EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
For several editions, Dansa Metropolitana has developed an educational programme that constitutes an essential part of its identity and its commitment to training, cultural mediation and access to contemporary creation. The project aims to bring dance and the arts of movement closer to young audiences, creating spaces for learning, experimentation and critical thinking through artistic practice.
The programme is aimed at secondary school, baccalaureate and arts vocational students from the festival’s participating municipalities. It offers free activities that connect schools directly with professional artists and companies featured in Dansa Metropolitana. Dance is presented not only as a performing discipline but also as a space for expression, reflection, critique and dialogue with contemporary reality.
Open rehearsals, artist talks and practical workshops become spaces for critical thinking, debate and creative expression, where artistic practice serves as both a pedagogical tool and a means for collective reflection. Over the past five years, Dansa Metropolitana’s educational programme has delivered more than 200 activities, involving nearly 5,000 students, thus forging a strong and lasting connection between contemporary creation, education and local communities.
The educational programme is primarily delivered through practical workshops, open rehearsals and artist talks, allowing students to gain first-hand insight into creative processes, working contexts and the current challenges of dance creation. Attendance at open rehearsals provides a privileged view of the daily life of a professional company and the preparatory process leading up to a premiere, while also fostering discussion, question-asking, and the development of critical thinking. Some of these sessions are part of the EN RESiDÈNCIA programme at schools in Barcelona (this year with Barbara Cappi, Sònia Gómez, Núria Dalmau and Veza Fernández).
In the current edition of the festival, the project includes participation from the artists and companies Adrián Vega, Sònia Gómez, Josefina Gorostiza and Iron Skulls, who offer workshops and laboratories tailored to adolescent audiences from an inclusive, experiential and cross-disciplinary perspective.
Adrián Vega’s Digital Bodies workshop presents a research laboratory focused on the body and its digitalisation, exploring how presence is transformed through camera work, projection, and interfaces. Combining dance, visual arts and sound art, the workshop invites students to experiment with constructing image and movement in a playful, critical and performative way.
Sònia Gómez leads a workshop centred on the body, voice and stage presence as tools for knowledge and expression. The sessions create a safe space to activate blocked areas of the body, expand perception and promote physical and emotional well-being through accessible yet rigorous practices.
The workshop led by Josefina Gorostiza focuses on collective research that trains the body as a space for poetic construction. Through conscious physical training and improvisation work, the sessions explore the relationship between body, time, space and energy, highlighting individuality, vulnerability, and teamwork.
Finally, Iron Skulls presents a session linked to the Famulus 4.0 project, which investigates the dialogue between contemporary urban dance and technology. Through a physical and experiential approach, the workshop invites students to discover new stage languages and to reflect on the collective body and technology as tools for creation.
A key aspect of the project is the collaboration with the Dance Conservatory of the Barcelona Institut del Teatre, which, together with the festival, organises workshops led by graduates of the Higher Conservatory of Dance (CSD). These activities are particularly aimed at students of the Performing Arts Baccalaureate and offer a unique opportunity to participate in contemporary dance classes within the Institut del Teatre facilities and to engage with a professional, inspiring training experience.
Dansa Metropolitana’s educational programme is carried out with the participation of all the festival municipalities – Badalona, Barcelona, Cornellà, Esplugues, L’Hospitalet, El Prat, Granollers, Sabadell, Santa Coloma, Sant Cugat, Terrassa and Viladecans –and involves active collaboration with local schools, cultural centres and educational programmes across the region.
The programme also includes venues that develop their own projects, such asLa Cultivadora at Mercat de les Flors, La Cultivadora at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Camins Vius at Teatre L’Artesà, the Educational Programme at L’Estruch and Exploradors de la Dansa at LaFact Cultural in Terrassa.
In the current edition, the programme brings together more than forty activities and involves over 800 students, reinforcing the festival’s commitment to cultural access, artistic training, and passing on dance to new generations.
Participating schools:
INS Eugeni d’Ors
INS Barri Besòs
INS Vila de Gràcia
IES Poeta Maragall
INS Doctor Puigvert
IES Les Corts
INS Milà i Fontanals
INS Neus Català
INS Maria Aurèlia Capmany
IES Joanot Martorell
INS Leonardo da Vinci
EAD – Escola d’Art i Disseny
INS Josep Mestres i Busquets
Escola Plaudité Teatre
INS XXV Olimpíada
La Plataforma dance school
INS Celestí Bellera
CSD – Higher Conservatory of Dance / Institut del Teatre
