Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts

Monday, 31 August 2026

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, July—August 2026

I was away for the most of July, and in August there wasn’t much on offer. Still.

  • 30 July: Primer conversatorio de cantautoras de Gran Canaria @ Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre, Paseo de las Canteras, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
      With Dácil Santana, Laura Perdomo, Sara Brito, Aldara, Ana Label, Claudia Álamo, Ana Falcón, Sylvie Hernández and Mararía González. This and other events at the Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre were part of the cycle «Ola de Letras».

  • 8 August: Versos a pie de orilla @ Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre
      Mararía González (vocals, guitar), Ana Falcón (vocals, piano) and Adriana Medina (poetry).

  • 12 August: Miguel Ángel Castro @ Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Calle de los Balcones, 9
  • 15 August: Música Viva @ Jardines del Atlántico
      This was the first of the new cycle of open-air concerts, Música Viva, a double bill of Pleito, a solo project by Alba Gil Aceytuno (saxophone, loops, percussion, voice), and La Cofradía, a jazz quartet featuring Kervin Barreto (trumpet), Juan Pérez Pérez (drums), Nelson Saavedra (double bass) and Luis Sánchez Guerra (piano).

  • 21 August: Jazz en el aire @ CAAM
      Luis Sánchez Guerra (piano), Carlos Meneses (double bass) and Suso Vega (drums) playing mostly original compositions, with Let It Be as an encore. A concert from this year’s cycle JazzCAAM.

  • 22 August: Ibaute @ Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre
      What it says: Ibaute (vocals, guitar).

  • 27 August: Muestra abierta de escuelas de danza @ Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre
      With the participation of students from several dance schools of Las Palmas.

And exhibitions:

  • 16 July — 14 August: «Módulo 4» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
      A mural created by the graffiti artist Ayoze Jiménez with participation of the Gran Canarian public, including several inmates of the Prison Las Palmas I.

Three exhibitions @ Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Calle de los Balcones, 9

Goodbye, summer.

Friday, 1 May 2026

Free live music and stuff, March—April 2026

Some stuff that I saw in Valencia, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Vitoria.

  • 15—19 March: Las Fallas de Valencia, various locations
      This year, compared to the first time I’ve been to the Fallas, I was able to see more and better, thanks to the weather. Even so, I spent most time away from the crowds in the centre, lost in the barrios of Benimaclet, Cabañal and Malvarrosa.

      More photos of Las Fallas @ Shutterstock.
  • 31 March: «Grito de Mujer 2026» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
      A part of the worldwide festival Grito de Mujer. With the participation of Proyecto Interculturalízate, a group of migrant women (with musical collaboration of the Thioune Brothers); writers M.ª del Pino Marrero Berbel, Rosario Ibrahim, Rubén Mettini, Pepa Molina, Carolina Landino, Bönaí Capote and Aghlahoum-Poeta saharaui-Tinduf; singers-songwriters Sara Brito, Daniel Cano, and Virginia Ruiz “La Niña de la Calle”. Presented by Ana Cendrero González.

  • 8 April: «Somethin’ Stupid» @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

  • 10 April: «Sinfonía de sinfonías» @ Plaza del Pilar Nuevo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
      The final performance of the graduates of the Advanced Conducting Programme (the class of Dr. Ignacio García Vidal) based in the Canary Islands, with La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Unfortunately the show was interrupted by rain just when the second part started. This is what we heard:
      • Ludwig van Beethoven, Egmont: Overture — conducted by Óscar Manuel Sánchez Benítez
      • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade I. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship — conducted by Anna Kucherenko Parikova
      • Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess — conducted by Javier López Peña
      The full programme of the concert as it was intended is available here.

  • 18 April: «Puto amor» @ Centro Cívico Langraiz-Oka, Tres de Marzo Parkea, 1, Nanclares de la Oca / Langraiz Oka

  • 25 April: A Contra Blues @ Plaza de la Provincia, Vitoria-Gasteiz
      A fantastic band featuring Jonathan Herrero (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Víctor López (drums), Héctor Martín Díaz (electric guitar), Matías Míguez (electric bass) and Alberto Noel Calvillo (electric guitar) was performing as part of the Fiestas de San Prudencio. I liked their originals but I was most impressed by the covers of Sinnerman and Triana’s En el lago.

And exhibitions, all in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria:

  • 27 February — 27 March: «Hacer(se) Tierra. Arquitectura del arraigo» @ Centro Cultural CICCA, Alameda de Colón, 1
      Paintings from the collection of La Fundación La Caja de Canarias, including works by Miró Mainó, Alberto Manrique, José Comas Quesada, Pedro del Castillo Olivares and Juan Betancor.

  • 5 March — 10 April: «Prohibido Escuchar» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
      A project by Anarcos and Rosa P. Almeida, with invited artist Pedro Déniz.

  • 19 March — 30 August: «ART AL QUADRAT. Memorias colectivas / Represiones cotidianas» @ CAAM — San Antonio Abad, Plaza San Antonio Abad
      Works by the Valencian arists Mónica and Gema del Rey Jordà, aka Art al Quadrat.

Bring on May.

Thursday, 1 January 2026

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, December 2025

Before reporting on what we’ve seen in December, let me tell you what we haven’t. That’s right, it was Christmas lights switch-on on 4 December. When we arrived somewhere close to Plaza de Santa Ana, we realised that we can’t get there because of the bloody barriers. It was supposed to be a family-friendly event but from what we could see, all the seats were taken mostly by adults. After circling the place clock- and then counterclockwise, we went home to read some indignant comments in social networks.

And then a great number of outdoorsy activities were cancelled thanks to Storm Emilia. Oh well.

On the other hand, I’ve been to three pretty good Christmas concerts in local churches which I probably wouldn’t attend if we haven’t moved to Isleta.

And exhibitions:

  • 12 November 2025 — 1 March 2026: «El original multiplicado» @ Casa de Colón
      Engravings from the collection of Cabildo de Gran Canaria, including works by Rembrandt, Goya, Picasso, Chillida, Chirino and Lola Massieu.

  • 4 December 2025 — 6 January 2026: Elia Verona @ Bar Tenesor, Calle Rosarito, 2
      Engravings by Elia Verona in a friendly bar environment.
  • 11 December 2025 — 9 January 2026: «Objetópolis: Atlas de invenciones poéticas» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
      Impossible art by Irene León.

Happy New Year, everybody.


* Instrumental.
This concert was part of the cycle Sueña la Navidad en tu barrio (District Isleta-Puerto-Guanarteme).

Monday, 1 December 2025

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, November 2025

What we’ve seen in November:

  • 6 November: «Con el Latido de la Madre Tierra» @ Castillo de la Luz, Calle Juan Rejón, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
      A concert of La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria conducted by Teresa Hernández Vega. The programme included works by Alfred Reed, Satoshi Yagisawa, Giancarlo Castro D’Addona, Jesús Agomar and Moisés Moleiro.

  • 8 November: «Calles con Arte» @ Calle Taliarte and Calle Guaires, La Isleta
      A Saturday full of cultural activities, all just a block away from us. We went to see pole dance by No Limits Pole Dance Studios; tango dance by Abrazos en movimiento accompanied by Atorrantes Tango Club; Bollywood dance workshop with Lavina Saradangani; and «El coro de La Luz» by Chelys Odalis.

  • 11 November: Taller de danzas folklóricas venezolanas @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
      The first event from the cycle «Américas» organised by Casa de Colón and produced by Tájara producciones: a Venezuelan dance workshop by the Asociación Cultural Cambur Pintón.

  • 13 November: Conciertos de música popular venezolana @ Casa de Colón
      Mestizo feauturing Marcel Montcourt (cuatro venezolano), Danny Martínez (guitar), Óscar Sánchez (flute), Kiko González (percussion), Winter Sánchez (double bass) and Adrián Brito (vocals), plus a special guest Claudia Álamo (vocals).

  • 14 November: «Américas» @ Plaza del Pilar Nuevo
      With crowd-pleasers such as Libertango, Oblivion and Tico Tico, La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria conducted by Juan Roda Sapiña closed the cycle «Américas».

  • 18 November: Arrorró solidario @ Casa de Colón
      Featuring Guada Márquez, Ángel Ravelo, Luis Quintana, Sixto Armas, Esther Rodríguez, Helena González, Sylvie Hernández, Daniel Lamb, Cinzia Mare, Marta Bolaños, Cira Rodríguez, Tite Fernández, Misael Jordán and others. Presented by Tonono González and Nanda Santana.

  • 27 November: «Una noche vieja» @ Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre, Paseo de las Canteras
      A very amateur comedy performed by Teatro Mínimo XXI. The audience was full of Rabbit’s friends-and-relations. Everybody was given a cup with twelve grapes, which was nice.

Is it the end of November already? Unbelievable.

Saturday, 1 November 2025

(Almost) free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, October 2025

What we’ve seen in October:

  • 4 October: «Tránsito, Lienzo y Voz» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

  • 6 October: 30MASDANZA @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
      The programme included:
      • Raquel Gualtero Soriano (Ibagué, Colombia — Barcelona, Spain): 360º
      • Catarina Casqueiro & Tiago Coelho (Lisbon, Portugal): Forget Me Not
      • Eugenio Micheli & Marta Papaccio (Catania, Italy): The Waiting
      • Albert Hernández & Irene Tena (Madrid, Spain): No

  • 8 October: Luis Quintana @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4
      What I find irritating in a performer: (1) asking the audience to sing with, or instead of, them (90% of cantautores do it); (2) explaining what their songs are about; (3) wearing a hat on stage. LQ does all this and it is annoying. I liked Ángel Ravelo’s sax (he didn’t ask the crowd to play any with him).

  • 9 October: MASDANZA Showcase I @ Sala Gabriel Rodó, Paseo Principe de Asturias
      The programme included:
      • Kiko López (Valencia, Spain): Honest
      • Charlotte Carpentier & Giovanni Molendi (Gzira, Malta): Silenced
      • Olé Khamchanla (Saint Vallier, France): Cercle
      • Cristina Roggerini & Gaia Mondini (Marano di Napoli, Italy): Last Movement of Hope: II Chapter — Organs
      • Paula Comitre & Julio Ruiz; cante: Al Blanco (Seville, Spain): Un diálogo entre Paula Comitre y Julio Ruiz

  • 12 October: The 5.6.7.8’s @ Parque de San Telmo
      The Big Bang Vintage Festival this year was not free. We discovered this on Sunday when the security guy told us that the concert was “a private event” and we were meant to purchase tickets. The prices were €50 (a four-day pass) and €20 (a one-day pass). We were not ready to pay €20 per person for just one concert, and, judging by the applauses, it didn’t look like there was great attendance. Timur and I stayed outside the bus station to listen for the fist few songs. The sound quality wasn’t impressive either.
  • 28 October: «Arrudeio» @ Casa de Colón
      This concert was part of the 22nd (!) Festival Tensamba — why haven’t I heard of it before? With Camila Masiso (vocals, percussion) and Carol Benigno (accordion).

And exhibitions:

  • 25 September — 24 October: «Caminar la forma» @ Centro Cultural CICCA, Alameda de Colón, 1
      Wood sculptures by Juan Carlos Déniz.

  • 30 October — 28 November: Exposición del Concurso «Gran Canaria de Series de Obra Gráfica» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
      ...where you can see some engravings by Tamara and Timur.

Bye, October.

Wednesday, 1 October 2025

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, September 2025

It was a great September, stuff-wise.

  • 6 September: Troveros de Asieta «30 años de son» @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
      Troveros de Asieta featuring Francis Concepción (vocals, guitar), Pedro Brito (tres, backing vocals), Fran Martín “Ciani” (vocals, percussion), José Humberto Martín (trumpet), Oscar Herrera (trumpet), Carlos Perdomo (baby bass), Julio González (percussion), David Platero (percussion) and Alberto Martín (piano), plus a guest singer Mayelín Naranjo.

All the free shows of the 29th edition of TEMUDAS (18—28 September 2025) took place in Santa Catalina, so it was very convenient for us. (We passed on the container terminal concert this year.) This is what we’ve seen:

  • 18 September, 18:00: «SinSolo» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Compañía Faltan7 (Comunidad de Madrid) opened the festival with this charming contemporary circus show. Starring Katharina Gruener, Luca Sartor, Naikel Blázquez, Moran Shoval, Paula Garo, Yifat (Fifi) Rosenblat and Olivia (Libby) Halliday. Directed by Miguel Muñoz.

  • 18 September, 19:00: «Maña» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Compañía Manolo Alcántara (Catalonia). I never thought that watching two guys silently moving around wooden blocks for one hour could be that fascinating. But it was.

  • 18 September, 21:30 and 19 September, 22:00: «Légendaire» @ Parque Santa Catalina/Luis Morote
      Remue Ménage (France). Installation, circus.

  • 19 September, 20:00: «Wild» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Circus and modern dance by Motionhouse (UK). Created and directed by Kevin Finnan. Starring Alex De La Bastide, Olly Bell, Llewelyn Brown, Sophie O'Leary, Daniel Massarella and Beth Pattison.

  • 19 September, 21:00: «Canto al trabajo Sinfónico» @ Plaza de Canarias
      A show by Pieles and La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Authors: Jonatan Rodríguez and Oswaldo Bordón. Featuring Fátima Rodríguez, Laura Álvarez, José Félix Álvarez, Fernanda Alonso, Germán G. Arias, Jeremías Martín, Juan Antonio Mora, Ithaisa Darias, Guillermo Molina, Ventor de la Guardia, Fede Beuster, Carlos Castañeda and Jonatan Rodríguez.

  • 20 September, 17:30: «Out of the Deep Blue» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Autin Dance Theatre (Birmingham, UK). Featuring a 13-foot tall puppet operated by five puppeteers and a dancer.

  • 21 September, 18:30: «Verbena» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Colectivo Lamajara Danza (Catalonia). Dancers: Anna Sagrera Conde, Agnès Balfegó Brull, Daniel Rosado Ávila, José David Ortega Cerda and Paloma Hurtado de la Cruz.

  • 21 September, 20:30: «Sinergia 3.0» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Compañía Nueveuno (Madrid). Contempoary circus starring Miguel Frutos, Josu Montón, Isaac Posac and Jorge Silvestre.

  • 25 September, 20:00: «Esencial» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Vaivén Circo (Granada).

  • 25 September, 21:00: «Xpectro» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Zen del Sur (Granada). Starring Carlos López and Noemí Pareja.

  • 27 September, 11:30: «Pols» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Modern dance performed by Pepa Cases (C. Valenciana).

  • 27 September, 11:45: «The» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Modern dance. Created and performed by Miguel Jiménez & Andrea Carrión (Murcia).

  • 27 September, 12:00: «Naufragio Universal» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Modern dance, flamenco. Created and performed by Marco Vargas & Chloé Brûlé (Murcia).

  • 27 and 28 September, 20:30: «Le Lac des Cygnes» @ Plaza de Canarias
      Weird, beautiful and comic sketches from the life of waterfowl: L’eolienne (France) presented their take on Tchaikovsky’s classic. The story, if there is one, has nothing to do with the original Swan Lake libretto and is all the better for that. I liked it so much that I went to both shows. Those who left early missed that hilarious pièce de résistance, Danse des petits cygnes. Author and choreographer: Florence Caillon. Starring: Anouk Weiszberg, Guilhèm Charrier, Madeleine Peylet, Marco Guillemet, Ancelin Dugue and Johanna Dalmon.

  • 27 September, 22:00: «Le Grand Mire» @ Parque de Santa Catalina
      Aerial dance by Deus Ex Machine (France). This could be a great 30-minute show if not for the pair of annoying emcees. Also, we felt that this magical sphere was underused.

  • 28 September, 17:00: «Nilu» @ Plaza de Canarias
      A show by Infinit (C. Valenciana). Performed by Enric Romaguera.

The last concert from the cycle Música Antigua en el Patio this year:

And exhibitions:

  • 18 September — 17 October: «Sacred Place» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
      Art by Alfonso Crujera.

  • 25 September 2025 — 22 February 2026: «Morar» @ CAAM – San Antonio Abad, Plaza San Antonio Abad
      Works by Esther Aldaz.

Hello, October.