CRA’P Public presentations 2026
11 March from 19h to 19:45h
Santa Mònica Arts Center, Barcelona
An impro-vision duet based on the sound of the tablas and on the body of kalaripayattu. Two disciplines stemming from India converge in the encounter between Jordi Rallo and Esther Freixa, in which they open themselves up to new movements, new sounds, and new impro-visions.
In residency at: CRA’P and Nau Côclea
Activity open to all and free of charge
Esther Freixa i Ràfols is a performer, actress and theater maker with a degree in acting from the Theatre Institute of Barcelona. Since 2007, she has been collaborating with actor and director Toni Cots, with whom is researching performing arts language. Since 2013, she has travelled to different countries in Europe and Latin America giving workshops and touring with performances. At the same time, she searches for pedagogic outlines to allow the transmission of knowledge about the body and the creative act. Since 2012 she is learning Kalaripayattu in Hindustan Kalari Sangam, Kozhikode, India. She is a founding member of CRA’P. www.medealacarta.org / www.treintaños.org
Jordi Rallo studied tabla with the master Uttam-das in Rishikesh (India). Darbouka at the Traditional Music Centre Studies of Tunis; and with a scholarship he furthered his knowledge at the Kalakchetra School of Fine Arts in Madras (India). Over the last 40 years he has been introducing these instruments into different genres. This experience together with other musicians, poets, actors and dancers has led him to expand and build up a set of percussion instruments: Tabla – Dabouka – Tambourines – Kanjira – Uddus – Cajon – Gongs – Samplers, etc. https://jordirallo.blogspot.com
CRA’P Workshop 2026
DANCING IN FAMILY
Facilitator Iolanda Moya del Vado de “Moure’ns per viure”
7 February from 11h to 12:30
Registrations: send an email to info@cra-p.org o call at 666 763 504.CRA’P Workshops 2026
7 February from 11h to 12:30
“Improving our relationships with others makes us happier”
I invite you to enjoy with your family a small expressive oasis within the frenetic rhythm of everyday life by means of play and movement. We will create a safe space for children and adults where the body will become a tool for communication between us.
We will dance and play with the aim of relaxing, having fun without judgement, and sharing without any rigidity in order to see and listen to each other from a different perspective. We will delve into different bodily proposals to rediscover our innate creativity and to gather new memories as a family.
Come to reconnect and get excited with the ones you love the most!
Facilitator Iolanda Moya del Vado de “Moure’ns per viure”
For adults with childreen from 3 to 12 years old.
Fee:
1 adult + 1 child 20€ (16€ CRA’P collaborators and associated members)
2 adults + 1 childreen 25€ 20€ CRA’P collaborators and associated members)
CRA’P space
Registration:
info@cra-p.org / 666 763 504
Iolanda Moya del Vado de “Moure’ns per Viure”. Artist/performer. Diploma in body expression, creative dance and dance pedagogy. Teacher of hatha vinyasa yoga, family yoga and social educator. She has been teaching movement classes, courses and workshops for more than fifteen years in primary schools, artistic spaces and community-based associations. She conceives dance as a way of transiting and celebrating life.
CRA’P Workshop 2026
KALARIPAYATTU IMMERSION
Conducted by Esther Freixa
17 January from 10h to 18h
ALL WORKSHOP INFORMATION Registrations: send an email to info@cra-p.org o call at 666 763 504.CRA’P Workshops 2026
17 January from 10h to 18h
The Kalaripayattu of Kerala (India) is one of the most ancient martial art forms in the world. Through it’s 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.
Conducted by Esther Freixa I Ràfols
Fee:
60€ (50€ CRA’P collaborators and associated members, members of the APdC, APCC, AADPC, AGT and graduates from the Theatre Institute of Barcelona).
Registrations:
info@cra-p.org / 666 763 504
CRA’P space
Esther Freixa i Ràfols is an actress and theater 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.
CRA’P Trainings 2026
Regular practice of Kalaripayattu, south Indian marcial art form.
From January to July
Tuesday from 8:15h to 9:30h and from 18:45h to 20h*. Thursday from 8:15h to 9:30h and from 20:15h to 21:30h. Double session from 17:30h to 20h: January 9 and 23, February 6 and 20, March 6 and 20.
*Tuesday practice is open to adults and children from 7 years.
Guided by Esther Freixa
1 session 10€ (8€ collaborators and members of CRA’P)
10 sessions 80€ (60€ collaborators and members of CRA’P)
Double session on Fridays: €20 (€16 CRA’P collaborators and members of CRA’P) or 2 vouchers for the 10-session pack
Registrations:
info@cra-p.org / 666 763 504
CRA’P space
Esther Freixa i Ràfols is an actress and theater 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, Kozhikode, India. She is a founding member of CRA’P – Creation and artistic research Practices.
For more information write to info@cra-p.org or call to 666 763 504.
CRA’P Resident January to March 2026
WHAT DO YOU SEE WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED?
An artistic investigation into the theme of fantasy/imagination…
A skill we all share? What facets can it have, what possibilities does it open up? Where are its good sides, where are its dark sides?
Where does that imagination lead?
… To safe places?
… To bold utopias? …
…To a place where it is always possible to play? …
…To an escape from the world? …
…Far away from you, the person in front of me?
I would like to pursue these questions both in dance performance and in video. My artistic approach is characterised by a love of experimentation, an experimental focus and a process-oriented approach. That is why I develop my performance works based on improvisation. Improvisation also plays an essential role in the finished pieces.
Verena Königsberger (*1996). Degree in Art, Education and Art Therapy (Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Alfter/Bonn (Germany), HfWU Nürtingen (Germany).
Artistic practice in the fields of video and video installation, dance and performance.
2019 – 2024: Exhibitions within and outside the university context in Bonn, Tübingen and Nürtingen.
August 2022 to May 2024: Artistic collaboration with Johanna Fricke, various performances of works developed in open stage formats in Tübingen.
Pedagogical and art therapy work in various fields.
CRA’P Workshop 2026
THE MEDIATING BODY: The 5 Senses of Movement
Conducted by Mónica Valenciano
Tuesdays, 12:30h to 14:30h. From January to May. Starting 13th January. ONLINE.
ALL WORKSHOP INFORMATION Registrations: send an email to info@cra-p.org o call at 687 558 878.CRA’P Workshops 2026
Tuesdays, 12:30h to 14:30h. From January to May. Starting 13th January. ONLINE.
* Throughout this workshop we will address The body as a place of apparition – The space as a call – The time as the breathing of the ongoing presence
– The presence as transparency and The movement as a place of dis-covery.
Through the nurturing of a breathed listening to movement, we access the perceptive contact of a field of relations capable of grasping,
to foster and transmit the instant. – (what we call the capacity of resonance).
Hence, dancing implies to segregate a living weave of space-time taking place …between the presence
of movement and its listening….
– (to access the hidden body within the dancing body).
The mediating body implies a dance as a revealing process, trans-mitting itself within reach of that disposition of the body as a place –
(state of presence).
…The artist is a mediator capable of giving form to the subtlest energies, a being in continuous
formation, so its lack is its gift… (P.Palazuelo).
Digging into the language of the body consists in clearing accesses, through a process of de-obstaculation and canalisation of the energy in
which the circulation harmonises, the intuition with time at work.
…To emerge from the movement that enables the possibility of being the place that does not obstruct experience.
…(C.Maillard).
By de-ploying the sensitive con-tact we access the potentiality of an impregnated dance as a living experience, or a manifestation of what is happening through ourselves. – (writing – acoustics – polyphony and possible readings of movement).
We will explore the organicity of a dance that moves us to the possibility of being in the air of any movement, of
tuning in by learning to accompany time, by freeing our capacity to inhabit any space.
* Under-standing is thus a feeling that transforms the linear gaze into a constellating vision.
*From this encounter we will explore different tools,
technical and compositional applications:
* The body as a channel
*The playing status
* Corpography – sequence and score
* The voice of the body (polyphony and multifocality)
* From the body of detail to the panoramic view
* Oblique listening – perception and resonance
* Tactfulness: attributes and qualities of movement
* The breathing of presence – (the 5 senses)
* The relational space – constellational vision.
Workshop 2024 – M.Valenciano – G.I.B.
– (Research group Bailadero)
Imparted by Mónica Valenciano
Limited places.
Fee:
75€/month (65€/month for CRA’P members and collaborators).
Registration:
info@cra-p.org / 687 558 878
ONLINE through the Meets platform.
Mónica Valenciano is winner of the 2012 National Dance Award in the category of Creation.
Degree in Dance and Drama – from the Theatre and Dance Institute of Barcelona – and the RESAD of Madrid. Continuing her training with different courses, among others – Improvisation Dance with (Katie Duck) – Archery – Qigong – Afro-Peruvian Rhythm with (Victoria Santa Cruz) – R. Laban Technique with (Pilar Urreta) – Boxing – Yoga (Iyengar) – Kathak Dance in Benares (India) – Flamenco beat (Madrid) – Seitai with Ana S.Couso – and Tai Chi in The Traditional School of Wudang (China). She has been part of the Collective – “U.V.I – La Inesperada”. Pradillo Community – and of the Group of shared practices – “misión divina”.
She dances… as someone digging into the body, un-blocking, opening new circuits that might enable access to the listening of her voice.
Exploring through body-graphic writing – the breath of movement – the acoustics of gesture – multifocality of the body – the unfolding body in its polyphony, the live of the space as the protagonist and relational possibilities . Witnessing the discovery of textures, tonalities, skills and qualities that emerge from a continuous process of disclosure.
Capturing the happening itself, from this listening to the body-movement as an instrument and place of resonance, from the formulation of a language that does not try to explain anything, but involves us in the convocation of this encounter …By cultivating a state of presence that resonates intimately through the spectator.
She investigates the ability to inhabit any space – to learn to accompany time – to free the voice of the body hidden in the dancing body – to be in the air of any movement… in this way to disappear better and better, to allow something to appear be-comes almost the essential movement.
In this journey she has transited through different stations, giving rise to different pieces and rehearsals. Among others: The series of the 9 “Disparates” (inspired by Goya’s engravings), Canción Laberinto, Un Pescador con subtítulos, Impregnaciones en la Srta Nieve y Guitarra, Borrado En-Canto, Imprenta Acústica en (14 borrones ) de una aparición produced by Naves MATADERO (Madrid), with the collaboration of L’animal a la Esquena (Girona), Teatro Ensalle (Vigo), Estudio 3 (Madrid), Mnemosyna in collaboration with Patricia Caballero produced by La Poderosa, Festival Salmon (Mercat de les Flors), Espacio Silvestre (El Graner). Barcelona. Month of dance. Seville. Es luna llena en la cicatriz, produced by NAVES MATADERO in collaboration with the visual artist Elena del Rivero and curated by Mateo Feijoo. El Lugar de los Pasos Perdidos premiered in Image Center ( La Virreina ) – Barna, in collaboration with plastic artist Inmaculada Salinas. Presented in La Casa Encendida, Festival Plataforma, La Caldera, Replika Teatro, Teatro Can Gomà, in the Museums TEA and IVAM, I.Cervantes Berlín.
In addition to video works: Srta Nieve y Guitarra made by Chus Domínguez. Octava Errante a commission by Pedro G. Romero, Ensayos para Nada y Ave a commission by Javier Corcovado, the film He venido a Leer la Noche directed by Manuel F.Valdés (produced by NAVES MATADERO), the documentary La Voz del Cuerpo, directed by Marta Blanco, as a register of a rehearsal journal about the process of “Imprenta Acústica en ..(14 borrones ) ..de una Aparición”.
Also, various publications. Texts and drawings: Disparates – published by PLIEGOS de TEATRO y DANZA – (Antonio F.Lera). Música en los huesos – published by – LA LUZ ROJA. Diarios de una estación – published by – LA PORTA. Cuadernos de la nave – edited by – LA LUZ ROJA. Un pescador con subtítulos – edited by – ESCRITO A LÁPIZ. La voz del cuerpo – edited by – PLIEGOS DE TEATRO Y DANZA – (Antonio F.Lera). Currently being edited: EL CUERPO COMO LUGAR DE APARICION – Ediciones DocumentA/Escénicas – (Gabriela Halac).
Her works have been shared in different festivals in Spain, Europe, USA, Canada and Mexico D.F.
She continues a line of creation and research in collaboration with “El Bailadero – G.I.B.”, as well as giving open workshops and laboratories. Sessions for the Master of creation (Universidad Carlos III), and Master of Performing Arts in Reina Sofia.
ORALITY AS A SHARED FRACTAL
CRA’P Presentations 2025
Friday 12 December from 19h to 21h
CRA’P space
Breathing the Mahabharata is a twelve-year oral storytelling project. A 21st-century narration, unfolding across multiple digital platforms, formats, and spaces.
Every December 12th, since 2016, a new form of telling is ritually premiered. In this tenth year, the proposal is an open narration, adapting itself to the audience’s questions. The storyteller does not define the direction; the guide is the personal interest of each participant. Each voice becomes a center, and all centers recognize themselves within the context of the Mahabharata, a unique tale in the world that dives into the understanding of the cosmic program.
We call this fractal storytelling: when the present unfolds petal by petal, like a lotus flower made of light and shadow.
Contribution 12€
Limited audience, early booking:
info@cra-p.org / 666763504
Michael Gadish is an oral storyteller, cultural researcher, and creator of stage projects that explore the transformative power of myths. For the past two decades, he has been working at the crossroads of philosophy, the spoken word, and live art.
His central project is Breathing the Mahabharata, a twelve-year journey (2016–2028) in which every December he offers a new telling of the great Indian epic, accompanied by reflections, publications, and collective experiences. This long-term commitment turns the story into a shared river, one that grows with time and allows audiences to recognize themselves in essential questions: war and peace, love and justice, fragility and hope.
He has collaborated with contemporary theatre and dance projects and leads workshops and lectures that combine symbolic storytelling, critical thought, and an exploration of lived experience. His work proposes an encounter between the ancestral and the contemporary, the sacred and the everyday, inviting us to rediscover the spoken word as a common space where we can imagine new ways of being in the world together.
