By Manal Abdel Fattah
The Spanish Cultural Center (Cervantes Institute in Cairo), in cooperation with the Breaking Walls Festival for Performing Arts and Dance, in its sixth edition held in Cairo during February and March 2024, will host two artistic highs. On Wednesday, February 28, it will host a contemporary dance event that includes three performances, namely “Mannequin.” “Directed by Fatima Al-Zahraa, The Scarecrow (Fantasy of the Dead) directed by Kholoud Yassin, and “Game, Picture, Mission” by artist Ben Greenberg, at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Cairo at seven o’clock. Entry is free with prior registration, according to what the festival and the Cervantes Institute reported through their platforms on Facebook, and the doors are closed when the shows begin to prevent any impact on the progress of the shows.
The cooperation will be repeated, within the framework of the festival, by organizing an event showing short films on the arts of kinetic and theatrical expression through dance and performance, in Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of America, at six o’clock in the evening on Thursday, March 7th. The event includes the screening of seven short films: Homo Femina (Argentina, 35 minutes), Red Hood (Argentina, Chile, 8 minutes), Cocito (Spain, France, 17 minutes), Cadenas (Peru, 4 minutes), The Gap (Spain, 10 minutes), The Second Dance (Spain, 27 minutes), and In My Skin (Spain, 14 minutes).
The two events come within the framework of the cultural program of the Cervantes Institute, which works to consolidate cultural relations between host countries and Spanish-speaking countries, and introduce Spanish culture and language in cooperation with various local artistic and cultural entities and bodies affiliated with Spanish-speaking countries. The Institute organizes its activities in Egypt through its headquarters in Cairo and Alexandria, and is also present globally through its network of centers in 88 cities and 45 countries worldwide.
It is worth noting that the “Breaking Walls” festival, which was launched in 2017, represents a link between international and Egyptian artists working together to develop contemporary movement performance performances in non-traditional locations, with the aim of providing an opportunity for artistic and human interaction between individuals and places with a different perspective. The festival also aims to promote fair and sustainable relations between the international and Egyptian dance communities by promoting joint cultural production. It also works to enhance professional development opportunities for the Egyptian contemporary dance community.
