Bogota’s twelfth Ibero-American Theater Festival begins Friday March 19: a fortnight-long celebration of the performing arts, dedicated to the memory of the event’s founder Fanny Mikey.
The festival, which has forged for itself a place as one of the largest and most influential arts events in the world, was created in 1988 by Argentina-born but Colombia-raised thespian Fanny Mikey, whose was driven by the desire to bring Latin America into the international dramatic arts scene.
2010’s festival will be dedicated to Mikey, who died in August 2008, and will run for a fortnight, with a wealth of artistic performances ranging from dance shows to comedy and circus shows; from opera and classical music to free street acts.
The event involves artists from around the globe, and this year several hundred performing groups and over a thousand individual artists have come from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Program highlights will include Colombian-directed black comedy “Aurora,” a piece “written to provoke” which is running from April 2 to 4, as well as Canadian contemporary circus troop Cirque Eloize, who proclaim themselves “the children of the air” and whose show “Rain” runs from March 31 to April 9.
Dance groups “Flamenco Actual” and “Soledades, Piedras y Cielos” have come from Spain to put on flamenco-infused spectacles throughout the festival, while the Hebei Bangzi Opera Troop from Beijing are set to dazzle with a traditional Chinese opera, March 25 and 29.
The event aims to make theater and performance art accessible to the masses, by encouraging the community to get involved. For this reason, the festival features free street shows, put on by groups from countries including France, Holland, Bolivia and Italy. There is also something for children, with Spanish director Lluis Graells bringing his popular puppet-show “Cuttlas, Anatomy of an Outlaw” to the streets of the Colombian capital.
Bogota’s twelfth festival promises to do its founder justice, and this year the directors plan to take certain events on tour to Colombia’s Caribbean coast, with dates scheduled in Cartagena de Indias and Barranquilla.
Tickets for festival shows are currently on sale and expected to sell out fast. For the full festival program or to buy tickets, please click here.