Benidorm schools take contemporary dance to the streets on the first day of Les Ones

An exhibition by several schools and the Elemental Municipal Conservatory of Dance of Benidorm, together with the dance-theatre show 'A Ciegas' by the Elelei Company, brought contemporary dance to the streets yesterday at the inauguration of the fourth edition of the Les Ones Festival, which over three days will offer free shows in Plaça del Castell. The initiative, promoted by the Department of Culture of Benidorm City Council, was born with the idea of ​​"promoting contemporary dance and promoting it on the streets, so that residents and tourists of all ages can enjoy it" and doing so, in addition, “in such emblematic places”, as highlighted by the councillor of the department, Jaime Jesús Pérez.

Dozens of people filled the plaza of SS MM los Reyes de España to follow this first session of Les Ones live, which was also attended by the mayor of the city, Toni Pérez; the councillor of Culture; and other representatives of the Municipal Corporation.

All of them were able to enjoy the proposals of the Lope de Vega and María José Moya dance schools and the Municipal Conservatory, which staged different dances highly applauded by the public. Next, the performance combining theatre with almost acrobatic movements by Elelei Company surprised the audience and raised applause from all attendees, thus generating a desire for more to continue enjoying the festival in the next two sessions.

Full program

Plaça del Castell will be the main stage of this fourth edition, in which the companies Elelei, Marroch and Jacob Gómez and the performers Lorena Nogal, Lucía Aznar and Pau Barreda will participate.

In addition to the shows, the festival once again has workshops led by some of the companies and dancers of this edition. These workshops, each lasting two hours, will take place in the morning at the Cultural Center and require prior registration. Precisely, these workshops are a differentiating element of Les Ones compared to other competitions, since they allow dancers from the area to train at home with top-level artists, discover new dynamics and incorporate movements from different styles.

This Friday, between 09:30 and 11:30, the Elelei company gave the first of the workshops at the Cultural Center. In the afternoon, at 8:30 p.m. at the Plaça del Castell, 'When the Flowers Roar' will be premiered exclusively, a creation by the young Valencians Lucia Aznar and Pau Barreda and performed by themselves.

Next, the Elelei company presents the piece 'Soy Madera', a solo performed by Sabrina Gargano that tries to delve into rage through the female body, an engine that never stops despite exhaustion. At 10:30 p.m. it will be the turn of Ta-K-Ta, a piece by the Alicante company Marroch that received the Miguel Hernández Alicante Culture Award 2023 in the category of Innovation through technologies, and which proposes a trip about the experience of life and how to accept that everything has an end.

Tomorrow, Saturday, the last day of the festival, the program will begin at 9:30 a.m. with the workshop by Valencian Jacob Gómez, professional dancer and international choreographer. Two hours later, the workshop of the dancer Lorena Nogal will take place, distinguished as the best dancer at the 2016 Catalan Critics Awards and an expert in the KOVA method, a movement language that she has developed in recent years with the company La Veronal.

The fourth edition of Les Ones will conclude at 8:30 p.m. in Plaça del Castell and with the piece 'Meohadim' by Cía Jacob Gómez, a piece inspired by his 5 sisters and which covers various scenes from his childhood. The final touch of the festival will be 'Elogio de la fissure' by Lorena Nogal, a manifesto about mutations and the process of change, about what is built from doubt and darkness; a beauty search that emerges from the acceptance of the imperfect.