Faced with the impossibility of show-casing theatrical performances, Lanzarote drama students and teachers produced ´virtual´ videos in which they explain the skills acquired and, stories developed during the creative process of a term´s education.
Live performances would have been the natural culmination of the second edition of the Festival de Teatro Escolar de Lanzarote, an initiative promoted by the area of Culture of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the company Cuerpo Teatro, who agreed on this solution to the closure of scenic spaces This meant teachers and students were able to celebrate the closing ceremony via a digital alternative.
The closing ceremony was screened on line from Monday, May 25th and included Primary, ESO and Baccalaureate schools have participated from different parts of the island
Students and teachers have produced from home videos to explain the arguments and stories they have developed, and to interpret particular fragments of their work, to describe the process of work and creativity they have followed throughout the educational year and even show how they created the homemade sets for these films. All this has been showing from Monday, May 25, and will continue until next June 25, on the website of the Festival de Teatro Escolar de Lanzarote.
The videos include 220 people, among them both teachers and students, belonging to the 10 schools that this year were enrolled in this 2nd edition of the Festival, among which are students of unitary schools, 1st, 3rd and 6th in Primary, 1st, 2nd and 4th esote and 1st Baccalaureate.
The School Theatre Festival of Lanzarote is offered to all educational institutions of the island, at the beginning of the academic year, through Mesa de Vice-Directors of Primary and the Bureau of Vice Principals of Secondary who co-ordinates the area of Education of the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
The peculiarity of this situation, and the fact that teachers and students were locked in the house, saw their families also become involved in the elaboration of the videos, and that support has been greatly appreciated and valued by Culture Lanzarote and by Cuerpo Teatro.
“Students and their tutors have adapted to the situation. They have not been able to make the plays that all of them had planned, but they have made a titanic effort and have given their best to offer us another product in return. They should be proud,” said Lanzarote’s Cabildo Culture Advisor Alberto Aguiar.
For his part, Siscu Ruz, director of Teatro Corps and coordinator of the Festival, has also had words of praise for the more than 200 people involved in the project. “From home, everyone has put the best effort into continuing to work and offer, even in a different, different format, a product that was entertaining and of interest,” said Ruz. “In addition, the fact that it necessarily took place inside the houses has caused the families to join the creative process, so the number of people involved has been much higher than the 220 initially planned between teachers and students,” added the Festival coordinator.
The screenings represent a cultural, artistic and educational meeting, of a non-competitive nature, where students from all schools are for several days protagonists, references and agitators of the culture and performing arts on the island.
It is, says the combined voice of Cuerpo Teatro and Culture Lanzarote, joint facilitators of the event, ´a festival made by and for schoolchildren, where the theatrical act becomes a cry and a living exhibition of their concerns, fears, illusions, dreams… and in short, a latent action of its reality”,
It was in November 2019 that the theatrical advice course for teachers was held with twenty people from the field of education receiving a comprehensive 20-hour training, including from content of collective creation and more technical aspects such as lighting or scenic space.
The course identified the tools needed to make a theatrical montage whilst working with the students through their search for what they will eventually take to be stage. The students worked from spontaneous creation, body expression, moving images and voice to deliver the main objective of the Festival by creating stage montages that reflect their listening to the reality, concerns and motivations, of students and teachers alike.
This training was complemented by a visit to the Víctor Fernández Gopar Theater to put into practice as a performance group everything they had learned and they also attended the thearte as an audience to enjoy the show “Arturo y Clementina”, by the company Titiritrán Teatro, which was performed on November 14, 2019 organized by Cultura Lanzarote.
From the end of the course to the day of the premiere, teachers from the ten selected centres receive personal and individualized advice to address any doubts arising during the creative process.
Subsequently, between 10 and 13 February 2020, guided tours were made to the Teatro Víctor Fernández Gopar, on an occasion when the students involved in the Festival could enjoy the exclusivity of the facilities to discover all the ins and outs of a theatrical building: The patio of armchairs, the stage box, the dressing room, the lighting Etc.
Everybody concerned in the Festival has met, head on, a series of major obstacles that Coronavirus and lockdown had inflicted not only upon them but on all the professionals in their field. It is a major credit to all concerned that their studies have not been in vain and that there is now a permanent legacy of all they learned and achieved.
For more information, check out the web for Festival de Teatro Escolar de Lanzarote or at Cultura Lanzarote.
It seems, then, that the arts here on Lanzarote are adapting brilliantly in their determination for that will reach its audience and help us find our way through these strange days. Not only are the arts reaching out reaching out new audiences but artists are also seeking to ensure that the sector can still attract new practitioners and new visionaries.
It was therefore good to read earlier this week that The Cabildo de Lanzarote has opened the pre-registration phase for the ICES that facilitate those who wish to study an instrument or other aspects of the music industry. The period to apply for a place opened on Monday May 25th and will run until Friday 19th June.
The area of Culture of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, has announced that the pre-registration period has opened in the Centro Insular de Enseñanzas Musicales (CIEM) de Lanzarote for the 2020-2021 courses.
All persons interested in receiving a musical training may be indicated for the pre-registration, with only the minimum age of 5 years, which must be met during the present 2020. There is no maximum age limit.
All persons who process the subscription will enter a draw to obtain a place, draw that will be held on Thursday, June 25, at 11 a.m., at ICES headquarters. The results will be published on the website of the Cabildo de Lanzarote from the day after the draw
Only in cases of the age of 8 can you choose between entering the draw or undergoing proof of access. It is not allowed to enroll in the two forms of entry, therefore the applicants must choose between one of the two options. Access tests will be conducted between June 29 and July 3.
Pre-registration can preferably be done online from home by entering the sede electrónica del Cabildo de Lanzarote with any of the telematic identification systems: cl@ve permanent, cl@ve PIN, digital certificate issued by one of the certification bodies admitted by the Electronic Headquarters or electronic ID or any other means admitted by the competent bodies.
Persons who find it impossible to pre-register online can do so in person by requesting an appointment at ICES by calling 928 598 528 / 928 81 01 00 (ext. 3200).
Those who are successful in their studies could become Lanzarote´s next generation of great musicians, so here on these arts pages of Lanzarote Information we wish them luck and happiness throughout their studies, and look forward to featuring them on these pages as they follow their art in years to come.
Even as it has been seeking out young, aspirational artists, however, the entire art scene here in Lanzarote has had to do so from behind closed doors to be revealed only through a camera lens projecting on to an on-line or social media screen. The island is not alone in that situation of course, as the same scenario is being played out in countries throughout the world. It can nevertheless be surprising to learn where artists much loved by Lanzarote fans are popping up.
Natalija Nikolayeva has been a good friend of this Lanzarote Information since we reviewed a concert of Romantic Souvenirs she played in Tias earlier this year with her musical partner, violinist Iya Myaeva. The two ladies were reviewed on these pages and then subsequently gave us an exclusive interview about their careers to date and their hopes and aspirations for the future. We all now stay in occasional touch about forthcoming events and I was pleased to receive a pdf attachment to an mail from Natalija earlier this week asking me to inform our readers of what sounded like a great concert that will be available in your living room on Saturday 30th May. That was unfortunately too late for publication, but copies must still be being shown on line somewhere so, with apologies for lateness, I bring you details. The concert was to celebrate the annual Canarias Day which, in the years we have lived here, has always been jam packed with arts events and festivals, with last year´s celebration being presaged the night before by a wonderful concert by The Lanzarote Ensemble orchestra in the atmospheric theatre in the caves of Jameos del Agua .
Now, The Canarias en Berlin German-Canary Society have delivered an on-line concert ´From Berlin and Rome for the Canary Islands.´ This musical greeting on the occasion of the Day of the Canary Islands 2020 Saturday, May 30th, began at 8 p.m. with Massimo Macro, cello (Roma / Fuerteventura), and our friend Natalija Nikolayeva, piano (Berlan / Lanzarote) with a programme that included a recital of Suite For Cello no 1, in G major, BWW 1007 by J.S. Bach (violoncello solo) and ´Himno de Canarias´ from Teobaldo Power “Cantos Canarios” (violoncello /with over-abrasion and accompaniment on piano by Roberto Bacchini)
Natalija on piano (Berlin / Lanzarote) then performed Klaviersonate (Moonlight Sonata) op.27 Nr.2 in cis minor by Beethoven, as well as Variations sérieuses, op.54 by Mendelssohn and Prelude op23 Nr.5 in G minor by Rachmaninov. She also delivered a short improvisation from “Nube de Hielo” by the much-loved Benito Cabrera.
We watched and listened in amazement: in part we, at our age, were amazed at the technology that facilitated all this, and we were also amazed by the elegance of the room Natalija played in, festooned by artwork and floral displays and finally we were amazed by the quality of her playing. In an elegant dress and some sort of organge flower in her hair she relaxed, and then lost herself, in the music. This on-line concert was transmitted via Facebook Canarias en Berlin and was followed by live chat with the artists Massimo Macro and Natalija Nikolayeva, via ZOOM ID: 974 0391 5387 Password: CeB-2020 Organizer : Canarias en Berlin German-Canary Society.
The following day, however, there was further late-breaking news with a communiqué from The Cabildo about a brief postponement of more general Dia Canarias events.
The Cabildo sensitively deferred the events of Canary Day until the end of the official mourning. La Corporación has prepared a series of online videos on culture, traditions and folklore of Lanzarote that will now be broadcast from June 7th
The island corporation, together with the seven municipalities of the island, had developed a series of audio-visual resources on culture, music, crafts, traditions, history and folklore of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands that were to have been broadcast on Saturday, May 30th on the occasion of the celebration of the Day of the Canary Islands, but which will now commence broadcasting one week later, from June 7.
The president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, said in this notification that she wished to publicly transfer on her own behalf, and of the whole Corporation, condolences to all the relatives of the deceased during this pandemic, with special attention to the families, friends and relatives of the 6 people who died in Lanzarote.
Notwithstanding what has happened in our countries of birth we feel sure all ´new residents´ on the island will share those sentiments.
Nevertheless, shops and services are slowly returning, and islanders in all walks of life over here are showing a willingness to learn new methodologies and protocol that will enable them to work. Our artists have shown similar willingness and initiative and so long as we don´t run towards it too quickly that light at the end of the tunnel might just prove to be a guidance back towards a ´live´ arts and culture calendar.
