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A half dozen Basque theater companies will perform their work in Costa Rica and Uruguay this summer as part of the dFeria Abroad, a new initiative that was created as an extension, of the Performing Arts Fair in Donostia that closed its 23^rd edition last night.  The hope is to add Mexico and Colombia to the tour in 2018 and support from the Etxepare Institute and the Eurolatinoamericana Network of Performing Arts (Redelae) is also expected.  Published in Noticias de Gipuzkoa. 

Juan G. Andres, Javi Colmenero / Donostia-San Sebastián. That was the information provided by Norka Chiapusso, director of dFeria, at a press conference yesterday, accompanied by Ada Acuña and Octavio Arbelaez, directors of the International Festival of the Arts (FIA) in San Jose, Costa Rica; Gustavo Cidan, Director of the Verdi Hall in Montevideo, and Horacio Lecona, Managaer of Creativea, one of the largest cultural institutions in Mexico.  Currently, they are all, along with other companions, scouting Basque shows that in the coming months and years may travel to their countries.

Costa Rica, Uruguay

The FIA, considered the largest cultural and artistic event in Costa Rica, is held during the months of June and July and will welcome the following Basque companies and plays: Markeliñe with the Carbón Club; Zanguango with Flux; Shakti Olaizola with Irakurriz; Kukai, with Gelajauziak, and Larrua with a piece by the same name. Arbelaez showed his joy at opening the streets and plazas of San Jose to Basque groups and hoped that this “collaborative environment” would be extended in the future.

For its part the Sala Verdi in Montevideo will organize a weekend in August dedicating its stage to the Basque groups Kulunka and Tanttaka who will present two works each: “André and Dorine” and “Taxidermy of a Sparrow,” for the first and “Soka” (Rope) and “El Florido Pensil.” And “Niñas” (Girls) the second. According to Cidan, dFeria Abroad will reinforce the “affective ties,” that historically connect Euskadi and Uruguay, breaking the limits between both countries and bringing them closer together.

These and other organizers that are “old friends,” of dFeria "closely" follow groups that are believed to be “very good ambassadors of the Basque culture” in Latin America.  Aside from the pure exhibition of the works, they also believe that the experience can serve for future exchanges of playwrights, artists and directors who could work in a country other than their own.

Mexico, Colombia

BEGINNING IN 2018. On the other hand, new countries will join in the experience beginning next year.  Horacio Acuna from Creativa, also reminded us about “the ancestral ties,” that unite Mexico and the Basque Country, and relies on this to progressively increase “the presence of Basque groups” in his country, not only to present theatrical works and dance, but also to realize artistic residencies in both communities and even eventually to encourage teachers programs.

In addition to participating in the organization of the Costa Rica competition, Colombian, Octavio Arbelaez, is the director of Manizales, the oldest festival in his country that next year will celebrate 50 years and who is also expected to be included in the dFeria Abroad.  According to him, companies like Kulunka, Tanttaka and Kukai have already experiences success in Manizales, whose relationship with the performing arts collection is very long.

Finally, Chiapusso showed his intention to travel with dFeria to Latin America to take advantage of the exchange and to see, on site, a sampling of the shows that are actually being performed in Costa Rica and Uruguay, in hopes of including them in future editions of the event in Donostia. “It is a good thing that we are promoting Basque theater but we also have to be open to the world.  We are looking for a mixture and the enrichment of the audience that has to have points of view and other visions of the world.  These are currents of give and take,” he concluded after reminding everyone that this edition of the fair has included two Uruguayan productions: “The Trees’ Blood” and “Only a Theater Actress.”