Of the 18 absolute releases, eight of them by Basque theatre companies. The artistic resources are very varied in Leioa: dance, theater, mobile theater, gestural, circus, microtheater, bifurcation, masks theater, shows that combine music, clowns, vertical dance, urban dance, installations and games, contemporary circus, performance, corporal percussion or multidisciplinary shows.

Parallel activities have also been organized. Totidadeak, the Bocetos exhibition of a clown or the Bertsoklown initiative organised by the Bertso Eskola de Algorta. On the other hand, posters and photographs of 15 years will be shown in the Kultur Leioa building.

One of the groups that we will find on the streets of Leioa is Hortzmuga. This year, on the occasion of the company’s 25th birthday, they created the Nola theatre play. The group was formed for street theater, but has worked in theaters for a long season and has staged significant plays. They have now returned to origin: “But we have never walked away from the street,” says Arantza Goikoetxea, director of Hortzmuga.

In the Nola play, they will approach the public without text (mainly children). The world of created sounds and what you'll see will be the way of communication. “We immersed ourselves in a long creative process and the long hours we spent in the lab have led us to define what and how to tell it,” the director explains. “From the moment we are born, it is a necessity that leads us to claim that we are extraordinary beings. It refers to the differences between human beings, the inner worlds of individuals.” The action will be developed in two spaces, outdoors and indoors, with a closed structure. So you're only going to have 20 spectators in each 20-25 minute pass. This new work will take you to Poland this summer, specifically to the city of Gdansk, to participate in the street theatre festival of the French capital, Feta.

Arantza Goikoetxea also tells us about the situation of street theatre groups: “We can say we have a pathetic health, but it’s something we always have. There are more and more deals, companies that are born to die, or companies that are lifelong, that cannot and must close the situation. A part of the identity of the Basque culture is lost when it is closed by a company. The generations that come behind don’t have an easy way.”

The Leioa Humor Fair and the Bilbao Kalealdi Festival merged in 2004 to create the Artekale Association, which is committed to the dignity and knowledge of the sector.

Another of the Basque companies that has taken the leap from the hall to the plaza is the group of Kukai dances. Kukai's latest work is Gelajauziak, which is a traditional and contemporary dance. She premieres at the Umore Azoka.

The Catalan choreographer Cesc Gelabert and Jon Maya are in charge of creating the Kukai group. “From the starting point of the project, we wanted to raise it as a street show and this marks the way of the show a lot,” says Jon Maya. “We’ve relied on old Basque popular dances to reflect on it. At first he departed from the old dances of Gipuzkoa and the jumping dances, but later, we worked on the jack. As we have deepened their social and symbolic values, we have given importance to the natural space in which these dances, the town square, have normally been held.”

Kukai’s dantzaris have been accompanied by musicians Sabin Bikandi and Patxi Laborda, from the folk group Aikho and Xabier Erkizia. “They are great teachers. As in dance, music is also at the base of traditional instruments, but the treatment is very special,” says Maya. On the other hand, the Akelarre sculpture by Nestor Basterretxea and a couple of pieces designed by him will also be part of the show.

Two guys like us

Street theater can sometimes have a mirror function. In the everyday landscape there are two types, two primitive human beings, amazed in our fast times. This is the starting point of the new work done by the group of Collectives Monstrenko of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Althra Silex is premiered in Leioa. As the actors Andrés Berazes and Javi Fernández have explained, the show seeks to establish a direct relationship with the general public. “The street is a living thing, reality just needs fiction. We try to be both protagonists and spectators. In this exchange of actions and reactions is the intention to communicate. We think it can be fun and joyful. We try to get out in areas and business hours because we understand the street as a public space, a private space and a consumable space,” they say.

We have asked Berazes and Fernández whether they are scared of the direct relationship with the public: “It’s respectful. The street is a landscape of civilized tribes, and it can often be a stranger. It requires attention, it also has wild areas. Street theater is also like that.”