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textiles, music and movement.

Q to Teresa on the calendar for dances

T: Festa Major the biggest is in Sept.-   Barcelona's festival guides the rest.
The other major St Aulalia's in February explaining the life and mysteries of Sta. Aulalia. It brings out a story of freedom through speaking out about your ideas. She's the patron saint of Barcelona. Every year, Pau helps with producing the festival as well as researching the dance + cultural history. They are incorporating videos as well.

Q. Who comes? Pablo Not just Americans - Russ, China etc...

A Pau:Obviously tourism is reinforcing interest in the festivities, but it is really important to Catalans themselves, it is not just raising the visibility of Catalans abroad. We don't say it so much but seeing international interest makes Catalans value preserving their traditions even more

Q How are Catalan traditions passed on.

Th: Knowledge is passed from generation to generation. But a 2nd way is folklorists researching and writing in late 19th century and early 20th century. They can consult this history and use it to help traditions evolve + be maintained
Music is easier. It can just be written down if you have the same instruments you can reproduce it. There is no dance notation. It is all memory + hearsay. So some things must be recreated. Same with dress. They struggle to reconstruct how it would have been. The religious [underlined] traditions traced to particular sites have been carefully preserved from the Middle Ages, unlike other folk dance.

Pau: We have 19th century pictures of dress but since he's been doing this for 40 years he has a lot of references, graphic insights. to draw upon. Also he works with a lot of oil paintings + drawings but it is hard to transform these into movements to be done by contemporary people. Now he's not teaching in schools but training the cultural associations how to research and share their own customs.

M: To make the figures one must be trained and the knowledge has to pass from generation to generation. In 1950's under Franco dictatorship the Catalan sculpt, dress, dance was threatened. In the 80's with democracy there was more room to really develop culturally. In the 90's the catalan gov't realized the old professionals were dying and built academies where masters could train and pass on the art + skill.

Q. Will sculpture of traditional figures be taught in University

In that moment the gov't decided a specific course the young masters did learn so it doesn't need to be in university. The challenge is finding material to produce the figures.

Q. How have traditions changed?

Comparing the 70's and now. In 70's it was spontaneous to dance in the streets now not so much. So they are working hard to put knowledge back into their daily life. They have a lot of difference dances. Sadana is really well known. And the music but so many more old dances exists that Catalans don't know as well which they are teaching.

Pau with globalization, young people are striving to be modern. The challenge is to help them recover the past in order to incorporate it into their future. As an example - 1,000 years of Catalania but to the Mediteranean the same red helmet felt cap with black border has been used for 3,000 years.

M: The imaginary figures are thriving. Each town has own festivities and all want their own giants. M's challenge is to keep the figures up to date and doing well.

Q. Is sardana taught in school?

T: Sadana is not mandatory in schools. Not even the music. Kids learn from their neighborhood associations.

Q: In what region is sardana done:

Th. It was national dance since end of 19th century. Tradition moved from the North to the South. There are competitions all over.

Transcription Notes:
& not + per SI instructions