The catalogue of dance works in the Basque Country came about at the request of the ADDE members, due to a lack of international awareness of creativity in Basque dance. This is how the online tool was created and launched in 2013 with 23 dance companies.
Given its characteristics, its goal is to facilitate connections, divulge the Basque dance context in an inclusive and objective way, generating dialogue with other contexts.
The catalogue is updated every year through an open call for ADDE members at no cost, and for non-associated companies upon payment of a fee.
The catalogue tries to offer a wide panorama of all the work undertaken, and of those works which are currently touring.
Besides including all the information in Spanish and Basque, it is translated into English, and searches can be carried out according to different criteria: by company name, the name or title of a work, category or style and length.
Each work/company has a file which provides specific information about the work as well as its contact details.
The catalogue began to present the project at the IETM after a study and subsequent action plan prepared with Toni Gonzalez in 2014. Thus was initiated a series of visits to different contexts and spaces such as the Internationale Tanzmesse, the Edinburgh Fringe, Sismògraf, the Sâlmón Festival, Ice Hot and La Briqueterie. Some of these contexts have become regular visits and others vary from year to year.
Following these encounters, relationships have been established which have led to windows of visibility such as participation at Dance Base in the Edinburgh Festival and the Internationale Tanzmesse. In recent years, we have come to reflect on and rethink the use of the catalogue and we have made some changes.
In that it is an inclusive means which incorporates a large number of works, it is not so much a specific sales tool but, rather, a quick way to offer an overview of dance in the Basque Country, in order to generate relations and collaborations which may facilitate access to the international context and vice versa.
This tool has always had as its goal the need to be inclusive, giving an opportunity of international promotion to less structured creatives, yet, at the same time, remaining an easy way of generating interest for companies which are often unknown in the outside world.
Aritz López
Basque Country Dance Works Catalogue Coordinator
catalogo@addedantza.org
ADDE Dantza
Association of Dance Professionals of the Basque Country
addedantza.org
info@addedantza.org
