Get practising your French or, better still, learn to conjugate the verb “dancer” in the language of Molière, because a new edition of the Dansa Metropolitana festival is starting, which, in its 2024 edition, brings to Barcelona and many other municipalities a selection of shows that make dance available to everyone.There are many indoor shows, but there are also many free ones that occupy the public space and that, from 1 to 17 March (some shows last a little longer than others), aim to showcase the arts of movement in general and, in particular, the proposals that come from France and urban dance.

In fact, the opening of the festival, which will be held on the 1st in Sabadell, will be attended by Accrorap, a company directed by a French reference in urban dance, Kader Attou. From this point onwards, there is a plethora of performances which, in the case of Barcelona’s stages, occupy public spaces and bring with them fundamental names in modern dance.

The festival, as we said, makes urban dance one of the protagonists and articulates it through the Artèries programme. With a name that suggests the transmission of nutrients (or talent or knowledge), this project connects professional artists and students from local schools, who work together and offer their own choreographies.

Among the free proposals this year, the solo by Diego Garrido (Iron Skulls Co) Nunca bailaré solo, at the Centre Cívic Ateneu Fort Pienc (2 March, at 12 noon) or the urban dance piece La Perla, by the same Iron Skulls Co, which is performed together with the previous one.

There are also performances by Big Bouncers, a contemporary dance company that presents the choreography Plata in Plaça del Poeta Boscà (where the Barceloneta Market is located) (3 March, at 12 noon), as well as the joint proposal of the Centre Cívic Teixonera, where on 3 March, at 12 noon, we will see the Cia. Du’K’tO and we will enjoy the creation Happy Everyting by Agnès Sales and Héctor Plaza.

Proposals included in the Barcelona Districte Cultural cycle, including Ego, by the company Humancía; Marúnica, by the Cia. Roberto G. Alonso; El baile de la zurda, by the company La Cerda; or Scotoma, by Clementine Telesford and Lisard Tranis, are part of the Barcelona programme of Dansa Metropolitana, among other performances. Don’t miss, if you’re looking for French performances in this year’s edition, the performance at the Pati de les Dones and Plaça dels Àngels, by Marco da Silva Ferreira, presenting Fantasie minor (creation 2022), and Compagnie Dyptik with the moving show D-Construction (10th, at 12 noon).

In addition to the free performances, many of the city’s venues have joined Dansa Metropolitana 2024 with top-quality paid performances. Among the most talked-about is that of the bailaora María Pagés and her Paraíso de los negros, which will be staged at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya from 22 to 24 March; the Sydney Dance Company directed by the Catalan Rafael Bonachela, which presents the shows Ascent (with three choreographies) from 14 to 16 March, and Impermanence, on 19 and 20, always at the Mercat de les Flors or, also on the same stage, the surprising French choreographer and director Rachid Ourandame and his Corps extrêmes, a cross between dance and circus. The Portuguese Piny (don’t miss the performance G RITO on 16 and 17 March, at the Mercat) and the stage play Cuerpo nombrado, by Paula Comitre (7 March, at the Centre Cívic Parc Sandaru; organised by the Sociedad Flamenca Barcelonesa El Dorado).

In addition to Rachid Ourandame, other artists performing these days in the Barcelona venues come from France, the country on which the Dansa Metropolitana 2024 festival is focusing this year. Thus, at the Mercat de les Flors we will see both the unusual and aesthetically beautiful proposal of the Compagnie Olivier Dubois Tragédie, new edit (23rd, at the Mercat de les Flors) and the family show by Maud le Pladec Silent Legacy, with Jr Maddripp (16th and 17th, at the Mercat).

The Italian collective Komoco (presenting IMA on the 8th at the Sant Andreu Teatre: There’s also a hip-hop battle on the 9th) and many proposals from local artists such as the company Animal Religion (with the family show Copiar at the Mercat, on the 9th and 10th); the double offered by Amalia Fernández (Solala) and Laila Tafur (Maja y Bastarda EP) on 7, 9 and 10 March at La Caldera; the choreographic proposal Rel i grapa, by the brothers Víctor & Raúl Pérez Armero, on the same stage at the beginning of the month; Sara Manubens’ show Symphony of the Seas (from 14 to 17 March, at the Antic Teatre) and Luqui Lagomarsino‘s proposal on the same stage (7, 8 and 9 March) are part of a programme in which Joaquín Collado will present (1, 2 and 3 March; Mercat de les Flors) his new show Hacia un sol negro.

If you don’t want to miss the best Barcelona proposals of the Dansa Metropolitana festival, check out the website of this event with the moving arts