Page 138 - Results 2015: AC/E Programme for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture

RESULTS 2015sElECtion of projECts138/Spanish Dance conquers chinaAndrÉs sEoAnEEL CULTURAL | 18/11/2015Interview with the choreographer and stage director Yoshua Cienfuegos, recently returned from the Guandong Dance Festival, which he attended thanks to the AC/E Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture. e Guandong festival, one of the most prestigious dance festivals in Asia, has just lowered the stage curtain on a week of intense activity. e event —a referencepoint for contemporary dance across the entire continent— presents China’s most outstanding artists to the world. Moreover,it is also a showcase for the most innovative creators worldwide within the discipline of dance. rough its eleven editions, the festival has consolidated its role as an international platform, bringing together artists and professionals from di erent cultures. It attracts many important agenda setters and professionals from other festivals to become a platform for dialogue and exchange.Recently returned from Guangzhou, the Guandong capital, we catch up with Yoshua Cienfuegos (Oviedo, 1973), choreographer and stage director at the veteran dance company, CienfuegosDanza, and founding member of the recently created Academyof Performing Arts (Academia de lasArtes Escénicas de España). He is at the festival thanks to the support of the AC/E Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture. But this is not Cienfuego’s rst visit to a renowned Chinese festival. “Two years ago, and thanks again to the support of AC/E, we were in the Beijing Dance Festival, where we initiated contacts with the Chinese organisers who also wanted to have us at this festival,” Cienfuegos says. He brims with enthusiasm on this type on initiative, which he deems “very important for independent companies as they raisethe pro le of our product internationally enabling us to export them and to make them competitive abroad.” And that, he