 THEATRE METHODS 04
Creative Presentations
D'Aigua People's Theatre
D’Aigua’s STORY
 D’Aigua means “water” in catalan. Collective, intergenerational, interdisciplinary and intercultural street theatre and festival creations. d’aigua lives on the street and provokes life in it. It participates in the city and invites the city to participate in it. Dialogue with the buzz of the streets and daily life is as necessary for us as water.
The group was created in 2001, is co-ordinated by four people with backgrounds in theatre and the social sciences and has its base in the Casc Antic of Barcelona from where it develops different activities. The methodology used by the group is strengthened through the experiences of daily life and:
• is participatory
• is one of collective creation
• uses the question as a way to provoke action
The principal activity carried out by d’Aigua is the Espacio de Participación Teatral (EPT). This is an empty space where everything is possible because there is nothing. A space which is open to participation from people of all ages, cultures and socio economic conditions, where no experience is necessary, a space which functions through interpersonal and intrapersonal dialogue and converses with the city.
A theatrical space, because we believe that the base materials of theatre are the people and with their participation and only with this participation can we work towards a better reality. d’Aigua publicises the EPT’s on a neighbourhood basis, targeting local people from the local area, although EPT’s welcome and include people from further afield. Each EPT lasts between 2 and 5 months, working an average of 6 hours a week. The activities of each EPT are programmed by the participants themselves following their aims and ideas.
JOURNEY
As the contribution to THEATRE METHODS 04 d'Aigua would like to present a mini Espacio de Participación Teatral (EPT) to be carried out during the event.
The EPT will consist of a series of workshops. As the philosophy of d'Aigua is one of open participation without the necessity of experience they would like to work with a group made up of festival participants and people from the local neighbourhood. The people will be invited to attend each of these the workshop sessions  and to perform on the last day. The workshop will include some working sessions in the streets of the local area. The end product of the EPT will be a show which we will perform on the last day of the conference. The show will be a product of collective creation between festival participants, local participants and ourselves.
The initial theme of the EPT will be the journey, but this will be further developed through the workshop participants, the history and actualities of the neighbourhood. The EPT will be at the same time 2 journeys. The journey of the local people towards theatre and, the journey of theatre professionals towards daily of the neighbourhood.
After the performance the company will present a lecture discussing the history and methods of d’Aigua.
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