els cartògrafs, spontaneous theatre company
POSTED IN activities 24.11.2009
Music: Walk in spring
by Frances Bartlett performed by V.O.Quartet
Spontaneous Theatre was initiated by Jacob Levy Moreno in Viena at the turn of 1920, with the intention of restoring the creativity and the vitality in social relationships and roles.
The definition of spontaneity here is as a possibility of giving a new answer to an old situation or to give an adequate response to a new situation. This type of theatre creates short sketches or scenes, pictures, sculptures or dances based on situations that appear spontaneously, without a traditional author or even a group of actors. It is the creative product that starts and ends here and now, without previous preparation or planning. A dramatic art form that doesn´t use a script, but intead actors that give their body, sensations and stories to communicate to the public. Improvising from here, so offering possible versions and permenantly reliving cotidian stories that effect everyone. Everything that anyone wishes to share with others is valid.
The fact of not having a written script, neither an internal, articulated organization, leads Spontaneous Theatre to convert itself into a theatre that tries to rescue the spontaneity of it´s various components: The narrators, (it´s public), as well as the actors and the director (those that have the responsibility of translating the narrations into structures that can be represented), and the musicians that accompany, who create the climate and propose sonic world for each scene. In Spontaneous Theatre, all participants can be actors, observers, authors, narrators or directors if they so wish. Therefore, it´s an absolutely participatory theatre that permits: experimenting and realising one´s own thoughts, feelings, motivations, behaviors and relationships, bettering the comprehension of each situation from the point of view of other people and from our own image or action on the stage, investigating or discovering the possibility of ones own capacity of finding new options of behavior; finding new responses, as well as preparing, rehearsing, or learning new responses.
This is then the principle objective of Spontaneous Theare; to create an aesthetic action as well as serving to discover every hidden scene that reveales unknown aspects of oneself, thus enabling us to explore our interior world and to listen to our body´s language as a form of communication.
The Theatre Company L@s Cartógraf@s was born in the February of 2002 after a performance in the Iberoamericana Institute of Culture, Barcelona in the cylce “Theatre as identity”. A collaboration with the Civic Centre Can Felipe in Barcelona began in 2003, which produced; three years of open workshops of Spontaneous Theatre, diverse performances within the centre´s programme, “Friday Theatre”, participation in IV Festival de Tardor Escena Poblenou (street performance), five years of weekly rehearsals and the realisation of diverse specially themed sessions, promoting social cohesion for ‘seldom heard’ children and youth from Barcelona and Colombia. A new environment was created on the stage and in the construction of sketches with the wokshop assistants. Since 2004, a permenent research laboratory has been established whcih began in Joaquim Costa Street, continued in Bruc Street and is currently based in Malats Street and in the Centre Cívic de la Sagrera. Until 2007, the company was giving diverse workshops and monthly performances in the Tariqah Centre and in the Sala Aura, Barcelona. All of this work has been constantly accompanied by long term collaborations and performances with musicians such as Matt Davis, The collective IBA, The Improvisation Band of Barcelona, (the BIB) the Academia Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of the Liceu Opera House, Barcelona, the V.O. Quartet, Mal,Akh Ensemble etc.
The Cartògrafs were contracted by the Civic Centre in Guinardó, Barcelona where three lines of work were formed: Rehearsal space, entrance into the cycle of the theatre program and collaboration with the social services that run the Centre. Parallel with this work, the Company was contracted by: The town council of Montcada i Reixac for two ‘open class’ groups for adolescents (at risk of social marginalization and exclusion) in two secondary schools; La Ribera and La Ferreria, and as voluntaries in the ARED Charity, for a group of people in the process of social reintegration and at risk of social exclusion. In these sessions in ARED, the main focus of the work was the group cohesion and cohabitation, using the transcultural values of respect and tolerance.
This year “Els Cartgrafs” have been contracted by the town council of Montcada i Reixacto give spontaeous theatre and music workshops once again, in La Salle secondary school for 16 year olds at risk of social exclusion, with no academic qualifications.
Those who have made this possible:
Oriol Blanch (psychologist, spontaneous theatre, technologies)
Laia Rota Font (psychologist, spontaneous theatre, dance)
Lluvi Farré Montalà (psychologist, spontaneous theatre)
Mercè Aranda (social worker and spontaneous theatre)
Frances Bartlett (spontaneous music theatre, musician)
Ester Conesa Carpintero (history of art)
Jofre Martí (psychologist)
Constanza Brncic (dance)
Matt Davis (musician)
Carme Torrent (dance)
Ferran Fages (musician)
Joan Saura (musician)
Ada Vilaró (theatre)
Ruth Barberan (musician)
Alfredo Costa-Monteiro (musician)
Clara Garí (nau côclea)
Laia Rigalt (psicologia)
Sònia Cornellas (educadora social)
Alba Bosch (psicologia)
Diego Dragotto (arquitectura i teatre espontani)
Malena Villarino (música)
Vanina Díaz (teatre)
Amanda Díaz-Ubierna (teatre)
Pablo Szwartman (música)
Liba Villabechia (música)
Pablo Rega (música)
