The Cultural Centre La Nau hosted on Tuesday 15th September the presentation of the fifth edition of the autumn festival of the Valencian performing arts. In its five years down the track, the festival has always been faithful to its origin place, the Ruzafa neighbourhood, which will become again an immense scenic showcase from 17th to 27th September under the motto ‘Familias’ (‘Families’).
The press conference had the speeches of Antonio Ariño, vice-principal for Culture and Equality of the Universitat de València; Jerónimo Cornelles, artistic director of Russafa Escènica; Ximo Rojo, production manager of Russafa Escènica; and Ana Sanahuja, coordinator for the parallel activities of Russafa Escènica.
Endorsed by the more than 10.300 viewers of the last edition and by the 300 people among artists, professionals, and volunteers that made it possible, Russafa Escènica is reinforced as one of the most promising meetings of performing arts at a national level, according to what they have exposed in the speeches.
Out of 125 companies that presented their proposals to be part of this big family, a participation record in the history of the festival, 25 have been finally the selected to integrate de programming of Russafa Escènica 2015 (http://russafaescenica.com/).
The vice-principal for Culture and Equality of the Universitat de València has emphasised the importance of initiatives as Russafa Escènica, “which have born at the citizen’s initiative in times of crisis to become a sociocultural nurture innovation that needs the support of the institutions”.
By its part, apart from the self-management exercise in regards to the structure of the festival, if something characterises this edition’s line-up, according to the organisers, is the amalgam of the artistic spectrum that shape it: text theatre, physical theatre, dancing, performances, stooges, music theatre, and a new incorporation, a circus act. Projects in Spanish and Valencian, suitable to all ages and in charge of establishing a dialog with different visual arts, as photograph, sculpture, painting, or audiovisual montages.
Víctor Sánchez, Lara Salvador, Bruno Tamarit, and Silvia Valero, winners of the 2015 AAPV Awards, and other consolidated names, as María José Peris, Chema Cardeña, Gerardo Esteve, or Nacho López Murria, are examples of the quality and the professionality over which the proposals of the line-up are sustained.
In total, 25 absolute premieres divided in 18 tree nurseries (pieces with limited capacity and around 25 minutes duration) and six forests (proposals with a bigger capacity and around 60 minutes duration) performed in unusual places for hosting shows, such as flats, studios, or shops. The total amount of these two formats plus a third one, the Greenhouse, make a total of 560 passes distributed in 10 days of festival.
The Greenhouse is a workshop of theatrical creation addressed to theatre and dance students of last year from different schools in Valencia. This edition is run by Eva Zapico. The actress and director, which also operates in the field of the theatre pedagogy, follows the guiding thread of the festival with a piece titled ‘La mejor familia del mundo’ (‘The best family in the world’), a reflection on the lack of communication in the family, the life turned into fiction, and the concealment and that will be performed at the Sala Russafa during the 10 days of the festival.
Parallel activities
The parallel activities of Russafa Escènica have been consolidated as an essential piece of the programme of the festival, to the extent that, altogether, they suppose a whole alternative line-up of cultural initiatives and proposals.
Result of a collaboration agreement with the Universitat de València, one part of the activities are going to take place at the historical building of La Nau. This programme revolves around the concept of ‘Familias’ and from it different lectures, open talks, and training conferences oriented by professionals of different fields, as law, sociology, and politics.
Concretely, on Monday 21st September, at 19:30h, the Aula Magna of La Nau will host the conference ‘Diversidad familiar en los procesos de adopción’ (‘Family diversity in the adoption processes’); and on Tuesday 22nd, at the same time, ‘Prácticas comunicativas afectivas (re)mediadas: Las TIC en las familias y parejas’ (‘Remedied and mediated emotional communicative practices: ICTs in the families and couples’). Those same days, at the Seminario Rooms (10:00 to 14:00h) will take place a training conference titled ‘Diseñar la promoción y difusión del lanzamiento de un espectáculo: Claves para la comunicación digital efectiva’ (‘Designing the promotion and dissemination of the launching of a show: Keys for the effective digital communication’). To finish, on Tuesday 22nd, at the Matilde Salvador Room, the short piece of 25 minutes ‘La vuelta a la tortilla’ (‘The turn of the omelette’) will be recovered, a show released at Russafa Escènica 2014, and that will be performed in two performances, at 17:30h and at 18:30h.
Last update: 15 de september de 2015 13:55.
News release
