School Blog

Every year, the image of the Granada Jazz Festival is spread in an extraordinary way by Juan Vida, a painter who has been affectionately involved with the Festival throughout all these years and whose posters are coveted by the most passionate collectors. With an extraordinary artistic and human sensitivity, this year's poster expresses in a metaphorical way: the origin of jazz, Africa and the necessary visibility of the female instrumentalist.

Carlos Saura said that he discovered the flamenco in Granada. It was in the city of the Generalife, in the fifties, when Saura arrived as a photographer for the Festival of Music and Dance.

An experience that would mark his artistic career, because it was in Granada where his passion for the performing arts, especially dance, began.

Granada remembers the master in this way in a work that pays tribute to his way of understanding art through flamenco.

PICASSO AND DANCE

A man like Picasso, whose curiosity went beyond painting, bringing to each of the disciplines he experimented with a new vision and unforeseen solutions, could not be alien to the theatre.

He was associated with Diaghilev's Russian ballets and was married to the dancer Olga Khokhlova, the muse of several of his works.

This experience led him to design different scenographies in which Picasso did not limit himself to following what was stipulated, but within this already defined framework he imposed very different interpretations. As in the rest of his works, and in accordance with Cubist principles, he sought to rediscover the profound reality of forms and objects, achieving, in this case, a new way of understanding the scene, with other dimensions, different density and a play of planes, either with an architectural geometry that suggests the aesthetics of cities or by very strictly delimiting this space, emphasising theatrical artific

This year's theatrical proposal for the cycle LORCA AND GRANADA is a show that condenses the way of understanding dance of three geniuses: Lorca, Picasso, Saura.

Under the artistic direction of Carlos Saura Medrano, the choreographic direction of Andrés Marín and the musical direction of Daniel Doura, the show offers a journey through the experiences and life trajectories of its protagonists. Picasso and dance, an encounter with Lorca in Granada' is the confluence of flamenco, contemporary dance, plastic arts and visual arts in a unique proposal that will delight the public on summer nights, between the 2nd and 26th of August, in the Teatro del Generalife.

At the top of the Sacromonte district, in the Museo de las Cuevas del Sacromonte, you can enjoy the cinema with the feeling of being fresquito and closer to the stars, also of the celluloid.

The screenings are at 22:00 hours. The ticket price is 5 €. Remember that seating is limited.

For a whole week there are all kind of celebrations and cultural events in the streets and at the fairground: puppet shows, bullfighting, flamenco, music performances, traditional processions, and exhibitions.

Two major processions usually take place in Granada during Corpus Christi.

The first is the Tarasca, of pagan origin, which takes place on Wednesday morning and marks the beginning of a long school break. In this procession, a figure of a woman on a dragon is accompanied by gigantes y cabezudos. These caracthers are key participants of the celebrations, since they represent important people in the history of Granada.

The other procession, takes place on Thursday, the Corpus Christi day, and is a solemn and religious event.

A week before the fair, the carocas (a traditional satirical competition) are displayed in Plaza Bib-Rambla. These carocas are cartoons with satirical verses which humorously highlight major local and national events that took place during the year. The authors are usually local artists, most of them amateurs who compete among hundreds of participants to be selected. Every year only 20 carocas are published. This year from 260 carocas presented 20 were selected and will be displayed in Plaza Bib Rambla on May 11th.

There is little left for the start of the Granada Music and Dance Festival!

In its 72nd edition, you can attend 105 shows from June 21 to July 19. Among them, the Bob Dylan concert stands out, who will be the artist in charge of inaugurating the festival this year.

The Granada Festival is one of the most important cultural events in Spain. Since 1952 the festival has brought together some of the best artists in the world in the historic Andalusian city. This year the festival offers an incredibly diverse and exciting programme. The program will include classical music concerts, opera performances, jazz, flamenco and contemporary dance performances.

Granada is a historical place full of culture and heritage and is known for its monuments, such as the Alhambra, and its lively nightlife and gastronomy. The Granada Music and Dance Festival seeks to take advantage of everything the city has to offer for an unforgettable cultural event. In addition to the presence of Bob Dylan, renowned directors such as Riccardo Chailly and Giovanni Antonini will be present. There will be classical voices such as Anna Lucia Richter, Anna Pirozi and Carlos Álvarez and performances by flamenco artists such as Alba Molina, Argentina and María Toledo.

On the 3rd of May and as every year, Granada has got dressed up in frills and flowers to celebrate May crosses. In courtyards and squares, the air is alive with tradition. But where does the May Crosses tradition come from?

All cultures have celebrated the arrival of spring with rituals of devotion to the gods of nature. Coinciding with these dates, in the Christian tradition in May the crosses festival is celebrated. In Spain it appeared on all of the calendars, being associated with the legend of discovery by Saint Helena of the true Cross of Christ.

In Granada, the tradition became deeply rooted, and lived on with great intensity from the moment the city was conquered by the Reyes Catolicos onwards. Following the intimate tradition of Arabic carmen houses, the crosses of May were originally celebrated in the courtyards of the homes. Altars were built there where the crosses raised and were adorned with flowers and with objects displayed beside them which conferred distinction and prestige.

Ceramic pieces, copper, manila shawls and everything which would suggest abundance was selected for exhibition on these occasions. Plants, fruit, grains and everything related with the typical vegetation of this time of year also had its place.

In the neighbourhoods, the less powerful classes organised collective crosses in squares and courtyards, where the neighbours lent their best possessions for adorning the altars.

Sierra Nevada 2023 has put on sale tickets to access the finish area of the two events of the Snowboard Cross World Cup that will be held from March 10 to 12 at the Loma de Dílar SBX circuit.

The tickets are tickets for the non-skiing public that allow the use of the Jara chairlift which, from Pradollano, gives access to the finish area, where the competition can be followed standing or in the stands, although access to it does not imply a reservation seat. For those who wish, the ticket also entitles them to use the Loma de Dílar chairlift in order to follow the foot races from the last curve of the route.

Tickets for the two World Cup events, with prices ranging from 9 to 20 euros per day, can be purchased through the Sierra Nevada website or in person at the ticket office in Plaza de Andalucía, to each of the three days that make up the competition program or for all three.

The two events of the Sierra Nevada World Cup will have the participation of more than a hundred runners, the best in the world in one of the most spectacular disciplines of snowboarding.

The popular festivity of San Cecilio is celebrated with a great pilgrimage on the first Sunday of February. This pilgrimage has a large influx of people.

it takes place in the vicinity of the Abbey of Sacromonte and the nearby caves, where the ashes of San Cecilio and the plumbeous books appeared. There, a civic-religious function is held in honor of the main patron saint, San Cecilio.

It is a tradition on this date to eat salaíllas, tortas jayuyas, beans with ham, cod, tortillas from Sacromonte. In addition, the popular tanguillo of "la Reja" is sung and danced.

In addition to the many religious festivals in Spain, there are also those dedicated to worldly things. For example, the Tango Festival in Granada, which is dedicated to tango music and dance. It has been held every March since 1988 for a whole week.

In addition to live music and dance performances, there are also dance courses, readings, lectures, exhibitions, film evenings and many other cultural highlights. Performances by international tango stars in Granada are not uncommon this week.

Tango is presented as an urban culture and you can get a good idea of what tango means in the events and courses mentioned. The Argentine tango composer Enrique Discépolo once said it was “a sad thought that you can dance to”. But the tango festival in Granada isn't really that sad. The focus of the event is on enjoying music, partying and dancing and celebrating music together.

You can experience the individual dance performances either in the stages and theaters (especially the theater "Isabel La Católica") or on the numerous squares in Granada. Whether accompanied by the piano or the double bass, by the guitar, violin or bandoneon - the tango will sweep you away if it hasn't already done so.