Escena Lanzarote pays tribute to the cultural fusion between Africa, America and Europe with 12 stage performances of music and dance, which will be exhibited from next October to April 2025 in the unique natural spaces created by César Manrique.
This Festival, which celebrates its IV edition, exalts, according to its artistic director, Quino Falero, "the richness of the Lanzarote identity through the performing arts, in a convergence of voices, gestures, dances and melodies that connect with our origins and project us towards the future. In each show, the viewer will find a narrative that transcends borders, a language that knows no limits, an experience that, in its essence, is universal.”
For the counselor of the Tourist Centers, “Escena Lanzarote represents, without a doubt, a great opportunity to live and enjoy the performing arts in the best scenarios, the natural spaces transformed by César Manrique.”
This year's tribute reflects the crossroads in Lanzarote of three continents, as a reflection of the cultural diversity that these geographies possess, which according to Falero, “have left an indelible mark on our traditions, in our sounds, in our movements.”
Tradition and avant-garde are intertwined in the Escena Lanzarote program, where local proposals dialogue with creations from other corners of the world, conceived by avant-garde artists such as Dani Pannullo, Alberto Velasco, Estévez / Paños y Compañía, and Fernando Mota.
Inauguration and shows at Jameos del Agua
The prestigious company of the Argentine choreographer Dani Pannullo inaugurates Escena Lanzarote on October 26 with Avalanche in the Jameos del Agua Auditorium. In that unique space, the dancers of Avalanche, in sportswear, will build a story about the passage of time and human relationships, handling a soccer ball and to the rhythm of baroque music, jazz and classical piano. Tickets to attend are now on sale at the web link.
In this same scenario, the Mastodonte group, led by the Bilbao actor Asier Etxeandía and the Neapolitan musician Enrico Barbaro, delves into Beauty and Forgiveness (November 30) in a confessional journey of praise to life, which alternates songs of various styles (psychedelic rock, ballads, funk...) with theatrical vignettes or soliloquies by Etxeandía.
Already in 2025, on March 22, Glass house will occupy the Jameos del Agua, the fourth dance production by Ogmia, a company that the Asturian choreographer Eduardo Vallejo founded in 2019. In it, Vallejo proposes a ritual catharsis in which the individual, as part of an anti-utopian society in which he feels alienated, will try to save himself from himself.
And on April 5, the last day of the Festival, the contemporary flamenco dance of La confluencia, which feeds on its past and its roots, will show the talent of the company of Estévez / Paños y Compañía, recognized with the 2019 National Dance Award in the Creation category. On stage eight men appear, with eight very specific profiles who, through music and dance, will embody flamenco, the peasant, the bolero, the gypsy, the dancer, the singer, the town crier, the majo, the manolo, the slave, the convert, the fugitive, the guitarist, the barber, the pre-flamenco, the mountaineer, the American, the Andalusian, the man..., the contemporary man.
Africa in the Cueva de los Verdes
On December 7, the África Viva collective will present its proposal África Colors. It is a show around the African scenic tradition.
The same stage will become a flamenco tablao on December 27 and 28 with the presence of the dancer Alfonso Losa, one of the great renovators of the genre in recent years. With a small-format show (two dancers and two musicians), Losa will enchant the spectators with his dance, genuinely representative of the Madrid school of flamenco dance (verticality and elegance), to which he has infused the new codes of current dance, of which he is one of its creators.
Casa-Museo El Campesino
The actor, director, choreographer and author from Valladolid, Alberto Velasco, will present Moving Mountains on January 4, a contemporary invocation, between performance and dance, to the emotion of folklore. Nothing more appropriate for the Casa Museo del Campesino, which covers architecture, agriculture, crafts and traditional gastronomy.
Velasco precisely appeals to tradition in this manifesto that wants to “return dance, legends and songs to the people beyond registration and museology”. The activity will be complemented with a gastronomic proposal.
A dance floor to merge music and nature
Inside the Jameos del Agua is its dance floor, where the Portuguese composer, musician and artist Fernando Mota will perform his Concert for a Tree on January 18.
The fit of Mota's piece in the place is perfect to enjoy a sound experience that merges music and nature and is part of a cycle of compositions performed with experimental musical instruments and sound objects from trees, branches, rocks and other natural elements.
Dinner show at the castle of San José
The dinner show that is organized in the MIAC-Castillo de San José Restaurant is dedicated this year to Argentine tango (February 14 and 15), with a saxophonist singer, a pianist-bandoneonist and a dancer.
Absurd humor in Islote Fermina
The juggling duo that make up Patfield & Triguero will exhibit Gibbon on February 22. In this show, Patfield & Triguero create a surreal juggling game with a choreography that moves to humor and absurdity.
Escena Lanzarote also proposes a workshop for dancers interested in taking a gaga technique class (a popular form of dance) inside a volcanic cave. For three days (from January 24 to 26), Mario Bermúdez and Catherine Coure, from Marcat Dance, will develop this workshop in the auditoriums of Jameos del Agua and Cueva de los Verdes.
The dance of the Cactus Garden
Finally, Solos en el jardín has become a kind of cycle within the festival, where contemporary dance dancers are invited to perform a short piece with several passes during the day to maintain the flow of visits to these spaces that are very busy by visitors.
This year Andrea Pérez will perform on March 8 and 9 on the dance floor of Jameos del Agua and in the Cactus Garden.