“La Gran Sultana” Seminar and Residence
26 April to 1 May
Directors: Clara Garí (Camallera) and Serhan Ada (Santral Center Estambul)
With the participation of Berrak Yedek, Tomeu Verges, Josep M. Berenguer
In November 2006, Nau Côclea was invited to a meeting about artists’ residencies, organised by the British association Euclid at the Tate Modern in London.
The meeting yielded a proposal by Serhan Ada, director of the future Santral centre in Istanbul, for the coordination of a joint creative project.
“La Gran Sultana” is a work by Cervantes that has is still currently very relevant. This play for theatre features a captive Christian woman with whom the Great Sultan falls in love. He asks her to marry him yet does not force her to renounce either her religion or her origins.
In this work, Cervantes, who was very familiar with the countries of the Mediterranean, presents a very vivid portrait of the cultural exchange that took place among Christians and Muslims in his period.
Ada proposed the creation of an innovative choreographic performance and we thought that the proposal could also include some kind of visual presentation and, of course, research into sound.
The Turkish ballerina Berrak Yedek was chosen because of both her traditional roots and research into modern dance.
It is an ambitious project the premier of which should take place in Istanbul and in Girona in 2008. It will thereafter be staged in Europe and Latin America.