The first edition of the Autumn Flash, the festival promoted by Temporada Alta The festival, which brings international performing arts to Barcelona, ​​will conclude this week with a double bill of top-tier dance. American choreographer William Forsythe and Swiss choreographer Thomas Hauert will present their work at the Mercat de les Flors. Double Bill, in collaboration with the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, one of the most prestigious dance companies on the current scene. Forsythe has choreographed Undertainmenta piece based on scenic freedom, while Hauert has created Playing with Sergei, Martha and the others from the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Rachmaninoff. Both works, built from improvisation and featuring fourteen dancers on stage, will be performed consecutively this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Barcelona.

The presentation of the new director of the Mercat de les Flors, Chilean historian María José Cifuentes (Santiago, 1980), was one of the strangest in recent history. Firstly, because she was not accompanied by any representative of the two institutions that form part of the consortium, neither Barcelona City Council nor the Generalitat (Catalan government). And secondly, because Cifuentes announced the main lines of a program without knowing where it will be deployed. The center for which she was chosen director will ultimately close for two years—not just one as initially planned—in 2027 and 2028, with the aim of reopening in 2029, when the centenary of the 1929 Expo on Montjuïc will be celebrated (the reason this building was built as the Palau de Barcelona). The Mercat will be under renovation throughout the current season, planned by Àngels Margarit, and open to the public until December 2026.

The outgoing director of the Mercat de les Flors, Àngels Margarit, began her time at the head of the facility with Estol, a large-scale show by Roser López Espinosa. And the dancer and choreographer herself will close Margarit's run at the Mercat de les Flors with another large-scale show, FableThe production inaugurates the dance center's new season, starting October 2. "I started and I'm leaving with these two large formats, which are part of the Cèl·lula project, dedicated to producing shows from the Mercat de les Flors," says Margarit. The Chilean María José Cifuentes replaces her in office.

Next season, the Mercat de les Flors will celebrate twenty years as a fully dedicated dance venue, and will do so with a program packed with large-scale performances. It will also be the last season with Àngels Margarit at the helm of the venue's management. after almost ten years in office"I'm leaving wanting to show a lot of diversity. I've tried to give space to all creations, especially those from the local scene, and to do my own production," Margarit said this Monday at the presentation of the new season. Her latest program includes "things I hadn't done yet and had to do," says the facility's director.

Choreographer Quim Bigas (Pese a Mar, 1984) understands dance as the ideal meeting place between dancers and spectators to build and share collectively. This maxim has guided many of his pieces, among which stand out Molar (2015), The list (2017) and Hippos, which in 2018 won the award for best street arts premiere at FiraTàrrega. Bigas premiere From this Thursday at the Mercat de les Flors at a time of transition for the facility, which has called for a competition for the new management after nine years headed by Àngels Margarit.

Choreographer Quim Bigas (Pese a Mar, 1984) understands dance as the ideal meeting place between dancers and spectators to build and share collectively. This maxim has guided many of his pieces, among which stand out Molar (2015), The list (2017) and Hippos, which in 2018 won the award for best street arts premiere at FiraTàrrega. Bigas premiere From this Thursday at the Mercat de les Flors at a time of transition for the facility, which has called for a competition for the new management after nine years headed by Àngels Margarit.