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There’s an interesting event coming up in the Basque American community next week that I’ve been asked to share information about. It is to commemorate and educate about the 1937 Nazi bombing of Gernika.
If you’re around Reno, Nevada next Friday, November 2nd, the Center for Basque Studies is hosting Etxea: Memoirs of Gernika at 7PM in the UNR Wells Fargo Auditorium. Admission is free!
A Basque dance group from Lamoille, Nevada, Ardi Baltza Kontalari, will be performing at the event.
Ardi Baltza has been catching my eye on social media for a while now because they’re doing something different from a lot of the Basque dance groups in the US. They mix traditional Basque dance steps with lyrical and contemporary dance in their own unique choreographies to evoke a theme.
Photo: Ardi Baltza Kontalari
Next week the group will be performing their show based on eyewitness accounts of the survivors of the 1937 bombing of Gernika. Their aim is to show the strength and resilience of the Basque people in the face of adversity. The group has already performed this piece last summer at the Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko, Nevada.
The evening will also include a short introductory talk by Dr. Xabier Irujo, professor at the Center for Basque Studies and author of The Bombing of Gernika: A Short History. He will contextualize the events leading up to the bombing and its significance.
If you’ve been following Hella Basque for a while, you know I’m a big fan of blending Basque traditions with creative innovations influenced by other cultures and art traditions.
I’m proud to see these young women of Lamoille starting up this relatively new dance group. I wish them the best of luck for their performance!
If you’re around Reno next week, please consider spending your Friday night with them. It should be an educational and visually captivating event.
Photo: Ardi Baltza Kontalari
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