An apocryphal story of Madrid through dance: chotis, reggaeton and electro-dance

Madrid from the Dance is a choral and apocryphal story of the city of Madrid, told from, through and around the dance,” reveals Massimiliano Casu (Sardinia, 42 years old), the person who has been in charge of curating the one that is called to be one of the most interesting exhibitions of the season. A walk that crosses, zigzags and moves through the history of dance from a cultural and political perspective.

“And it proposes a look at a city that has been built at the pace of pavanas, zarabandas, chotis, rigodons, technero hymns and reggaeton,” he continues.. The exhibition, which has just opened on the fifth floor of CentroCentro, also the headquarters of the Madrid City Council, in Cibeles, can be seen until the end of January.

From rock dancing to 'agarrao'

The exhibition design is carried out by Casa Antillón, which has converted the space into a huge street, and proposes a path that begins with the cave paintings found in the Aljibes cave, in Manzanares el Real. “The oldest painting preserved in the Community of Madrid and which represents, according to the hypothesis, a ritual dance scene,” says Casu..

Based on six blocks, it tells the history of dance and its different uses, also those spaces that have welcomed it and the different controversies that have arisen through dance and movement, body to body on many occasions.. “Dance as a battlefield, as a territory of controversy, always the object of attention of mentalities or repressive and stigmatizing measures that have linked it to social danger,” he indicates in one of those sections..

“Dance as a tool to reproduce the constituted order or completely subvert it, with examples of its role in community construction processes and in civil and countercultural struggles,” the tour continues.. Or dance as a “self-organization model”, capable of activating the construction of communities and collaboration networks, resolving conflicts and promoting agreements.

From the salons of the nobility to the 'after'

The exhibition consists of more than 180 pieces, including photographs, audiovisuals, publications, archival materials, installations and musical instruments.. And it delves into the halls of the nobility and the proletariat, as well as into discotheques, clubs, after-parties and “dens of mischief, frivolity and dissidence,” Casu comments on those places that have made enjoyment and dancing possible. : “It also observes the great technological, aesthetic, social and political revolutions”.

The last part, called The Radical Imaginary of Dance, invites us to free our body and mind.. “Let's break everything done before to rebuild it in new ways, let's explore how far our feet, our hands and our heads can go,” Casu explains, about a space that will have its own dance floor and that can be reserved to create your own club..

Critical drift

Casu, who has been researching dance and public space for a decade, with platforms such as Ciudad Bailar, where he has sincerely and deeply reflected with groups and people around Madrid and their relationship with dance, delves into an article for the eme21 City Council magazine on that critical profile that should not be abandoned.

“Madrid from the dance does not only propose a nostalgic drift. He wants to invite us to leave the house and pay a little more attention to what is happening today: in the adolescent communities that rehearse electro-dance in the Barrio de las Letras, in the Opera or in Plaza de España, in the new and old styles that are practiced in Nuevos Ministerios, at the swing and salsa gatherings in Madrid Río or in the temples of Retiro Park,” he writes in the issue that is published this October. And he continues to focus his speech on the fact that the sample also has no claim to objectivity.. Offering everyone who visits the exhibition to create their own stories about the dance and what they have experienced.

The oldest dance hall in Madrid

The exhibition will also feature book presentations, such as the one for the centenary of the La Alegría Serrana Recreational and Cultural Society, in Moralzarzal. “This association is, in all probability, the oldest dance society currently active in the province of Madrid,” he says.. “Since 1920, dances organized in the community have been held on the floor of their hall in Moralzarzal.. Knowing the history of this refuge of popular culture, where barrel organs and bakala hits have been played, is not only a way to observe a century of cultural, aesthetic and social changes in our region, but also a way to reflect on more cooperatives to organize our entertainment spaces”. This event will be held on October 21 at six in the afternoon.

It is also intended to enjoy the dance and its history with Pello Irurzun, a dance teacher specialized in Renaissance and Baroque dances in Spain.. “Irurzun accompanies us on a journey through 500 years of Madrid soirees, from the rattle dances to the current clandestine ones,” is highlighted in an activity that will be held on November 11..

Finally, on January 20, the exhibition will conclude with the presentation of the book Madrid desde el baile, in which some of the city's most interesting cultural and theoretical agents participate: Ismael Clemente, Pedro José Mariblanca Corrales, Gloria Durán, Melania Beraldo, Roborob Funklover, Johan Posada, José Salas, Asor Wanda, Irie Queen, Amparo Lasén, Rigo Pex, Abida Allouh, Servando Rocha, Raquel Ibáñez, Andrea Olea and Casu himself.