The enigmatic dances that fill the streets of Barcelona

BarcelonaIt's six o'clock in the evening on any given Tuesday. Although the sun is already setting, the gray clouds of a rather disenchanting day are still reflected in the windows of the 22@ skyscrapers. The office workers in the area are starting to leave their jobs. They punch out and file toward the subway. And among men in blazers, with ID tags hanging from their necks, headphones being pulled out, and a few students with backpacks... "Baby can't you see, I'm calling a guy like you, you should wear a warning, it's dangerous"A group of four girls and a boy dance a version of the song Toxic by Britney Spears.

"We're New Generation," explains Humi Zhou. "We're rehearsing the dance for Giselle, Julie, and Yeji's version of this iconic Britney Spears song." Although the original song is American pop, the cover is by a Korean pop group. Like them, different groups of two to six people gather in this area alongside Glòries to dance to songs from this musical genre, known as K-pop.

"We're here because it's an area that's easy for everyone to access. Many people come from outside Barcelona city. For example, I come from El Masnou," says Laia Ferrando. "It's a place that also works well for me in terms of combinations, because I come from Mollet," adds Jaime Muñoz. "And beyond the location, there are the mirrors and glass in the buildings, where we can see each other clearly."

A few meters away, a group of three girls is also practicing another choreography. And next to the exit of the Mediapro and RBA offices, two people are taking a break while discussing some steps of the dance they just practiced. All the groups take advantage, as Jaime points out, of the glass-covered walls of the buildings to reflect themselves while they dance. As if it were a rehearsal room, with parquet flooring and mirrors, but on the street, with tiles and windows.

"There's a bit of everything: people who've been dancing to K-pop for five years and people who only started a few months ago. We've been coming here for two years," says Claudia Rodríguez, who comes from Badalona. "I really like K-pop. I listened to it and learned how to dance. I didn't know what it was like, what it spoke to me, what it spoke to me, what it spoke to me, what it spoke to me. I didn't know my dance. I created the group and we started coming here." Regarding the interest in dancing, Laia says there's no clear reason. "I suppose we do it because we like this type of music and one day, in addition to listening to it, you start dancing and you see that you like it too and you have a good time. It's a bit like that, there's not much more to it."

Domenica Rodríguez, from another group, agrees. They've just finished rehearsing with her friend Caty Espinoza. From the location to the practicality of transportation and the mirrors, Caty adds a key factor: "We can rehearse here for free."

Rehearsal night

This brings together groups of different ages, from young people close to adulthood to teenagers who have barely entered this stage of life. Despite the shared space, "not everyone gets together with everyone," explains Caty. "The little ones get together with each other, and the younger ones or adults do the same." In general, according to Domenica, "the atmosphere is very good," and sometimes groups get together to do specific choreographies that require a lot of people. However, she also acknowledges that "there are groups that have chopped because some have made a cover and others have done so soon after, either through YouTube views or things like that."

While we chat with Domenica and Caty, who are part of the group Hydrus, the members of the New Generation group take the opportunity to continue rehearsing. Jaime places a cell phone on the speaker to record themselves dancing and later see their mistakes or steps they need to improve. Humi tells her to put it higher up and not at ground level, because otherwise it won't be visible properly and the phone will bounce with the vibrations the speaker makes when it rings. Jaime replaces the phone on a backpack, and Britney rings again. Once they're done, they all watch the video together. "It's not bad at all," Jaime says, smiling. Claudia agrees, but adds, "Tell the group that we need to improve this step." After finishing, Humi goes home, and the rest of them continue discussing the dance.

It's important that the choreography turns out well, because there's not much time left until the final day. "Here in Glòries, we rehearse the choreographies, and when we're ready, we go to the Portal del Àngel and dance them, recording them thoroughly," explains Laia. "We do it at the Portal del Àngel because it's like a tradition. It started there, and now we always go, except when the choreography is very large or involves a lot of people, when we dance in the square in front of the cathedral." Jaime adds that they hire a cameraman to record it. "Right now, there are three cameramen who do this, and depending on the day, the price, and the style, we write to one or the other on Instagram, and they come to record us. That way, we can upload the choreography to YouTube for people to see, and also make ourselves known among other K-pop dance groups."

Therefore, the work doesn't end with rehearsals and the performance. "In the WhatsApp group, we divide up the tasks that each person does. There's someone in charge of managing the group's YouTube channel, another of the TikTok account, another in charge of coordinating rehearsal dates, and there's also someone who contacts the camera operator..." Laia explains. And during rehearsals, Claudia explains that "in each group, there's a person who leads; it can change depending on the rehearsal or the choreography, but what they basically do is indicate the positions."

An afternoon at the Portal del Ángel

It's just a few minutes before seven in the evening. The Portal de l'Àngel presents, more or less, the usual weekend scene: a sea of people with bags from clothing stores, electric scooters and bikes trying to weave through the crowd, the occasional taxi or police car making its way... and a group of young people dancing, surrounded by a circle of onlookers.

Some find the scene more familiar, while others shrug their eyebrows. Some of the confused people pause, most for a few seconds, but many pass by and continue on their way. A prop, like a door made of cardboard glued together and painted blue, is used.

In the middle of the performance, a taxi insists on passing. There is some confusion—it's a pedestrian street—but the group is expected to finish their dance. This won't be the only distraction they'll have. A man with a CNT flag uses a megaphone to call out, "Boycott the Lefties company; it disrespects workers and increases profits." The protest is diffuse; no one seems to be joining him. He sticks four stickers on the storefront and leaves. The choreography is over, and the taxi can continue its route.

The group that just danced is a mix of groups. "We're from different groups, and we got together to do this choreography with this guy named Brayan, who recently created his own channel: Representing Chaos. We're dancing to this song today, but we're not part of his group, so to speak," Yaiza explains.

"We normally do a maximum of three holds. If we can do it with less, then less, but since we're on the street and taxis, bikes or people walking pass by and sometimes get in the way, we repeat it a few times until it works out," explains Julia, Yaiza's friend, who adds: "We completely understand that these things happen because we are .

As we speak with Yaiza and Julia, another group returns to the central part of the Portal del Ángel. The members, four girls and two boys, line up, side by side, and point upward with their arms. The camera tries out different positions. "Open up more," says a colleague acting as an assistant. Another plays music on a speaker so the camera can rehearse some movements and shots while the assistant gives instructions on how to move and they discuss how to record some movements.

After a few seconds, when they're clearer about it, they put the song back on the speaker and start recording. There are fewer people now than there were a while ago. On one side of the circle, the various groups dancing today are gathered, waiting for their turn. Among them, New Generation. They were supposed to dance at seven, but it's already more than twenty minutes past the hour and they haven't left yet. "We're waiting for the camera, which is a little late," Jaime explains. With the rest of the group, they take advantage of the delay to review some of the choreography steps on the side of the street.

They don't have much time, because as soon as they start, it arrives. They position themselves in the middle of the Portal del Ángel; it's their turn. Like all the groups, they try out some specific plans before recording. They put on the music... and a commercial comes on. After the break, the camera records some individual shots of them staring at the camera, with a certain defiance. And once these presentation plans are made, Laia says: "Come on, let's dance."

The first notes of the song sound, and a friend assisting them tells another to turn up the music. Also dressed for the occasion, in black party clothes, they dance to Britney and cheer each other on. The friends supporting them behind the camera call them "flowers" and give them a few pointers: "Say it!", "Help yourself more", "Very good!"...

When they finish, they look at each other laughing. Claudia tells Laia that she thinks it turned out pretty well. To check it, they go to a corner of the circle of people to watch the video from the same camera. "We didn't climb well on this step," Claudia tells Humi.

Claudia's mother, Silvia, is in the audience. "It didn't look so bad, did it?" Claudia asks. "We just changed this step at the last rehearsal, and I don't think it turned out quite right," she comments. "Maybe we'll do it again." As Yaiza and Julia explained, Claudia tells us they do this a maximum of three times to correct small mistakes or overcome unforeseen issues: "If there's still a mistake on the third try, we'll consider it good, because otherwise we'd be constantly improving things."

Finally, they decide to try it again. They return to their starting position, but one of the guys accompanying them warns them that a taxi is coming. They move aside, and Jut, another member of the group who wasn't at Tuesday's rehearsal, notices that her pants have ripped a little. It's not serious; it's not too visible.

They try again, and Claudia stumbles right from the start, but they laugh and take it well. "Make the line straighter, go on, now you can do it!" says Jut. The friend holding the speaker keeps encouraging them: "What?? Very good!"

"I think it's better now!" Claudia tells her mother at the end. "I come from time to time," Silvia tells us. "For example, tomorrow they're going to dance again, but I won't come, because otherwise I'll spend the weekend here," she laughs. "I like it a lot because it's a way to exercise and connect, and it's a very nice environment," she explains. "Well, it depends on where you go," Claudia clarifies. "But in general, it's pretty healthy, right?" her mother asks. "Yes, yes, it depends on who you hang out with, but our group is nice," Claudia concludes.

"Herein cover "I'm the accompanist," Claudia tells us. "The main ones are Jaime, Laia, and Jut, and now they'll decide if we have to repeat it again or not." They review the video with the camera and see certain movements that could still be improved, so they decide to repeat it one last time.

While they're making the third arrest, a Lefties worker peels off the CNT stickers that the man with the megaphone and the flag had posted on the storefront a few minutes earlier. With Britney in the background, a visibly distressed woman emerges from the store. While shopping, she lost sight of her daughter. But the story ends well: a group of people found her around Portal de l'Àngel, and a patrol car stayed with her until the mother left the store.

The New Generation dance also ended well. No unforeseen events interrupted them, nor did any errors invalidate the performance. The third and final attempt was a success. Laia, Jaime, Jut, Humi, and Claudia congratulated each other, and the camerawoman, after speaking briefly with them, went home.