Ezpalak 2008: we danced with arcs

May 31, 2008, was the first day of Ezpalak, the International Festival of Traditional Dancing. The day started raining in Pamplona and it did impossible the parade through the streets of the Old Town as it had been raised and also that the festival itself could take place in the Plaza de los Burgos, as in the previous edition.

The festival took place in the Civivox Navarrería and begin promptly at 18:00. Duguna dantza taldea, host of the festival was the group responsible for opening the program with two dances with arches from Gipuzkoa. The girls danced  “uztai handiena” [big archs] and the boys “uztai-txikiena” [small archs].

After Duguna acted the group Danzas gremiales de marineros y labradores Xovenes do Povo from Betanzos (Galicia, Spain). Next team in the stage was dantzaris de Monteagudo (Navarre), Danzas burgalesas Justo del Río (Burgos, Spain),  Le Poutou from Toulouse (France),  Danzadores de San Asensio (Rioja, Spain) and Danzantes de Lanestosa (Bizkaia, Basque Country). The festival ended around 20:00 in the afternoon and had continued the following day in Eibar.

As in Pamplona, the day dawned gray in Eibar. The festival could not be developed without contingencies on the street, so groups were meeting in the Coliseo teater, where the action took place after 12:30.

The host group Kezka dantza taldea was the first on stage to dance Ibarzabal three times (the smaller group of young people and adults). After them danced Danzas burgalesas Justo del Río (Burgos, Spain), Danzantes de San Lorenzo (Navarre), Le Poutou (Toulouse, France), Arkaitz Añorgako dantzariak (Gipuzkoa),  Danzas gremiales de marineros y labradores Xovenes do Povo from Betanzos (Galicia, Spain) and Oñatz dantza taldea from Oñati (Gipuzkoa).