The great human tower square without a local group now has its own
The Girls and Boys of Catllar join the Coordinator as a group in training
The summer human tower calendar has some key dates, and one of them is, without a doubt, El Catllar. A town of just over five thousand inhabitants, with a town square measuring just 225 m²,2 and which has established itself as a stage for top-class castellers at the end of August for the Castellers de Vilafranca, the Colla Vella Xiquets de Valls, and the Colla Jove de Tarragona. One of its peculiarities, moreover, is that the Tarragona town did not have its own local group. Now this has changed with the creation of the Girls and Boys of Catllar.
The idea of forming the group arose after last summer's festival. "We thought: if we have one of the most casteller squares in Catalonia, why can't we have a group here?" explains Ilé Gomis, president and one of the founders. From there, they began to mobilize to formalize the group.
They currently have sixty castellers, with the luck, moreover, that some are former members of other groups. Gomis himself, in fact, had built castellers with the Castellers de Altafulla as children. This circumstance has made it easier for the Tarragona natives to be one of the sponsor groups, along with the Minyons de Terrassa.
One of the difficulties, however, is the municipality's characteristics. "Our town has 30 residential areas, and as a core, we're not concentrated," says Gomis. He also notes that there have been diverse opinions in the town itself about the suitability of creating the group.
A rectified and inclusive name
The new group is the first gang as such in the municipality, although it's not the first group from the town to get together to build castles. The first were the Marrecs del Catllar, but their performance was limited to a single event at the local festival. One of the characteristics of the current group is that it's the first to incorporate the feminine form at its beginning. "We wanted it to be more inclusive," says the president.
One of the unknowns now is what presence they'll have at the Catllar festival. Gomis admits it's difficult to be ready on the day of the scheduled performance, August 23rd, although he comments that they would like to be part of it, even if it means raising a pillar of four.
The situation of the new gang is similar to that of Bisbal del Penedès, where the first group was created in 1955 in 2015. Los Toros, the nickname of the Penedès group, have established themselves in recent years in the basic seven-member castles, with some attempts at the mid-range. In their case, on the day of the festival performance, their presence is limited to a single castle right at the start.
Four new full-fledged groups
In addition to the acceptance of the Girls and Boys of Catllar as a group in training, the Coordinator has also approved the integration as full-fledged groups of the Malfargats del Pallars, the Colla Castellera de Cerdanya, the Colla Castellera de Vacarisses, and the Castellers del Foix de Cubelles.
The Tarragona residents now have three years to qualify to become a full-fledged gang. During this period, the minimum requirements for performance must be guaranteed, taking into account the technical level, as well as social growth and financial solvency. Thus, the human tower world currently has 105 groups: 82 full-fledged, 14 university groups, 4 in training, and 5 in discontinuation.