IMC 2015: Sessions
Session 698: Special Session: Ballar el moro - Dancing the Moor: Festive Dances of Moors and Christians in the Western Mediterranean (Language English and Español)
Tuesday 7 July 2015, 13.00-14.00
| Introduction: | Licia Buttà, Departement Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona |
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| Speakers: | Lenke Kovács, Departament de Filologia Catalana, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona Raül Sanchis Francés, Departament de Filologia Catalana, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona |
| Abstract | Festive entertainments featuring ‘Moors’ and ‘Christians’ are still staged with more than a thousand performance locations worldwide. Halfway between history and myth, this tradition unites customs, characters, and meanings, going beyond the usual depiction of confrontation between two opposing sides. Dance, music, and theatre combine to characterize an ancient figure that originated at the cultural crossroads of the Mediterranean: the Moor. For centuries, the Catalan-speaking areas of the western Mediterranean have been one of the territories in which the festive character of the Moor has been danced most frequently and in manifold ways. Today, those dances can still be found in one form or another, gaining a renewed strength at the threshhold of identity and lost memory… This talk will provide an introduction to the exhibition ‘Ballar el Moro - Dancing the Moor’ located on the Parkinson Gallery throughout IMC 2015. 'Ballar el Moro - Dancing the Moor' is a production of the Ethnological Museum of Barcelona and the Cultural Association Joan Amades, in collaboration with the Department of Catalan Studies of the University Rovira I Virgili of Tarragona and with the support of the Diputació de Tarragona and Cases de la Festa de l’Ajuntament de Barcelona. 'Ballar el Moro - Dancing the Moor' has been expanded and translated into English and Spanish for IMC 2015. This translation is a production of the Department of Catalan Studies of the University Rovira I Virgili and the International Consolidated Research Group LAiREM (2014 SGR 894). In this second stage, the exhibition has the support of the Barcelona Museum of Ethnology, the Cultural Association Joan Amades, and the International Research Group ICONODANSA (FF12013-42939 DANAEM). Commissioner, research, and texts: Raül Sanchis Francés |