VANESSA VARGAS AND DANIEL ESPARZA
CRA’P Residences 2026
25 de September at 19h
CRA’P space
A lot of moving parts is the result of a creation and research residency around the idea of instruction: what it is, how it is read, how it is translated into action, and what remains of it once executed. It stems from the study of instructions and scores as devices open to multiple interpretations. On stage, a musician and a dancer develop different instructions that do not always coincide with one another — each follows their own score, sonic or corporeal — and it is from that gap that the piece emerges. Both also involve the audience, who receive or complete another set of instructions. The work is a meditation on the interpretive possibilities of the word “instruction”: being instructed, the instruction received, and the practice that responds to or rejects it, and how these readings are shared with others. Instructions, materials, and objects function as starting points that generate frictions, agreements, or deviations — hence “a lot of moving parts.” The piece is situated in the intermediate territory of the hermeneutic exercise: the negotiation between points of view, the possibility of error, and the process of translation between instruction, action, and shared meaning. The musical pieces derived from this residency will be part of the upcoming album by Instituto Internacional del Ruido.
Presentation of the creation process
Free entrance. Limited seats
Vanessa Vargas is a dancer, communications scholar, researcher, and dance theorist whose work articulates theory and practice through journalism, cultural studies, and social theory. Trained in Venezuela, she joined the Taller de Danza de Caracas (2002) and the Compañía Nacional de Danza de Venezuela (2007). Since 2014 she has lived in New York, where she has collaborated with Rastro, Accidental Movement, Douglas Dunn + Dancers, and Christopher Núñez. Her projects have been presented at Dixon Place, Judson Church, Pioneer Works, and Performance Mix Festival in New York, as well as in Lima and Barcelona. She has collaborated with the Brooklyn Museum and MoMA, on exhibitions of Lygia Clark, Yoko Ono, Simone Forti, and Cecilia Vicuña, among others. She has held residencies at La Caldera and Freezone Barcelona, and in 2024 was a resident at MACBA. She holds a BA in Dance, a BA in Social Communication and Journalism, and master’s degrees in Social Communication and Research and in Performance Studies (NYU). She holds a PhD in History and Theory of the Arts from the Universitat de Barcelona. As a journalist specializing in live arts, she works on curatorial research and archival practice projects. She has taught in New York, Caracas, Buenos Aires, and Barcelona, including at UCAB, PUCP, and MoMA’s educational programs. www.vanessaavargas.com
Daniel Esparza is an art historian, musician, and PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University (New York). His musical project, Instituto Internacional del Ruido, designs soundscapes. Also trained across disciplines in comparative literature and psychoanalytic studies, his intellectual and artistic production converges at the intersection of philosophy of religion, anthropology, and critical theory. He is a lecturer at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). www.desparza.com / institutointernacionaldelruido.bandcamp.com
CRA’P residents September 2026
A LOT OF MOVING PARTS
A lot of moving parts is a creation and research around the idea of instruction: what it is, how it is read, how it is translated into action, and what remains of it once executed. It stems from the study of instructions and scores as devices open to multiple interpretations. On stage, a musician and a dancer develop different instructions that do not always coincide with one another — each follows their own score, sonic or corporeal — and it is from that gap that the piece emerges. Both also involve the audience, who receive or complete another set of instructions. The work is a meditation on the interpretive possibilities of the word “instruction”: being instructed, the instruction received, and the practice that responds to or rejects it, and how these readings are shared with others. Instructions, materials, and objects function as starting points that generate frictions, agreements, or deviations — hence “a lot of moving parts.” The piece is situated in the intermediate territory of the hermeneutic exercise: the negotiation between points of view, the possibility of error, and the process of translation between instruction, action, and shared meaning. The musical pieces derived from this residency will be part of the upcoming album by Instituto Internacional del Ruido.
Vanessa Vargas is a dancer, communications scholar, researcher, and dance theorist whose work articulates theory and practice through journalism, cultural studies, and social theory. Trained in Venezuela, she joined the Taller de Danza de Caracas (2002) and the Compañía Nacional de Danza de Venezuela (2007). Since 2014 she has lived in New York, where she has collaborated with Rastro, Accidental Movement, Douglas Dunn + Dancers, and Christopher Núñez. Her projects have been presented at Dixon Place, Judson Church, Pioneer Works, and Performance Mix Festival in New York, as well as in Lima and Barcelona. She has collaborated with the Brooklyn Museum and MoMA, on exhibitions of Lygia Clark, Yoko Ono, Simone Forti, and Cecilia Vicuña, among others. She has held residencies at La Caldera and Freezone Barcelona, and in 2024 was a resident at MACBA. She holds a BA in Dance, a BA in Social Communication and Journalism, and master’s degrees in Social Communication and Research and in Performance Studies (NYU). She holds a PhD in History and Theory of the Arts from the Universitat de Barcelona. As a journalist specializing in live arts, she works on curatorial research and archival practice projects. She has taught in New York, Caracas, Buenos Aires, and Barcelona, including at UCAB, PUCP, and MoMA’s educational programs. www.vanessaavargas.com
Daniel Esparza is an art historian, musician, and PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University (New York). His musical project, Instituto Internacional del Ruido, designs soundscapes. Also trained across disciplines in comparative literature and psychoanalytic studies, his intellectual and artistic production converges at the intersection of philosophy of religion, anthropology, and critical theory. He is a lecturer at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). www.desparza.com / institutointernacionaldelruido.bandcamp.com
CRA’P Workshop 2026
BODY WEATHER
Conducted by Andrés Corchero
19 and 20 September
SATURDAY from 10:00 to 13:30 and from 15:00 to 18:00, and SUNDAY from 10:00 to 14:00
CRA’P Workshops 2026
19 and 20 September
SATURDAY from 10:00 to 13:30 and from 15:00 to 18:00, and SUNDAY from 10:00 to 14:00
In this workshop, we will explore the regular practice that I have been following and teaching since 1986. It is a personalised practice inspired by the Body Weather Laboratory in Tokyo, founded in 1973 by Min Tanaka, a butoh dance teacher and performer, with whom I trained.
Body Weather is a comprehensive, holistic practice of physical training and performance that explores the intersections between the body and its environment. Bodies are not conceived as fixed, separate entities; rather, like the weather, they are constantly changing through an infinite and complex system of processes taking place both within and outside these bodies.
As a training system, Body Weather is extremely useful for anyone interested in exploring the body and the physical self, and can be seen as a practice closely related to various forms of dance and theatre. There are no pre-requisites for getting started.
Since birth, our body is an entity in a state of constant change. Naturally, in the early years of our lives, we absorb information through our most basic senses. External climatic changes, internal rhythms, our biological clock and our sense of real time, etc. All this information is imprinted on our bodily memory, yet over the years we gradually forget it and lose touch with it. Countless times we speak of the body in terms drawn from nature: blood flowing like a river… thoughts passing through the mind like clouds… having a character as strong as a tree, and so on.
The external landscape begins at our skin and extends outwards, whilst the internal landscape begins within. To be fully attuned to our surroundings – with our senses and the pores of our skin open, and with sensitivity – means paying attention to ourselves, to others and to our environment. Repeating a physical practice gives us the opportunity to explore the different aspects of our physical structure and nature: our bones, muscles and nerves, as well as our mind and sensations.
The aim is to re-examine our movement patterns, to listen to the outside world through our skin, to re-learn how movement is produced and what it produces, and ultimately to understand the body as a holistic entity made up of many independent parts. Questioning day by day what dance is or what it ought to be allows us to go beyond our limitations. Reaching our limits every day without crossing them is a constraint on the dream of bodily freedom to which we must aspire as people and as dancers.
Led by Andrés Corchero
Fees:
130€ (110€ for CRA’P collaborators and associates, and members of the APdC, AADPC, APCC, AGT and graduates from IT).
Discount for registrations before 1 September:
115€ (100€ for CRA’P collaborators and associates, and members of the APdC, AADPC, APCC, AGT and graduates from IT).
Registration:
info@cra-p.org / +34 666 763 504
CRA’P workspace
Andrés Corchero. Dancer and choreographer.
2021 Critics’ Award for Best Dance Solo for the show “Absències”
2003 Catalonia National Dance Award. For his artistic career and for the show “El bufó sota la tempesta”, in collaboration with the poet Feliu Formosa.
2001 Applause Award – Sebastià Gasch FAD Award for the Performing Arts, jointly with Agustí Fernández, for the show “A modo de esperanza”
“Al pas de la Tarda 92” Award from Radio Nacional de España for his multidisciplinary shows in collaboration with Feliu Formosa.
Born in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) in 1957. He lives in Catalonia since 1963.
Honesty, risk and sensitivity are some of the qualities that characterise Andrés Corchero’s work. His performances are intimate, elegant and full of emotion, and his artistic language is highly contemporary.
A tireless explorer of the languages of the body and dance, he discovered Butoh dance in 1985. He travelled to Tokyo, where he studied and worked with Kazuoh Ohno and Min Tanaka, world-renowned masters. From 1986 to 1995, he danced with Mai-Juku, a dance company directed by Min Tanaka.
For more than thirty-five years, he has combined creation with teaching and pedagogy. He has expanded the Body Weather method, teaching classes and leading workshops around the world. From 2005 to 2023, he was a visiting lecturer at the Conservatory of Dance and at the School of Dramatic Arts at the Theatre Institute in Barcelona. He has taught at the Accademia Teatro Dimitri in Switzerland and at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.
The delicate and precise quality of his gestures and movements, combined with his experience working with poets such as Feliu Formosa and Antonio Gamoneda, with the writer Jordi Rocosa, his relationship with the music of Agustí Fernández and Joan Saura—two leading figures in the world of improvisation and music—and his collaborations with figures such as Miguel Poveda and Silvia Pérez Cruz, are just some of his many strengths.
His trajectory is full of collaborations with other artists. These include, amongst others: Rosa Muñoz, with whom he founded the Raravis Company; María Muñoz and Pep Ramis of Mal Pelo; Àngels Margarit; Ana Pérez; Hisako Horikawa; and Oguri, a Japanese dancer with whom he has collaborated closely from 2011 to the present day. He also collaborated extensively with Joan Ollé.
CRA’P Collaborations 2026
Thursday 23rd. July at 19:30h
Park Pruneres, Mollet del Vallès
CRA’P presents “Emboscadura”, a contemporary street clown show for all ages by the Ameno Collective
Criticism and humour in a delirious journey, where madness and poetry go hand in hand. Clowns, the forest and dissent. Amidst laughter, satire and moments of genuine connection with the audience, this irreverent production forces us to take a look in the mirror and rethink our relationship with the planet. Through the clowns, nature has a voice… and it has no intention of keeping quiet!
Credits
Idea: Marc Rodrigo
Creation: Marc Rodrigo, Diana Gadish and Pere Hosta
Clowns: Marc Rodrigo and Diana Gadish
Direction: Marc Rodrigo and Pere Hosta
Sound Space: Miquel Casaponsa
Costumes: Erika Perotti
Set design: Pablo Paz
Photography: Àlex Griffin
Production: Producciones Amenas
Free
Marc Rodrigo is the alter ego of Colectivo Ameno, and vice versa. A philosophy graduate, his creations combine humour, stage action and criticism. He has created theatre pieces such as the lecture ‘Filosofía amena’ and ‘La vida es una fuerza oscura’, which explores the issue of excessive artificial light. He has also created street performances, such as ‘Saunterer’, a wandering performance based on walking as an act of resistance, which premiered at the Grec, and Altres mapas, a community performance produced by the European alternative theatre platform Be Spectactive, which explores how cities are being transformed into investment sites rather than places to live.
He regularly collaborates with Diana Gadish (Handle with Care, Cruuu) and is part of the Pallapupas team of hospital clowns, which allows him to practise close contact and direct interaction, and to regularly experience the transformative process of being a clown.
CRA’P Workshops 2026
KALARIPAYATTU CAMP
Conducted by Esther Freixa
From 3 to 5 July – Casa Candela, Sant Martí Sesserres, Alt Empordà
ALL WORKSHOP INFORMATION Registrations: send an email to info@cra-p.org o call at 666 763 504.CRA’P Workshops 2026
From 3 to 5 July
Camp at Casa Candela, Sant Martí Sesserres, Alt Empordà
A weekend to practice Kalari in nature.
In the evenings, it will be proposed to freely share artistic expressions such as music, dance, singing, poetry, theatre, performance, etc.
The Kalaripayattu of Kerala (India) is one of the most ancient martial art forms in the world. Through its very scientific physical discipline, it opens up the practitioner energy channels and pushes the boundaries of the body to become strong, flexible and focused – physically, mentally and spiritually; the reason why both theatre and dance artists and anyone interested practice it as a daily discipline.
All levels. No previous experience is needed.
Conducted by Esther Freixa i Ràfols
Place:
Casa Candela, Sant Martí Sesserres, Alt Empordà
Schedule:
Friday 17h to 20h
Saturday 10h to 13h and 16h a 19h
Sunday 10h to 13h
Arrival Friday from 16h
Departure Sunday from 13h or after lunch
It is recommended to do the whole weekend (3 days and 2 nights), but if this is not possible there is the option to come only Saturday, or one day and a half (1 night).
Everyone must bring their own food. A kitchen is available.
Price:
From Friday to Sunday sleeping with mattresses in shared space
155€ (135€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
Discount registration before 5 June: 145€ (125€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
From Friday to Sunday sleeping in your own tent, car or ban
135€ (115€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
Discount registration before 5 June: 125€ (105€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
From Friday to Saturday or from Saturday to Sunday sleeping with mattresses in shared space
110€ (95€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
Discount registration before 5 June: 100€ (90€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
From Friday to Saturday or from Saturday to Sunday sleeping in your own tent, car or ban
100€ (85€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
Discount registration before 5 June: 90€ (80€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
Only Saturday
60€ (50€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
Discount registration before 5 June: 55€ (45€ associated members of CRA’P, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT).
Registrations:
info@cra-p.org – 666 763 504
Esther Freixa i Ràfols is an actress and theatre maker with a degree in acting from the Theatre Institute of Barcelona. She works as a performer with different artists and companies. At the same time, she searches for pedagogic outlines to allow the transmission of knowledge about the body and the creative act: classes, workshops and various courses. Since 2012 she is learning Kalaripayattu in Hindustan Kalari Sangam and Kalarigram, India, and since 2015 opens the practice in Spain with regular classes, intensive workshops and retreats where the Kalari is integrated with other disciplines such as meditation, Vedic chant, yoga and explorations of body and nature. She is a founding member of CRA’P – Creation and artistic research Practices.
Practices for inhabiting imaginaries
CRA’P Laboratories 2026
Saturday 30th May from 10:30 to 14:00
A practice lab that explores the body as a living archive through the historical phenomenon of choreomania.
Through somatic practices, states of expanded awareness, and tools of improvisation, repetition, and variation, we will explore forms of embodied knowledge and the relationship between movement, image, memory, and collective imaginaries.
The lab is part of Zoe Balasch’s research and creation project COREOMANIA, currently in residence at CRA’P, and is based on the IE methodology – Embodied Imaginaries. This methodology uses a visual archive as its starting point to activate, channel and transform the imaginaries associated with the ‘mania for dance’.
This session is part of an ongoing research process, in dialogue with the development of the project within the contexts of contemporary art and thought.
Lead by Zoe Balasch
Free
Registration: info@cra-p.org / 621 199 972
CRA’P Space
Zoe Balasch is a dancer, performance artist, social psychologist and researcher. Her work spans the performing arts, performance art, the living arts and community-based creation. As the creator of the IE methodology — Embodied Imaginaries —, her practice draws from the intersection between dance, writing and the intangible.
Since 2023, she has been developing the project *Epidemia de baile*, a research initiative focusing on the relationship between dance, madness and mechanisms of bodily control, which has taken various forms on the stage, including site-specific pieces, long-duration performances and participatory devices.
She is currently continuing this line of work with COREOMANIA, an ongoing research project that delves into dance as a form of thought and cultural resistance, and into the body as a living archive, exploring imaginaries linked to madness, excess and lack of control, as well as states of transition and forms of physical and social overflow.
Taking a critical stance towards mainstream choreographic discourses, and even towards the very concept of the dancer, her work brings together history, fiction and the esoteric as tools to unlock imaginative possibilities, go beyond the body’s limits and make the invisible visible.
She is currently an artist-in-residence at CRA’P – Pràctiques de Creació i Recerca Artística.
THE LEGACY OF THE KALARI
CRA’P Presentations 2026
Saturday, 30 May at 18:00 at CRA’P space
We remember the master Veerasree Sami Gurukkal, who dedicated his life to the transmission of Kalarippayattu that we do at CRA’P.
A great opportunity to discover kalarippayattu. There will be demonstrations by kalari practitioners. There will also be: a dance theatre performance of ‘Topeng’, with traditional Balinese masks, by Toni Cots, traditional dance from India Bharatanatyam by Samyukta Chillara, traditional dance from India Kathak by Núria Cabo, music violin by Akshay Gurumuthy Madapura, chant by Helena Minguet and Pol Puncernau. With the musical support of the percussionist Jordi Rallo. And an introductory open practice for those who want to experience the fundamentals of Kalaripayattu.
The Kalarippayattu of Kerala (India) is one of the most ancient martial art forms in the world. Through its very scientific physical discipline, it opens up the practitioner energy channels and pushes the boundaries of the body to become strong, flexible and focused – physically, mentally and spiritually; the reason why both theatre and dance artists and anyone interested practice it as a daily discipline. No physical condition or previous experience is necessary to practice.
Reversed box office.
Photos: Alba Montañez
Contemporary musical tragicomedy. Songs of love and violence
CRA’P public presentations 2026
29 April from 19h to 19:45h
Santa Mònica Arts Center, Barcelona
A contemporary musical tragicomedy born from personal experience, using samba as its guiding thread: a music that unites sorrow, joy, and resistance. From the outset, the artists place their bodies at the center, transforming personal memories into dances and musical compositions. Tiny DERROCHE is a short debut piece where songs of love and violence unfold on stage.
In residence at: CRA’P
With the collaboration of: La Colmena de Àfrica
Activity open to all and free of charge
Àfrica Martínez (BCN) is a performer, dancer, and singer, with a degree in Choreography from the Institut del Teatre. After working as a performer both nationally and internationally, she developed her own research on body and voice, which she calls Waggle Dance. In 2019, she founded La Colmena de Àfrica, a vibrant space for research, creation, and training in the performing arts in Cádiz, where she lives. A mother of two, since 2021 she has been developing the Motherhood Trilogy: VICKY, a kind of Victoria, MéDIUM, and DERROCHE, currently in the creation process.
Calebe Simões, aka Ponta Galego, is a Brazilian audiovisual artist, musician, and music producer. He is a multi-instrumentalist whose influences range from Brazilian music such as bossa nova and samba to jazz, rock, and pop. He has lived in Seville for over nine years, where he works as a music producer for advertising pieces, art videos, and contemporary dance. He continues to present his audiovisual work in galleries and art festivals in Brazil, Argentina, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, and Spain.
