The Zurrunbilo festival of the Baratza space has been launched this year for the second time, giving shelter to the spectators and creators looking for a new theater in Euskera. On June 1, the cirimol was opened in the House of the Basque Country Oihaneder with the work Atte hil batean, written and represented by Miren Tirapu, which was closed on the 4th in the same Baratza by the music group Muskulo. In that special concert, by chance, the playwright Oier Guillan went on stage to recite a poem created in the whirlwind of the day: “Let it not be a dry river of breath / temptations / let the stiff hair swell in our body.”

Meanwhile, numerous proposals and experiences have been screened at this year’s festival. In addition, the following: Already Hilda, intimate work of contemporary dance of the collective Parasite; Plastic, vocal and sound performance of Ixiar Rozas and Maite Arroitajauregi; The Hiroshima Tree, emotive piece of Kabia Theatre; Karramarroa, explosive monologue of Eneritz Artetxe; and Mr. Ma, Polokoadrantimestu. On the scene he highlighted the diversity of colours of the female voices and, above all, the quality of the plays.

Yes, of course: the name of the city, Errekaleor, with capital letters, and the demonstrations in its favour have been inevitable from the public’s point of view. In any case, the people who have approached the Zurrunbilo have had the opportunity to enjoy, in an unusual (unfortunately) way, the level and abundance of the performing arts in Basque. According to the organizers, at the beginning of the garden a weekend was scheduled every month, although it was very difficult to gather public, especially in theatre plays in Euskera. Therefore, last year’s Zurrunbilo was the first attempt, in some way, to bring together the proposals of the Basque creators and achieve greater visibility.

The brothers of Baratza, Garazi and Unai López de Armentia, at least, already wanted to do so. This is what Unai says: “In Vitoria-Gasteiz there are many creators who can work in Euskera, but at the moment there is no market for it, nor a custom. But if we start to realize and teach how many beautiful things they are doing in Euskera in the theatre… Not only the spectators, but also the creators here, we will give them a vision, it will give them a push to work in Euskera. Perhaps we realize that there is a Basque theatre network, that there are circuits and, why not, that there may be a market.”

In her trajectory, at least, Garazi sees a milestone in the new cycles: “At first, to make the space known, we had to keep that monthly schedule, even to the detriment of our health. But now, when we've started paying more attention to our artistic lives, it helps us distribute programming in cycles." Thus, this festival is joined by other activities such as the Havana Fest (to show the residence works carried out in the garden and its surroundings). “In fact, our greatest need to create this space,” says Garazi, “was to be able to keep doing our work.”

Feed and swallow

The Dut group already has a song, Zurrunbilo, which bears the same name as the festival. In a moment, the words say: “The whirlwind you feed today will devour you tomorrow.” It is evident that the quotation serves for good, as for damage. In fact, the direction is often not clear, even if there is a road. This is what Unai says: “For me, at first, it was working in the Orchard as pushing a boat behind. We didn't even know where it was going, and we also had to push. Now, however, it seems to me that we are on board and also driving.”

The boat has travelled a towing road that has reached the point where it is located. The older brother of the López de Armentia, for example, left Euskal Herria and went to England in his youth. There he began to work seriously in the theatre and, walking, went to Europe with three companies. Meanwhile, Garazi immersed himself in the dance world and moved to Barcelona, where he worked, among others, with choreographer Moreno Bernardi. The two, however, felt a desire to return to the city. They met in an open theatre workshop in France and, after ten years of separation, the Alavese brothers recovered the link that united them and began to establish themselves.

The purpose of coming back was to create a theater company. Parasite Colectivo (along with Hannah Frances Whelan and David Alcorta). Afterwards, they needed a space for the company, and from that need came Baratza. The choice of the name is due to two reasons: on the one hand, the evidence expresses the cultivated soil that feeds it; on the other, there is a custom that emerged at the beginning of the ikastola Olabide in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the so-called “orchard”. “That’s why,” says Unai, “the first thing you have to do in our workouts is to remove all the masks so you can play as a child.”

Once the ups and downs were overcome, Baratza was launched at the end of 2013 and launched in early 2014. Since its inception, the creative laboratory has been at the center of the activity: “That’s the backbone of our project,” says Garazi. In fact, his creative work is part of the daily training, of the study and experimentation of the interactions of bodies. In addition, Unai has underlined the importance of making a company responsible for space and not the institutions: “We are on the street, we have a direct relationship with the public, with the agents and with the artists, so we can adapt more quickly to new needs.”

An endless start

In fact, the public is used to the completed projects. “We are interested in making the whole process visible: to move the land, to cultivate it, to plant it, to water it… and of course, to harvest. We like that too.” In the garden there are two rooms (one large, Kuia, another small, Kuiatxo). They also benefit from the entry space, thanks to the Atari initiative. She is responsible for the actress Marina Suarez Ortiz de Zarate. Every month, on a Friday, the proposals of artists of different formats are shown depending on space, and in addition, the exhibition of plastic arts stays one month.

“You have the idea in your head, whether it is worth it or not, why we do what we do,” says Marina. “But I think what happens here is important. It’s a job, of course, but it has two faces: one hard and one very grateful.” Because he sees that in a short time many things have been done, which have influenced the environment: “Things happen, people talk about it, you see there’s something in the pil. These spaces are necessary; people need them.”

In this sense, the opinion of actor Gontzal Uribe, who is in the creation laboratory of Baratza, is significant: “Working here has given me a lot of things: to start with, a new way of understanding creativity, based on continuous work.” It says that students begin to land on their own body, to relate to the exterior and the interior through their breath, and gradually the layers that we add in the day to day begin to tear. “In the end, you have to remove your social person from the top and start looking for it in other places. That is the starting point. Then, working on the group ear, it creates a different, very creative and interesting communication.”

Finally, I ask you what you want to do in your creative trajectory: “What interests me is not so much what to do, but who to work with. I think what we can create as individuals is limited, but when we come together with others, somehow, we create limitless combinations. You will always have your limitations, but someone will break you and you will. In this mutual food, the most interesting things emerge. It’s like a never-ending well.”