euskalkultura.eus

The well-known Basque dantzari is now touring Argentina where he will teach Basque dance workshops at a large number of euskal etxeak.  The tour began at the Eusko Kultur Etxea in Buenos Aires, and continued to Ibaiko Izarra in Concordia for two-day workshops in both cases.  The next stop will be this weekend in Corpus Christi, Misiones where dantzaris from the provincial capital city, Posadas will also participate. 

Buenos Aires, Argentina.   Fulfilling the commitment after concluding last year’s tour, the musician and dantzari, Patxi Perez, returned to Argentina to carry out a more complete tour thanks to the support of the EKE-Euskal Kultur Erakundea. The itinerary began last weekend at the Eusko Kultur Etxea in Buenos Aires where Perez taught a two-day dance workshop.  The second stop of the tour was in Concordia, Entre Rios province where Perez was invited by the local Ibaiko Izarra Basque club.  Again, Perez taught a two-day workshop, on October 17-18, dedicating the instruction especially to the local Basque club dancers.

Continuing the tour, Perez will go to Corpus Christi tomorrow, October 21, to spend the weekend.  There he will teach dance workshops for kids in the community as well as children from near-by San Ignacio, as well as dantzaris from Posadas who are traveling there expressly for the event; a group from Chaco may also take part.

In regards to the rest of the tour, the complete program follows (with some dates and places TBD).  Musicians Mikel Perez, Pat Tetuide, Jimmy Arrabit and Pampy Gerard, members of the group Patxi eta Konpainia, will arrive in Argentina on November 3rd to complete the tour and participate in activities that will take place from November 2-13.  After the 13th, Perez will return to the Basque Country and it will the musicians’ turn to teach the workshops until November 20th, the last day of the tour.

Workshops taught by Patxi Perez:

October 21-23, Eusko Etxea de Corpus Christi, Misiones
October 29-30, Córdoba-Mendoza (TBD)

Workshops to be taught by Patxi eta Konpainia:

November 3, Escuela de danzas n°2 ‘Jorge Donn’, in Buenos Aires
November 5, Centro Cultural La Usina del Arte de Buenos Aires (TBD)
November 7, Colegio Euskal Echea in Llavallol
November 8-9, Centro Vasco Hiru Erreka, in Tres Arroyos
Novmeber 11-13, Necochea

Dates for Patxi’s musicians:

November 14-18, Concert in Bariloche
November 19-20, Centro Vasco Euskal Echea in Comodoro Rivadavia. TBD. On this trip, the musicians would be accompanied by Aitor Alava

Patxi in Buenos Aires and Concordia

As previously mentioned, the Patxi Perez tour began in Buenos Aires on October 14-15, with a workshop at the Eusko Kultur Etxea.  The event was open to the public and was attended by some 30 people, and according to Aitor Alava, director of the hosting club’s Ekin Dantzari Taldea, “the workshop, in addition to providing an activity to anyone interested in our culture, and in particular for those interested in the folkloric part of it, served, in Patxi’s words, to confirm and improve the ample knowledge that the Ekin Dantzari Taldea already has of Basque dance.”

The workshops program included jauziak – Muxikoa, Larraburu, Hegi, Azkaindarrak–, Bralia kontrapas, Axuri beltza, Arizkungo gaita, Garaziko kontradantzak, Fandango, Arin arin, as part of the dantza piko repertoire, Rondo and Reel.

After the workshop was over, the cooks from Ekin Dantzari Taldea, guests and hosts shared a selection of pintxos while more dances were included like Jauziak, Agurra, Dantzari Dantza as well as Argentines like Chacareras, Gatos and more dantza piko.  From the Ekin Dantzari Taldea they thank everyone for spreading the work of the event from entities like the Delegation of Euskadi in Argentina.

Patxi’s second date was in Concordia, Entre Rios; there on October 17-18 he also taught a workshop and in this case especially directed to members of the local Gazte Lurra dance group.  Perez also played the txistu and shared dinner with members of this club.