Dansa Metropolitana was created with the wish to produce a festival to raise the profile of the dance sector, and so that all the different agents involved in this artistic discipline could cooperate and collaborate with one another as proactive agents generating knowledge in the field of culture and the contemporary performing arts.

For this reason, in its fourth edition, Dansa Metropolitana proposes a session for reflecting on the festival, with the objective of opening up to the cities and the sector and letting them have their say about the model of Dansa Metropolitana and its development in future editions. In this respect, two round tables, on the sectoral and territorial ambits, are planned, in order to work together with all those in attendance (physically or virtually) on the proposals and reflections for outlining the future of Dansa Metropolitana together.

The event will commence with a brief welcoming speech by Joan Subirats (director of Barcelona City Council’s Department of Culture, Education, Science and Community) and Joan Carles García (deputy for Culture of the Diputació de Barcelona). After that, in a four-minute video Xavier Marcé, Rosa Mach and Francesc Casadesús will talk to us about the history of the festival, reminding us of its origins and initial objectives. Their testimony will be useful as a starting point for the reflections that will be dealt with in the two following round tables.

The first round table, the sectoral, will allow four professionals from different areas of dance to give their professional point of view, and their words will serve to channel the subsequent discussion, open to all. The professionals invited to take part are: Tena Busquets (Sismògraf Festival), Beatriz Fernàndez (La Poderosa), Nuria Guiu (dancer, performer and anthropologist) and Guillem Vidal-Ribas (Hop Festival and dance producer). At this round table, the wish is to look into the needs of the sector and see how Dansa Metropolitana can help to meet them. A propositive and proactive round table is planned, open to constructive criticism and contributions that may enrich, promote, and help the sector and the festival to grow.

After a brief pause and the screening of Lali Ayguadé’s short GIZAKI, lasting six minutes, the second round table, the territorial one, will take place. This will begin with a brief audio-visual, in which three major figures in international festivals will talk about their experiences. Benoit Geers (Next festival in Belgium), Dominique Hervieu (Lyon Biennale) and Tiago Guedes (Porto Theatre) will give their point of view and talk about their experiences in the festivals and theatres they direct, all of them heavily marked by opening up to the local metropolitan area.

After the international contributions, the councillors of Culture of the municipalities participating in Dansa. Quinzena Metropolitana will speak, formalizing their thoughts and expectations with regard to metropolitan festivals as instruments for creating new audiences and as the backbones of contemporary cultural policies.

Once again, after the councillors’ brief speeches, the discussion will be thrown open to those in attendance (physically or virtually), who will be able to give their opinion in a forum for joint reflection.

After that the rapporteur Raquel Tomàs, who will be monitoring all the contributions made during the session, will give a brief summary of it, gathering and sharing the proposals made during the discussions.

To close the event Diego Sinninger’s film N-ROB 28Ve will be screened, coproduced by Dansa Metropolitana in its 2021 edition.

The entire event can be followed in person or online, so that everybody who is interested can attend.