As you have noted, this event has been the result of a unilateral decision by the Conservatory’s management, despite prior notification that it was not competent to do so. Although the owner of the building is the City Hall of Donostia-San Sebastián, Goizaldi has been authorized to use the basement as a testing place since 1948, and has done so since then.

The rest of the building has been used by the Conservatory, which became dependent on the Department of Education of the Basque Government in 1998. Since then, the management of the centre has attempted on more than one occasion to evict the Goizaldi building from the Biscay capital. The most serious attempt occurred in 2005, when the lock was changed without warning, so Goizaldi had a great impact behind closed doors? campaigns and expressions of solidarity came from different areas of Basque culture. Finally, thanks to the intervention of both the City Hall of Donostia-San Sebastián and the Basque Government, the premises were maintained.

Once again, and in the face of the unilateral and unfounded decision of the leadership of the centre, Goizaldi has been working to find solutions. The group wishes to continue to carry out the activities related to Basque culture in Donostia-San Sebastián with all guarantees and with complete freedom, and to this end it has opened a request for assistance. On the one hand, they have addressed the City Council of Donostia-San Sebastian and the Basque Government to mediate between the two sides and to put the agreement into effect. On the other hand, they have called on society to go to the activities of the group and offer their support. In this regard, they have pointed out that the doors of Goizaldi are also open to new partners and partners who wish to do so.

An important actor around the Basque culture

With over seventy years of experience, Goizaldi Euskal Dantzari Taldea has not just reached the culture of Donostia. Its origin was the Municipal Dance School founded in 1927, from which emerged the groups led by the teacher Kandido Pujana, formed by boys in 1948 and girls in 1951. In this last year the name of Goizaldi, proposed by Jose Inazio Montes Astigarraga, was approved.

The group worked on the recovery and transmission of Basque dances under Franco, and it has continued. While the original objective was to recover the Guipuzkoan dances described by Joan Inazio Iztueta in the eighteenth century, Goizaldi has been expanding his field of work, reaching to cultivate the dances of the entire Basque Country. Thus, in addition to creating several generations of dancers, he has presented his Basque dances at different exhibitions of the world and has received numerous awards at different international festivals. The latest appearances have taken place in Rodez (France), Murcia (Spain), Rexburg and Boise (Idaho, USA), among others.

The group is totally mixed at present. Over thirty dantzaris rehearsed throughout the year; although most are Donostiarras, there are also few who come from the surrounding villages, and there are also young people who come to study outside the city. In addition, the group is dedicated to the transmission of Basque dances to children and adolescents through a collaboration agreement with the Dance Academy and the Ikasbide Cultural Association, in which about thirty students enter the world of Basque dances during the 2019-2020 course. In total, around 100 members make up Goizaldi.

Besides performing honor dances on weddings, tributes, celebrations and events, Goizaldi also has a prominent presence in the city’s annual ritual calendar. Thus, on January 20, San Sebastian Day, he participates in the Tamborrada together with the Artisan Association, taking care of the dance of the descent of the flag in the Plaza de la Constitución, while in February he organizes the act of Carnival on Thursday Gordo, along with the rest of the dance groups of the city. In June, in addition to the ezek of the Corpus Christi in the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the day before St. John (23 June) dances the zortziko in the Plaza de la Constitución (Plaza Nueva), before the fire, next to the municipal corporation. The grandest event of all years is celebrated in the month of August, coinciding with the dance it offers in the Plaza de la Constitución in the context of Aste Nagusia. In addition, he participates in the Dantzari Eguna de Euskal Herria, every year in a town and on a different day.

Thus, the group is clear that Donostia cannot lose a reference that works in the field of Basque culture. They have reaffirmed their firm commitment, as they have done all these years, to continue contributing to the cultural life of both the city and Euskal Herria. In this sense, they have encouraged all the actors involved to take a serious look at their situation and find a satisfactory solution in order to ensure the continuity and good progress of the group.