Nerja Dance Festival - NerjaDanza 2012

NerjaDanza 2012 is the eighth edition of this modern dance festival hosted by Nerja, which this year will begin on the 24th October. This three day festival is considered something of a landmark in the region, bringing modern dance to an area with more traditional, Spanish tastes. The events generally take place in the Cultural Centre or on the Balcon de Europa and are organised by the Town Hall with the co-operation of the Ministry of Culture and local businesses.

The festival is often a very international event bringing performers from all over the world, who not only display their talents but also pass on their expertise in workshops held during the festival period. Previous editions have included dancers from European countries such as France and Holland, however some have come from far further afield, the Far East, South America and Israel to name just a few. Of course there are often more local artists that visit with performers from Seville, Madrid and Barcelona often taking part.

This year, each day on the Balcon de Europa from 1pm there will be a performance put together by one of four visiting Dutch companies who have created unique pieces inspired by Nerja and the surrounding area. These pieces will be performed by Vermijs Rocco, Einat Tuchman, Loïc Perela, Angela and Ulkike Lampiranidou Doszman.

There are a number of events that take place in the Cultural Centre including workshops for the Kids, exhibitions and evening performances as detailed below:

24th October

• Villa de Nerja Cultural Centre – 12pm

  The resident dance group directed by Fernando Hurtado will present their piece 'Visitando otros jardines' for local secondary school children.

26th October

• Villa de Nerja Cultural Centre – 12pm

  The dance group Date Danza will perform their work 'Río de luna' which won the prize for best dance show FETEN 2011 (for children).

• Villa de Nerja Cultural Centre – 9pm

  Taiwanese choreographer I-Fen Tung will stage his work 'How to say' which was chosen as best work in the Young Stars Program of the National Foundation of Culture and Arts of Taiwan.

27th October

• Nerja Museum

  Although not related to the Dance Festival the Nerja Museum will be offering free entrance to visitors throughout the day as part of a European initiative to showcase local skills, traditions, architecture and works of art as part of the European Heritage Days celebration.

• Villa de Nerja Cultural Centre

  The final show given by Date Danza with the title ' Tres silencios' (Three silences) directed by the (wandering) Spanish choreographer Germán Jaúregui.

As well as the above there is an exhibition by the Taiwanese photographer Chang Chih Chen who is displaying twenty four of his photographs in the Nerja Cultural Centre until the 28th October. In 2011 Chang Chih Chen received an honourable mention in the prestigious Prix de la Photographie Paris competition for his work "Relative Perspective of trees".