This is a report I have been dreaming of for a long time. If there is a company that has made me enjoy lots of good dance and has allowed me to know many choreographers in my own community, this has been IT dansa. Jesús Vallinas, by his side, knew Catherine Allard from her times in the CND when she danced with Nacho Duato. She was Nacho’s muse when they both were in the NDT and he took her with him from The Hague to Madrid when he was appointed artistic director of the Spanish Dance Company. Some years later, for personal reasons, Catherine moved to Barcelona and as soon as she arrived at the Mediterranean city, she was offered to manage a project that was going to see light, it was IT dansa.

This was 10 years ago and since them the young company of the Institut del teatre, with its 10 dancers at that time -16 by now- coming from different conservatoires but mainly from the Catalan institution, has been able to get a faithful audience no matter who the dancers were.

This is thanks to the work developed by Catherine, their manager and “alma mater”, together with the rest of her team, répétiteurs, Mathilde van de Meerendonk and Guillermina Coll, classical dance teacher, Rodolfo Castellanos and the teacher of interpretation Jordi Fàbrega, among other.

It dansa is a kind of master, a bridge step between schools and professional companies, but its way of working is closer to these ones.

The heritage of a style

Catherine Allard being the manager opens doors and offers advantages that would be very difficult to reach otherwise. Her quality as a dancer and her professionalism in all she undertakes is known by far. Kylian, Duato or Naharin, have given rights to perform some of their pieces, and they have even come to Barcelona to directly work with this young company.

The first “Jardí Tancat” danced by the pioneers in that adventure of It dansa, Lydia Bustinduy, Quique Guerrero and Cristina Gallofré, to only mention three whose careers drove them to some of the most prestigious European companies, already proved what would be the path and what would be the goal. The technique, the movement of the torso, the telluric way of dancing; that “Jardí” was Nacho’s one. The essence of the piece was there, it was clearly noticed in each step, in each embrace, in each look. They made a perfect “Jardí” and a promising future for the project as well as for the dancers was glimpsed.

It has been like this, but they have not only been able to make theirs some jewels of the best renowned artists, also Bonachela, Stromgren or Ekman, emergent creators but having already a solid name, or other young talents, have created pieces for this young company. In Bonachela’s case he got so satisfied that he commented that he would have liked to had the possibility to take all them to his company. He only could hire two and they were Annamari Keskinen, we saw at El Mercat in Barcelona this season and that will be soon in Madrid dancing the new piece of Rafael “Square Map of Q4” and Robert Gómez Luque, but he is no longer in the company.

It dansa dances in modest theatres of small cities, with the aim to make dance known everywhere, but they have also performed on important stages and at Spanish and European festivals of great prestige where they have been very acclaimed by both audience and critics. In their performances in the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya they also reached great success being the company with greatest number of spectators (90,56%) in 2001 and in 2005 with the show “Paisatges” they had to extend four days because of the great demand. That performance was also rewarded with the “Butaca” price.

In 2001 Catherine Allard also awarded the Culture National Prize, in acknowledgment to her professional and artistic path and for her work in dancer formation and dance diffusion.

As far as dancers destination when they finish their training is concerned, it suffices to say that Companies such as Nederlands Dans Theater, Itzi Galili Dance, Lyon Opera Ballet, Batsheva Ensemble, Víctor Ullate or Metros, have dancers from IT dansa in their troupe. This year when the course finishes one girl will join the Rambert and two the Scottish Dance Theater. The success of the project keeps going on.

This time our article is not made from a usual performance, images show two different moments on dancers life. We went to the Institut del Teatre at the end of November 07 to see the new dancers who had just joined, working, together with those remaining from the previous year, a Jiri Kylian piece “Sechs Tänze” already in the company repertoire.  Rosalyn Anderson, came especially from the NDT to direct the rehearsal.

When we arrived they already had finished their class and were reading an article about them published in the newspaper for foreign people “Catalonia Today”. Their work arouses interest, dancers are from many different places from all over Europe and the Barcelona’s foreign community uses to attend their performances. They fight to read it, they joke and make fun about each other on the shots, but they look happy and satisfied, this is their first article in a newspaper as professional dancers and they are proud and satisfied about, they are in a new step.

To see them working is fascinating, the experience of the “veterans” is evident.
Rosalyn squeals them some tips as to put words in each movement, to make it easier to remember the choreography. There is great friendship, eagerness to progress and enthusiasm in these young dancers, so different between them but with a common objective: to learn, to take profit of this so wonderful opportunity which is to be a member of IT dansa.

Once the rehearsal has finished, we ask them for a group photo. Spontaneously, with jokes and laughs, they go to the centre of the room, they pull Catherine along and she joins them in their games, one more in the group, and after posing for us in a funny way, we leave them with the promise to come again when they are performing in a theatre, to make the article they deserve.

Catherine brings dance closer to children

And the chance comes up at the end of January, when the young troupe dances during three days for several schools of the city.

Another excellent initiative that IT dansa welcomes with pleasure. They are still training, so, what better than them training their future audience? What better than young dancers to connect to young spectators? This is a good way to bring them closer to the dance, to make them see it as something easy to accede and something one can enjoy as spectator as well as an artist.

Catherine introduces the piece. She explains what they are going to see, the history, the time it happens, who is the choreographer, the music, etc. She comments for instance, that Jardí Tancat is going to be 25 years old and it is still danced in many parts of the world; she informs them about the CND performing soon in Barcelona and she encourages them to go to see it. She talks about Mozart and about Kylian and how he is so meticulous with music. She makes them appreciate the rhythm and the importance of transmitting the essence of the piece, to be able to give, in the case of “Sech Tänze”, its humoristic touch.

After each piece, the children can pose questions, many hands raising wanting to be chosen to ask. They are intrigued, how do dancers get to learn the choreography? so many steps…, worried about if they injury their selves when jumping or when doing somersaults, why they do not have shoes on?, from how many countries are they from? –they have been surprised about their names in Alex Ekman piece “WHIM Fractured Fairytale”- how is it that bubbles fall from the ceiling?, what does the crinoline hide so that the dancer seems to be so tall?, why do they change the floor?,... thousands “how?” and “why?” in that infantile minds absolutely admired and fascinated. And Catherine and the dancers satisfy their curiosity, showing them how all is made and explaining them every single detail they are interested in.

This has been one of the first performances of a new troupe, they still have a long way to cover, hours and hours of hard work and many shows.

There have probably been hundreds of dancers by now in IT dansa who already left and are dancing in companies all over Europe, some in the very best ones, others in more modest formations but all with the stamp of artistic excellence and human quality Catherine and her team have instilled them with. Thanks to them we can enjoy good dance and we can know attractive proposals of worldwide acclaimed or new choreographers, by means of an amateur company who has much of professional.

On the other side, for the professional companies, this represents a spur and a source of “raw material” they can nourish from. This is one of the best initiatives of the latest years. Varied selection of dancers and great choice of choreographers, joined to a rigorous and stimulating work, get that each new group of dancers surprises us and make us be delighted.

by fotoescena © 2008 Carolina Masjuan

IT dansa will be premiering at El Mercat from May 8 to 11 and 15 to 18.

Read our interview to Catherine

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Acknowledgements: Jordi Aubach (Institut del Teatre) for his kind attention and help

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