Art, Dance and Theatre

Everything to do with artistic activity.

Swinging

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t told you about Swing yet?

It was one of my New Year promises to myself – that this year I would get back dancing and that finally I would find a class in Swing.

Last Monday I rang up Swing Maniacs in Barcelona and found they had only three places left in the beginners classes.
Monday, Thursday or Friday nights. I quickly changed my English classes from Monday to Tuesdays and enrolled.
‘See you tonight‘ she said. I wasn’t expecting that!
Panic stations.  The class began in about three hours time.  I had to race out with Bonnie. Stuff down some lunch. Choose suitable dance shoes.  Run for the train.  Find my way to Carrer Esglesia in Gracia and gather my courage to walk into yet another new place alone and feeling just a little bit old.

It was the first day of term. Lots of people enrolling. I paid 88 euros for 11 weeks and found my way through a maze of corridors to a dance studio. There were two other single women waiting and when the class began three men arrived. It became obvious that they had danced swing before so it seemed that we three were the only beginners and the men are taxi dancers. What amazing luck! We all swopped partners and for 55 wonderful minutes we learnt the first basic steps of Swing.
Everyone was laughing and smiling. The music is uplifting. I found it easy to learn and to follow.  A wonderful evening!  This year I have such a strong feeling that if I dream of something – I must take action to do it!  Or at least to try.
And today – Sunday – there was Swing in the Porxada in Granollers. It was raining and when we arrived there was no-one dancing but after 20 minutes this was the scene.

Music and smiling and swing has arrived in Granollers.

Starting the New Year!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

I am adrift with the blog – not from lack of ideas or energy but somehow I feel I’ve lost direction.
Sin rumbo!
‘What’s it all about, Alfie? ‘
So here are some photos from my week with just a few words….

Reading too many books
But enjoying them all!

‘How to speak so your children listen and how to listen so they speak’ is wonderful!’
My hairdresser recommended it  one day when he noticed how sad and tired I was. Nice man!
Ken Follett. No words can describe how much I enjoyed this book. Finished it this morning.

In the Garlic is written by two women who live in Spain/Catalunya. Written in dictionary form it is funny and informative. E.g. about the endless bureaucracy here, there is the law of Falta Uno. This means whatever papers you bring there is always one missing!
On the Kindle I am reading Caroline Myss – Sacred Contracts. Fantastic!

I really enjoyed the first essay in Matthew Trees book about how to explain this country to foreigners. He is dedicated to spreading the word about Catalunya and writes very well. I find it good to read Catalan written by a British writer. He thinks in a familiar way which makes it easier for me.
I’ve had this Derek Jarman diary for years and never picked it up. Now I am dipping in every day and loving it. The sort of person it would be great to know. The diary is a mix of gardening and poetry, poems, landscape and practicalities.
How does he know so much about plants and herbs and history in those days before the internet?
I’ve known people like that and envied them. He was alone in Prospect Cottage, writing and gardening and looking out over his life.  At times he seems to be grieving, at others, deeply content and at peace.

Looking out over life!!!
I am making roses from the ribbon reels that fill the shelves in the backroom. It’s easy and very satisfying but I have no idea what to do with them!

Catching water in Santa Fe – No! No! that is a reverse translation from Catalan – Going to get water from the fountain in the woods. Now we have a full cellar.

Starting my new vegetarian life – just like the old one that I strayed from 10 or so years ago but in a more challenging environment and with more flexibility when necessary. One of my goals is to be visible in restaurants and not just eat the bits I can, timidly accepting the meaty menus that dominate in Catalunya. In a typically traditional Catalan country restaurant I ordered the side dishes and it made a lovely lunch. Chips, white beans and samfaina!

The Kings are coming!  Tomorrow I am going to see them in Barcelona when they arrive by boat.

And all through the week and the weeks before – my lovely dog – Bonnie. What a friend!

The Station Milonga in Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

Last night I went to the Station Milonga in Barcelona with my friend Jim.
It was my first time there. It is in the restaurant right inside the Estacio de França

Have a look at their promotion video!
If you happen to go from Granollers as I did, you get the train to Passeig de Gracia, change platforms and then catch the next train to Estacio de França.  It takes less than an hour. Then you are right there – no need to walk or follow directions.
The station itself is wonderful – the last time I went I was catching the night train to Paris

The milonga was as advertised on the video – busy but not too crowded, friendly with lots of places to sit, lovely music and a good atmosphere. It costs 6 euros which includes a drink. Sorry this photo isn’t very good but I like the pink

Afterwards Jim walked me all the way to the night bus-stop on Tetuan.  Thank you Jim!
The bus took about 35 minutes to reach Granollers and I jumped out near the hospital, five minutes from home. I am so glad to have discovered an easy way to go dancing in Barcelona without having to stay overnight. I might even pluck up courage to go to this milonga alone – something I swore not to do again a few years ago. It’s horrible sitting there waiting to dance and honestly I don’t find the Barcelona scene very relaxed or open. But, in the end it doesn’t kill you and sometimes having one good dance makes the journey worthwhile.  Last night I had several!

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.