as if something about the Scots made it hard for Barça to aim straight into the goal. 
Do you think it’s something to do with the shared vision of independence?

Amma in Granollers II

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I only learnt the meaning of the word Bhajan yesterday. It means an Indian devotional song.
This is the music that has been hypnotising me over the past three days at the centre where Amma is appearing.

I haven’t ever studied Indian music or religion so somehow this music has passed me by and perhaps last time I went to see Amma it just felt strange and exotic. This time, while sitting watching the ceremonies, the hugs, the people and the musicians, I also started to read the translations of the words on the large screens.  It is sacred poetry sung to music. And if like me you are struggling to come to terms with problems, or are grieving or are searching for the way forward in life;  the words and the music are incredibly profound and moving.

So here is an example, along with some pictures of Amma from previous ceremonies.
If you watch and listen to this then perhaps you can imagine how incredible it is to have Amma visit Granollers.  In the midst of this very commercial and sometimes sad and confused city it is a blessing.
I promised myself I wouldn’t mention the food again but it is wonderful to see how many more people now queue up for the Indian food. Who says Catalan people don’t like it spicy?

Thank you Amma and all the people who are creating this experience.