Praza da Quintana.

22:00 pm.

Duration: 50 minutes.

Free entrance until full capacity

Photos @BLENDA

BIOGRAPHY

Roger Bernat / FFF (Barcelona) creates collaborative theater projects that involve the bodies of the audience. Although most of these projects have taken place in theater contexts, in the last decade they have been produced by institutions such as Documenta Kassel and the São Paulo Biennial.

Some of his works include Domini Públic (Teatre Lliure, Barcelona, ​​2008), The Rite of Spring (Teatro Milagro, Mexico, 2010), Please Continue: Hamlet (with Yan Duyvendak, Théâtre du Grütli, Geneva, 2011), Pending Vote (Centro Dramático Nacional, Madrid, 2012), Displacement of the La Moneda Palace (STML, Santiago, Chile, 2014), Numax-Fagor-plus (KunstenFestivalDesArts, Brussels, 2014), We Need to Talk (Temporada Alta, Girona, 2015), No Conversations of Interest Recorded (MUCEM, Marseille, 2016-17), The Place of the Thing (Documenta 14, Athens-Kassel, 2017), Flam (Grec Festival 2019), ENA (Teatre Lliure, 2020), Desnonissea (CASM, 2021), PIM PAM (34th São Paulo Biennial, 2021), Terra Baixa (Teatre Lliure, 2022), Dormifestació (Fira Tàrrega, 2022), and La Scelta (Kilowatt Festival, Sansepolcro, 2023). Among the awards he has received is the 2017 Sebastià Gasch Prize. In 2009, he co-edited, with Ignasi Duarte, the book Querido Público. El espectador ante la participación: jugadores, usuarios, prosumers y fans (CENDEAC, Murcia). His articles can be found in Joined Forces, audience participation in theatre (Alexander Verlag, Berlin) and Teatro relaciónl (Ed. Fundamentos, Madrid), among others.

SYNOPSIS:

In 2010, Roger Bernat staged The Rite of Spring, one of the most important works in the history of dance. The original piece was created by Pina Bausch in 1975 to Igor Stravinsky's celebrated score, which premiered in 1913, and over time it has become a true monument of the contemporary repertoire, an essential reference point reinterpreted by countless artists throughout the decades.

Bernat's proposal is not intended as a faithful reproduction of the original, nor as yet another "personal" reinterpretation within the long tradition of versions of this work. His approach is different: to strip the piece of the elements that traditionally sustained it, so that it survives inhabited only by its echoes or "ghosts." This act of emptying raises a fundamental question about what it truly means to preserve great works of cultural heritage.

The staging utilizes the plaza's own stone floor, which serves as a symbol of nature in its purest form and, simultaneously, of death. On this stage, the dancers appear subjected to superior forces, immersed in an archaic and almost animalistic struggle, their trembling bodies conveying extreme and visceral tension. The choreography explores collectivity, sacrifice, and individual responsibility within group dynamics. Furthermore, it breaks down the barrier between stage and audience: spectators cease to be mere observers and become active participants in a mechanism they don't always fully understand, but which confronts them with their own role within the collective.

Read in the context of A Noite do Patrimonio (Heritage Night), the work transcends the strictly dance-related to become a metaphor for the nature of cultural heritage: it only endures if there is a community willing to assume the responsibility and the risk of appropriating it. The text closes with a provocative idea: perhaps the greatest danger to a masterpiece is not transforming it, but repeating it until it becomes a mere cultural meme, emptied of its original power.

BIOGRAPHY

Roger Bernat / FFF (Barcelona) creates collaborative theater projects that involve public bodies. Although most of these projects developed within theatrical contours, in the last decade they were produced by institutions such as Documenta Kassel and the São Paulo Biennial.

Some of his works include Domini Públic (Teatre Lliure, Barcelona, ​​2008), The Rite of Spring (Teatro Milagro, Mexico, 2010), Please Continue: Hamlet (with Yan Duyvendak. Théâtre du Grütli, Xenebra, 2011), Pending Vote (Centro Dramático Nacional, Madrid, 2012), Displacement del Palacio de La Moneda (STML, Santiago de Chile, 2014), Numax-Fagor-plus (KunstenFestivalDesArts, Brussels, 2014), We need to falar (Temporada Alta, Xirona, 2015), Non se taxa conversas de interest (MUCEM, Marseille, 2016–17), O lugar da cousa (Documenta 14, Atenas–Kassel, 2017), Flam (Greek Festival 2019), ENA (Teatre Lliure, 2020), Desnonissea (CASM, 2021), PIM PAM (34th São Paulo Biennial, 2021), Terra Baixa (Teatre Lliure, 2022), Dormifestació (Fira Tàrrega, 2022) and La Scelta (Kilowatt Festival, Sansepolcro, 2023). Among the awards he has received, the Sebastià Gasch Prize of 2017 stands out. In 2009, he co-edited, together with Ignasi Duarte, the book *Querido Público. El espectador ante la participación: jugadores, usuarios, prosumers y fans* (CENDEAC, Murcia). His articles can be found in Joined Forces, audience participation in theater (Alexander Verlag, Berlin) and Relational Theater (Ed. Fundamentos, Madrid), among others.

SYNOPSIS

In 2010, Roger Bernat put on stage The Rite of Spring, one of the most important works in the history of dance. The original piece was created by Pina Bausch in 1975 based on the famous score by Igor Stravinsky, performed in 1913, and with the passage of time it became a true piece of contemporary repertoire, an essential reference point reinterpreted by numerous artists over the decades.

Bernat's interpretation does not seek to be a faithful reproduction of the original, nor simply another 'personal' reinterpretation within the long tradition of versions of this work. Its approach is different: stripping away two elements that traditionally supported it, so that it survives inhabited only by its echoes or 'ghosts'. This plucking process provokes deep reflection on what it really means to preserve great works of cultural heritage.

The production uses the stone paving of the square itself, which serves as a symbol of nature in its purest form and, at the same time, gives death. Against this background, the dancers seem to be forcibly subjected to their control, immersed in an archaic and animalistic world, with their tremulous bodies transmitting an extreme and visceral tension. Choreography explores collectivity, or sacrifice and individual responsibility within group dynamics. Furthermore, it breaks down the barrier between the stage and the public: spectators stop being mere observers and become an active part of a mechanism that they do not always fully understand, but that confronts them with their own role within the collective.

Seen in the context of A Night of Heritage, this piece transcends the strict dance to become a metaphor for the nature of cultural heritage: it only lasts if there is a community willing to assume responsibility for the risk of its own. The text concludes with a provocative idea: perhaps the greatest danger for a masterpiece does not transform it, without repeating it at the point at which it becomes a mere cultural meme, devoid of its original power.

ARTISTIC CREDITS, SPONSORSHIPS, COLLABORATORS:

Music: Juan Cristóbal Saavedra Vial based on the score by Igor Stravinsky. 
Stage creation: Roger Bernat based on the choreography of Pina Bausch, with the collaboration of: Txalo Toloza, María Villalonga, Ray Garduño, José-Manuel López Velarde, Tomás Alzogaray, Brenda Vargas, Diana Cardona, Annel Estrada and Viani Salinas.
Technical direction: Txalo Toloza. 
Sound design: Rodrigo Espinosa. 
Image design: Marie-Klara González. Coordination: Helena Febrés. 
Executive Production Mexico: Alicia Laguna. 
Production Assistant Mexico: Antigone Gonzalez and Mariana Toledo.

An co-production from Teatre Lliure and Elèctrica Produccions (Barcelona), Festival Instal·laccions/ Ajuntament Cambrils and Festival Transversales (Mexico) with the support of the European Union Fund program in Mexico.

Spectators MINIMUM 12 YEARS 
Release date: may 2010