What's happening in FiraTàrrega?

Tàrrega, 19 June. FiraTàrrega has revealed the programme for this upcoming edition, which will take place from 5 to 8 September, and that will feature 51 live shows, 33% of which will be premieres. The artistic director has selected a wide variety of proposals that bring together established artists and up-and-coming talents, public space being the main stage.

53% of all the companies come from Catalonia, 7 of which actually come from Lleida. 25% of the companies come from the rest of Spain, from 8 different regions: Andalusia, Castilla-León, the Basque Country, Galicia, the Balearic Islands, Madrid, Murcia and Navarre. International companies account for 20% of the programme, with 10 companies coming from 7 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Lithuania and Ukraine. Finally, there is 2% with mixed origins, since a company has members from both Catalonia and Castilla-León.

This year's leitmotiv is playing, with eleven proposals that revolve around this idea, using it as a trigger to get activated, take a stand and also a role. That's why the audience will be able to enjoy street shows that require audience participation and that go for a more festive approach. 

Some of the renowned artists featured in the programme are Sol Picó's company, celebrating her 30th anniversary on stage with a large-format show at the Hort del Barceloní venue; Claire Ducreux, who says her farewell to performing with an intimate piece; or the French company Adhok, with a show that reflects on the passage of life. Moreover, FiraTàrrega continues to showcase up-and-coming talents such as Clara Ingold and Júlia Godino and Alexa Moya; 5 companies which have taken part in the Support for Creation programme will also be performing: Ça Marche, Cia. Ferran Orobitg, Kolektiv Lapso Cirk, La Córcoles and Sergi Estebanell.

Plenty of street performances and unconventional or unexpected venues

FiraTàrrega 2024's programme will mainly take place in public space, given that 64% of the performances will happen on the street. 18% of the shows will be seen in unconventional venues and the remaining 18% in theatres. 

Among the most relevant venues, La Paraula will host shows that mix poetry, music and theatre on Plaça dels Comediants. Up to five performances connected to playing will take place in Espai Reguer, whereas the Municipal Swimming Pools will be a welcoming venue to chill and enjoy open-air shows; up to six different performances will happen there, in three separate sessions featuring two pieces each, with low-cost tickets.

FiraTàrrega will also have the Unexpected programme, with several shows that the audience will come across without knowing when or where they will take place. This initiative started two years ago with the intention to bring back the surprise element of street arts and of whatever happens in the most unexpected moments.

A programme for everyone

The programme selected by FiraTàrrega's artistic director can be broken down into 5 different sections: playing, entertainment, life and death, folklore and tradition, and literature and poetry. 

Playing

Playing is the leitmotiv for this year's FiraTàrrega, and eleven shows in the programme have been created following this idea. Kolektiv Lapso Cirk, a company from Catalonia and Castilla-León, presents QOROQ, a show combining circus and balancing on wooden beams, wrapped up in music that contributes to creating a unique atmosphere; La Cresta, with Chaos Machine, brings a sound installation, interactive and collective that reclaims interconnection and unforeseeability as a creative formula; with Odissees, La Mecànica, a company from the Balearic Islands, offers an immersive experience combining live performance and digital technology in order to create an unforgettable personal trip. With Desiderata, the Basque company Mama crea brings their book hospital to Tàrrega in order to raise awareness on care through several activities; Lithuanian artist Markas Liberman premieres PLAY(ces), a musical circus solo act that invites the audience to experience playgrounds as  circus-friendly performing venues. Pau Palaus presents Embolic, an intergenerational circus show that advocates to play on the street with only a few elements Paula Quintas-cia, from Galicia, with Multiperspectivas#3 experiments with the boundaries of performing arts and the artistic experience through several playing devices in a circus installation. Toc de fusta is premiering Arrels, a participatory installation with sixteen structures and games that allow the viewer to travel around the world in a fun way, discovering all sorts of traditions the world over; Tombs Creatius with LILLIPUT. Jocs de fades, an installation that plays with all kinds of stories; the Basque company Trapu Zaharra encourage the audience to participate in Dale Ramón!, a game show in which the audience will compete in different activities, all filled with humour; and the company from Murcia Yllana & Nacho Vilar Producciones with Olympics organises their own Olympic games with endless absurd, surreal situations.

Entertainment

As usual, FiraTàrrega will also have a wide range of entertainment proposals for all audiences such as The sad mad method by Cia. Carla Sisteré, a dance-theatre piece that deals with hatred, learning and self-love while shouting, crying, laughing and eating popcorn; from the Basque Country, the Cía. Maite Guevara brings with Susto their castle of terror where the workers themselves are the most afraid; the Cia. Toti Toronell presents Paquets, a puppet show where they try to find out, with the complicity of the audience, what is in the boxes of the couriers who travel around the city; the Balearic actress Clara Ingold arrives with Paloma de parque, a stand-up that deals with the self-destruction in which we are immersed as individuals and as a society; the Ukrainian company Dekru with Almas ligeras creates a portrait of the contemporary human being by combining poetry and comedy; from Canada, Fake Blue Collective premieres Rien d'inclus, a show that mixes circus with movement in order to build the house of their dreams; the Australians Gravity & Other Myths offer A Simple Space, where acrobats overcome physical limits with a virtuosic proposal; JAM presents L'actitud, a story of personal growth where a clown tells us how to face adversity with both humour and wit; with Tan a prop, Júlia Godino and Alexa Moya exhibit a contemporary dance piece that yields control to matter, its properties and its unpredictability; the Andalusian company La banda de otro comes to Tàrrega with Rodeo, a circus show that intends to deconstruct the archetypal rodeo; La Córcoles premieres Carena, a risky and delicate tightrope walk proposal where the challenge, suggestion and symbolism of the images take on particular strength; Los Informalls bring Perdón, where one navigates between dance, theatre and unchartered territories to find the limits between what's established and the most flagrant political incorrectness; the Navarrese company Qabalum shows Todo este ruido, a dance poem that lays out a possible future through the images typically associated with science fiction, comics and special effects; from Belgium, Sitting Duck premieres La dyane, a street show at the crossroads between clown and theatre of the absurd, where reality is folded in the form of images bordering on surrealism; with Àcid, Lleida's Sound de Secà burst into the street with a travelling party that combines percussion, theatre, movement and voice; and the company from Murcia Uparte offers with Desprovisto a contemporary, visual and exciting circus proposal betting on plasticity, flexibility and change that makes us think that everything does not always have to be done the same way.

Life and death

One of the topics with a larger presence in the FiraTàrrega 2024 programme has to do with life and death. Therefore, there will be shows that reflect on this aspect such as that of the French company Adhok with Qui-Vive, a theatrical and travelling piece that questions the current transformations we are experiencing; Campi qui pugui premieres Matres, a love story that deals with motherhood and childhood, illness and death; Ça Marche presents Incendis, an installation-show that simulates a forest fire through the use of special effects; Cia. Ferran Orobitg offers with Opia a hybrid creation that focuses on the analysing our gaze in public space through an installation and two ambulatory choreographic interventions; Claire Ducreux with Fleurir les abîmes says her farewell to performing on stage with a piece combining visual theatre and dance born from the heightened desire to plant a tree of sweetness in the heart of the world; the Belgian company Compagnie Krak lands with Bench invasion, a piece where the audience is invited to sit on a wooden bench to reclaim the art of listening; the Mexican artist resident in the Czech Republic Cristina Maldonado talks to us about death with Juego infinito, an immersive game created from stories from different countries about the relationships between the living and the dead; Sílvia Capell (En diciembre) premieres Ángela, a work that mixes circus, water and plaster in an attempt to reach heaven; Lithuanian artist Marija Baranauskaité-Liberman seeks to surprise with The Duck Show Performance, where participants are invited to put themselves in ducks' shoes so that they can consider the relationship between animals and humans; the Navarrese Pájaros pintados with El jardín de Olivia begin a journey through both farewells and reunions with beloved people and objects as the main characters; Sergi Estebanell presents Acts of liberation; a project in three acts about the relationship between fear, love and freedom, from an artistic, anthropological and psychological point of view; the company Sol Picó celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with Carrer 024, a large-format show that strives to reflect on the paradox of loneliness in today's society and Understory with Se'ns moren les plantes proposes a walking tour that aims to listen to and observe the landscape as an unusual place through audiovisual games.

Folklore and tradition

FiraTàrrega also has a section dedicated to folklore and tradition, such as Mover montañas by the artist Alberto Velasco, a dance-theatre performance that conjures emotion from a non-normative body, queer identity and contemporary consciousness; Cie 7 bis presents L'instant T, where the artists immerse themselves in the simplicity of rotating and rhythmic movement, through a particular dervish dance guided by circus gestures; the Madrid company DDCdanza - Daniel Doña conjures with Doma an act of rebellion through dance on the concept of domestication, and with 360º Raquel Gualtero intends to focus on roots to create a movement piece where the beginning and the end are the same place, but the journey is wide, planetary and universal.

Literature and poetry

The programme is completed by the literary and poetic proposals by Alba Sarraute & Les Ofèlies with La Innombrable, a circus show that transforms Macbeth and his wife's Shakespearean tragedy into a delirious journey, through clown's visual poetry, body movement and sensitivity; Íntims Produccions presents L'anorak, a multidisciplinary show without words where physical theatre, puppets and movement are at the service of a story based on the short story 'The Coat' by the writer of Ukrainian descent Nikolai Gógol; Josep Pedrals exhibits Suc de garrofes i oli de saüc, a documented and entertaining approach to the figure of Francesc Vicent Garcia, also known as the Rector of Vallfogona; Judit Cortina & Francesc Cuéllar offer TOBETTA, a poetry recital with techno music based on the poem book Nueve lugares hostiles donde gritar; Mireia Calafell and Nil Ciuró meet for the first time on stage in Emergències, a comprehensive reading of the poetry collection 'Si una emergència', where Calafell recounts the troubling present and imagines the future; the company Psirc presents Després de tot, el trailer, a show with a playful and cinematic tone that suggests rethinking the new paradigms of existence and Teatre sobre rodes with Revolución offers a circus piece inspired by the homonymous tale by Slawdomir Mzrożek where the artists are faced with their own limits, both physical and mental.

Boost to the presence of programmers from Lleida and Catalonia

FiraTàrrega continues with its mission to offer its services to professionals in the performing arts industry with the purpose of connecting the sector, sparking relationships, providing information and resources and facilitating dialogue with the different agents in the sector. This year, the attendance forecast reaches nearly 1,000 professionals, 200 of which are internationals. For 2024, the presence of two international delegations from North America and the Lombardy region has been confirmed. In addition, it should be noted that three programmers from Japan, Morocco and Lithuania will be hosted and that there are cooperation agreements with the following regions: the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country, Murcia and Navarre.

One of the new outstanding projects is Lleida Escena, a collaboration between FiraTàrrega and the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs, funded by the Diputació de Lleida; this initiative intends to boost the programming of street performing arts in Lleida's municipalities. This action is implemented with the desire to invite to FiraTàrrega the 231 municipalities in Lleida; encourage interest in innovative, street, non-conventional proposals and community theatre shows; to familiarise the municipalities with street arts and with the creation by up-and-coming talents in non-conventional spaces and to generate relationships and collaborations between the municipalities in order to enrich and qualify their programming. In addition, through Creació Escènica en Gira, there will be a selection of  a dozen performing arts shows that can be programmed in any theatre, square or street, regardless of the town or city's number of inhabitants or size.

Also, the digital tool FiraTarrega.Pro is consolidated as FiraTàrrega's digital space to connect the professional community in the performing arts industry with more than 3,000 professionals from 600 registered entities.

In addition, during this year's FiraTàrrega, up to 25 activities for professionals have been planned, among which stand out the Cross Conversations between two artists from different companies scheduled at FiraTàrrega 2024, the ICEC Lunch Meeting, aimed at Catalan companies interested in opening up to the foreign market or the Territori Creatiu LAB, where we can find the 7 companies from the Support to Creation and Hivernem programmes, the latter promoted by FiraTàrrega and Institut Ramon Llull.

Audience and booking analysis

One of the novelties this year is the carrying out of an audience analysis to examine the types of attendees at the event and their behaviour. The last time an analysis of these characteristics was carried out was in 2014 and now, thanks to the collaboration of the ICEC (Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises), it will be possible to have updated data so that FiraTàrrega be able to improve the user experience. Likewise, the booking analysis that is commissioned every year to assess the performance of FiraTàrrega's proposals in the performing arts market in Catalonia, the rest of Spain and internationally will also be carried out.

Budget and ticket sale

FiraTàrrega will have a global budget of 1,200,000 million euros in this edition, with a 12% increase in the ICEC contribution; tickets for the general public will be available from Friday 26 July on the website www.firatarrega.com.

Related information

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