Aritz Ibañez Lusarreta (Pamplona, 1979)

Dancer and head of the Duguna Dance Group in Pamplona seventeen years ago. Journalist and regular media collaborator Dantzan.eus, Euskalerria Irratia, Gara, EITB, Berria…). He works at the Euskokultur Foundation to collect testimonies to provide the archive of the Intangible Heritage of Navarra launched by the Public University of Navarra.

Does dance love come to you?

I think so. In my house there were no dancers, but my two aunts were in the mythical Xut fanfarre that played with the Dantzaris Municipal, an uncle was Txistulari of the municipal band and another gaiter in the comparison of giants. I started dancing because my parents enrolled me in the municipal ikastola dance classes at the age of 11. The professor was from Duguna, and he proposed to some that we enter the small group of dances.

Are there fewer and fewer kids in the dance groups?

There is a paradox: dance is often seen as a field of girls but, at the same time, the management of dance groups has been in the hands of the boys, above all. What's happening today is that when girls get back to the plaza, and after years of marginalization, they've started to reclaim their place, the boys have started to leave the dances. Somewhere they've felt they've lost those spaces of power. That has been clearly seen in some villages. Two or three years after the girls dance, the boys have almost disappeared. Fortunately, in our group, this has not happened so clearly. We have a children's dance group since the 1990s and we have always had girls and boys in a fairly balanced way. Today we are 50 dancers, two-thirds girls and one-third boys. Anyway, we don't care too much about the proportion, because all the new dances we've created are without gender distinction. On the other hand, I believe that dance is a very nice space to work together and it is a pity that the boys or girls disappear. It seems that for some kids a place isn't interesting if it doesn't give them the opportunity to teach them what they are or who they are. We have tried to avoid it, because inertia leads to it in itself.

When and how did the transformation of Duguna begin?

Like other groups in our environment, by 2007 we began a deep reflection on the gender and function of our dance group. We wanted to reflect on the contribution we could make. It was said that the world of dance was in crisis, but at the same time it was seen that there were more dancers in groups than ever before. We saw clearly that it was a dance group that was in crisis. He who reproduced the dances here and there in a more faithful or less faithful way. We were a group of them, we saw that all of this didn't make much sense to us, and so we had to change it. At that time, we also met Jesús Ramos, a member of the Ortzadar group, who once worked a lot on the dances of Pamplona. He studied the trajectory of dance since the 16th century XX.era and demonstrated the rich tradition he had here. And he placed the Group of Dances of the City of Pamplona, our group, as the last link in that long chain. Knowing this, we were opened a window and at the same time we were concerned. Understanding that we are the link of a long road, we felt that we had to put our city at the center of our activity, that we had to create dances with a concrete function in the current Pamplona. That we had to do dances that served as a reference to a community. All of this is raised in a very open way, and we start to make dances that match our values, like dances without gender distinction.

How many new dances have you danced?

We take a look at the holiday calendar of Pamplona and choose the most important parties to create new dances. Twelve years have cost us to renew our repertoire and we have not yet finished it, but we already have the Ezpata dantza de San Fermín de Aldape, San Blas and San Juan and also the rope dances that we danced on the day of the Privilege of the Union, seven trolley dances of Sanfermin and the Soka dantza that we did for the Euskarak initiative 365 days. In addition to the ritual part, we believe that the social part is also very important. In fact, Karrikadantza, the open gathering of dances that takes place once a month, emerged from our music group. In the same way, at the Basque Carnival in Pamplona, created last year, we are very involved with other associations, dance groups, students of the Theatre School, people of gaztetxes and many musicians.

Is it true that this divergence was very well received?

Last year, when we did it for the first time, it was a sort of suicide, because we didn't know what it was going to make very clear, but the truth is that we are very happy with the result, especially because the participation of young people is very large, and at the same time, because there have been a lot of people from different areas and generations working. It can be said that it is a fun because we have fun, the molds are like the works of the Carnavales del Norte, but adapted to Pamplona. For example, Ion Celestino, who works jazz music, has been in charge of putting music to dance. One of the most important objectives is to give a place to young people, who themselves are the creators of what will be told.

In our opinion, it is very important to provide the Basque people with monolingual areas and, furthermore, this initiative has been very valuable for the meeting between the members of the dispersed Basque community in Pamplona.

Do you also offer traditional dances in your performances?

Little by little we've been creating our own repertoire, and today that's what we dance the most. We keep rehearsing other dances to work the body, because we find them interesting as tools and we offer them from time to time in the plaza, but for example, we don't give dances that cause us gender problems. Some couple dances or contradictions from Baja Navarra, for example, I think they have been created according to the heteronorma, so at this moment we are not comfortable in our philosophy. I think there is a point of reflection here.

In some places it is difficult for some to accept the changes, as if it were a betrayal of tradition…

It seems to me to be an inadequate way of understanding tradition. The Basque saying says, there is no moss to the stone circulating... For me, the main characteristic of tradition is its ability to adapt to each time. If it doesn't adapt, it's not a tradition, it's a black and white photograph. Rites have to be in line with the values of society at every moment, otherwise there is a disconnect with society and subsequently its disappearance.

But tradition and tradition are not fashionable concepts, right?

Tradition often joins reactionary things and those bad connotations have a political objective. Basque traditions are often spoken of in a negative way in order to undermine Euskaldunisation. I do not agree. For me, tradition is something that is constantly being renewed, something that moves in the future. As Oteiza said, tradition is a kind of trainera: something that moves backwards but forwards. Our challenge is to renew old rites, renew our imaginary in order to strengthen the community. Seen thus, tradition can be a revolutionary initiative.

Maybe we have to start saying that we do contemporary and urban dance. And it's true: contemporary, because we do dances created in recent years, and urban, because we dance on the streets of the city. We are 21st-century dancers, new links of the dance trajectory that comes from before. If we see Basque culture as something ancient, we will only get contempt.

How do you make the new dances?

In 2007, we started working with Argia Dantzari Taldea, Juan Antonio Urbeltz and Marian Arrangi. They reproduced, for example, the dance ‘Axuri beltza’. This collaboration has been a milestone on our journey.

Knowing how our predecessors have acted and starting from there to create new things. And that's basically what we've learned from them. If we make a comparison with language, it can be said that from the tradition of dance we have only come a few loose words, and we lack a more complete grammar. The friends of Argia teach us that grammar. Not only do we understand the above words, but we also have the ability to create new words. To speak, I mean. And we also feel the freedom to meet, see and bring dance resources, costumes, choreographies… from other cultures. Joxemiel Bidor said that in the dance everything was invented, that it's about how you order the ingredients you have. To this way of working, Oier Araolaza has called the “method of plagiarizing the bondsa”, paraphrasing [Bernardo] Atxaga, and it seems to me a very humorous and successful definition.

Why do young people enter dance groups today?

It is clear that they are taking something out of him, if they had not come. For me in these swirls of today, going to trials is a kind of oasis. The other day, my friend Itsaso Agirre showed me a quote: that dance is to move without end or capitalist profit. And I found it very nice. Dance can be a drug against capitalism. People take on as their time, shared with the people in their community. The group of dances is a special area. An area of friendship and freedom for young people who parents see well for their children.

Are you in contact with other dance groups in Euskal Herria?

Yes. I also dance in the Argia de Donostia group. I am also a member of the Cofradía de Dantzaris de Arrate de Eibar and the Cofradía de Ezains-dantzaris de Santa Cruz de Andoain.

In the show Martin Zalakain we usually meet every month members of different groups from Eibar, Elgoibar, Biarritz, Donostia, Portugalete... In recent years, we have woven a large network.

Why has Duguna's history been so complicated in recent years?

The Group of Dances was created by the City of Pamplona in 1949 and its main function was to accompany the corporation in the official acts. In 1978, the group decided that the banker would carry, in addition to the flags of Pamplona and the group of dances, the one of Navarra and the ikurrina. In the early years there were no major problems, but when the PSN entered it began to say that it was the flag of another community and in 87, when UPN entered, the City Hall told the group not to remove the ikurrina. Without agreement with the dantzaris, the City Council declared the group “non-existent”. The group was then organized as an independent association, taking the name of a show that took place in 1951: Duguna.

It was quite traumatic for the team. He stayed in the street and until 1996 the dantzaris danced in Sanfermin, but on their own, not officially. In 1996 [José Javier] Chourraut tried to recover the previous tradition and finally signed an agreement to leave without a flag. The group received harsh criticism. They were tough years and for me, too. We lost a lot of energy with that, which we now devote to other things. We have always been clear about who we are and who we represent. Furthermore, I would say that the matter has been re-established for ten years.

What kind of relationship do you have with the City Hall today?

Now the City Hall has all the outsourced services: txistularis, gaiteros, comparsa, Pamplona and group of dances. We have a contract for a few years and we only flag the team.

What are your challenges?

We have been chosen to attend the festival to be held in Boise in August and we are now collecting to arrange the trip, if it is not suspended. We want to show what our work has been over the past few years, based on the dance grammar mentioned above, we can create new dance rituals that represent ourselves.

Can dance be an opportunity to reconcile with our body?

No doubt. We're not aware of the treasure we have with dance. Today it is highly valued to maintain the physical and mental health of people and we have here the body in motion and the proper dance jumps to keep the mind alert. And also, dancing makes you feel part of a community, and the pleasure it produces is great for creating endorphins.

Besides being a dancer, you're also a journalist. What exactly does it do?

The UPNA is carrying out an archive of the non-maternal heritage of Navarre and in collaboration with them, at the Euskokultur Foundation we are collecting testimonies of how he has lived in the villages of Navarre since the beginning of the twentieth century.

I find it very enriching to talk personally with the elderly and to know their values and ways of life. It's very nice to talk to people and you learn that novelty itself is not only good for being a novelty.

Tradition as a collective memory

“It can be another way of defining tradition as a collective memory. Others who are stronger than our community often tell us that our community is aged, that it's traditional and reactionary, and we've internalized that complex. That’s why I think we’re all too often looking for approvals out of here.”

Aurresku de honor

“Dance itself is a community act, something else is what we have become. The clearest example is aurresku. This is an invitation to enter the community. The honoree is invited to be part of the same rope. Etymologically, it's the first hand, the first hand, which means there are other hands. And it's not like that today. It's something you dance to somebody, a gift, nothing else. I've danced dozens of times. Too much. I think I didn't have to dance to some of the people I've danced. I think we’re feeding an athletic and personalized model.”