L'Ésdansa arrives at its 44th edition with the aim of projecting dance towards the future through tradition. The traditional root dance festival, which will take place from August 17 to 23, will this year pay tribute to the trajectory of the esbart through the Marboleny Circle of Traditional and Popular Culture, which celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Garrotxa municipality will receive five companies from Indonesia, Peru, Cuba, Serbia, and South Africa, who will present their dances and invite attendees to learn to dance them. In parallel, the festival's program will feature local proposals such as Allò que som, by Esbart Marboleny and Horabaixa from Radicel·la, the young root dance company born after sharing the Viver of the Program for the Promotion of Root Dance.The president of Marboleny, Roger Casalprim, assures that "traditional root dance projects us towards the future" and represents "a meeting point, a window to the world of Catalonia's cultural richness". In the same vein, the mayor of Les Preses, Albert Danés, emphasizes the importance of preserving culture. "It is essential to maintain dance, as well as language or tradition, as we are in a critical situation," says Danés. The previous edition of Ésdansa brought together more than 10,000 people in a municipality that does not reach two thousand. Creation through a look at the past

The Ésdansa program will pay special attention to Basque dance. On August 21 and 22, exhibitions by companies such as Bilaka, an artistic collective based in Bayonne, or Kemen Dantza Taldea, from Irun, can be seen. National dance groups such as Esbart Ciutat Comtal, from Barcelona, will also participate with Fars, a contemporary rooted dance proposal that explores the relationship between people, the sea, and light. As is well known, the festival has an inseparable connection with the Garrotxa region. Therefore, for the second consecutive year, a gathering will be held where dance, music, and gastronomy will serve as a shared experience.Dance, in the same way as all the cultural elements of a country, is in constant change, as Heraclitus warned. Carol Duran, general director of Popular Culture and Cultural Associationism of the Generalitat praises the festival's progression and its vision for a "living popular culture, but always with respect for tradition". Duran makes it clear that it is essential to have "a vision of innovation and creation through the root", that is, to keep tradition in mind. Tickets for the paid performances are now on sale and the registration period for the various workshops is also open. According to Núria Feixas, director of Ésdansa, this "learning line in which the youngest members of the household, and also adults, will be able to learn traditional root dance together" is also fundamental.

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For three years now, dancer and choreographer Montse Colomé (Barcelona, 1956) has been celebrating. At the end of 2022, she premiered Celebration at the Espai Lliure, a spoken dance that is a shared call to live and grow old together. The show has toured Catalonia and has been recognized with the Serra d'Or Award for the Performing Arts. This Friday it arrives at Les Preses as part of the Ésdansa festival, which until Sunday will also host performances such as Volume 1 of Mucha Muchacha, Pastor by Xavier Gumà and various performances by groups from Mexico, Colombia, Benin, Galicia and Georgia.

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