Tàrrega never ceases to surprise the visitor. With 46 artistic proposals, a new successful edition of the street theater fair closed yesterday. And the proof that it has become a pole of great power is demonstrated by the confluence of companies of all kinds.
The fair began with La Veronal, which on Thursday and Friday nights filled the Plaza Major with drums with the extraordinary Sonoma. And it ended with the musical and audiovisual proposal by Alba G. Corral and the Julià Carbonell Symphonic Orchestra of the Terres de Lleida. The show Our lands with dancing planets It is a brotherhood between the lands of Lleida and those of the Ebro.
At FiraTàrrega, however, extraordinary things also happen, such as a child’s giant puppet chasing an impossible gift. Mo et le ruban rouge, from the French company L’Homme Debout, required the collaboration of around twenty volunteers from FiraTàrrega’s Escamot, and has left one of the most iconic images of this fair.
The performance of the Belgians Be Flat dazzles the audience with their balances and acrobatics on the balconies of Tàrrega
Without stopping sightseeing, the motto of this edition, but in this case in the most unlikely places, such as the cornices of buildings, jumping from balcony to balcony or climbing the buttresses of the church, the Belgians Be Flat have had the public with their hearts in a fist.
From the first performance, the spectacularity and daring of his acrobatics spread like wildfire, so that yesterday, in the third and last of his performances, the hundred spectators with tickets gathered, with their corresponding folding stool, plus two hundred of people, who did not want to miss the spectacular nature of the number.
The Belgians Be Flat walk along the cornices and balconies of Tàrrega in FiraTàrrega
He Parkour or art of displacement is, according to Wikipedia, “a discipline that consists of moving through the urban or natural environment, overcoming the obstacles that arise along the way (fences, walls, empty spaces…) in the most fluid and efficient as possible.” It must be added that, in addition to the perfect and agile execution of the Parkour, Be Flat demonstrated an excellent sense of rhythm and coordination among the hundreds of people who followed them through the alleys of the center of Tàrrega.
The director of another festival looked at him, like everyone else, with wide eyes, and declared to The vanguard : “Just because of the permits and safety regulations, it is impossible to bring it to my city, but here in Tàrrega the City Council is completely dedicated to the fair and what that entails.”
FiraTàrrega, a consolidated axis
The good weather and the complete overcoming of the pandemic have meant that the edition of FiraTàrrega that ended yesterday achieved almost full occupancy. It is not easy to calculate the number of people who have seen the street shows, but with respect to the tickets for the paid productions, yesterday morning we had already reached 92% occupancy, with 13,000 tickets, and in the area When camping there have been 1,700 campers who have stayed for four days. The FiraTàrregaPro Catalan Arts section has registered a record of registrations, with more than 1,200 accredited programmers, which shows that “FiraTàrrega is confirmed as a very important hub for professional networking – says its executive director, Natàlia Lloreta –, as well as a key event for cultural democratization and access to the performing arts.” On the other hand, with this edition, the artistic director of FiraTàrrega, Anna Giribet, ends her five-year period, demanding “more resources for creation, quality international support and a commitment to new emerging voices.”
