MUSIC
EVERYWHERE
WHO WE ARE
THEATRE + MUSIC + DANCE We are a group of creators that hold the idea of exploring the sound variations of the objects that surround us, incorporating their formal characteristics in order to merge music with theatre and dance.
ÂżWhat we do? MUSIC By embracing the concept of transformation as the basis for the act of creation, daily sounds can be transformed into music, giving another meaning to the utility of objects and creating the purest and most primitive form of artistic expression.
DANCE
Movement is viewed as a fundamental necessity with its great undetermined value moulded into beauty. Dancing elevate us above all things. El Choque Urbano Dances.
THEATRE We believe in ideas. That is the reason why we create our own world, our own atmospheres and an urgency to tell a story. We find the theatrical scenery with its multiple forms essential.
“Someday we’ll arrive, only later we’ll find out where”
TODAY EL CHOQUE URBANO is in full theatre season performing
Event
BUSINESS PROPOSAL. EL CHOQUE URBANO IN CONCERT.
Album format: El Choque Urbano in Concert offers a selection of its best scenes with electronic music, combining hip hop with Latin American folklore, always with a dance mark that stirs our blood. Its important choreographies are intertwined with different styles, such as jazz, contemporary and hip hop, creating an unrepeatable and unique theatrical fusion. With 16 artists on stage that come from dance, theatre and music backgrounds, a proposal is put forward where a new meaning is added to objects that are transformed into instruments with a sense of playfulness and celebration. The proposal can be divided into various outcomes where one or more scenes are interpreted in each intervention.
Fierro: The renowned Argentine Company of Music, Dance and Theatre comes back on stage to perform Fierro, which is inspired by fragments of the poetic work by José Hernández: El Gaucho Martin Fierro (La Ida). The anticipated new theatrical proposal from El Choque Urbano became an instant success in its premiere in Buenos Aires with many sold-out shows. In Fierro, El Choque Urbano recreates itself to enrich and maximise its proposal. Its music pieces are influenced by Electronic music, Hip hop, Folklore, Tango, Cumbia, and Classic music. Its choreography is enriched with different languages such as contemporary dance, house, afro, tango and folklore. Nowadays, technology offers us an abundance of tools. This can at the same time overwhelm and overstimulate us, creating an urgency to go back to words. Our desire is to give spectators a journey where music, poetry and movement can bring them closer to the Argentine and Latin American culture so that they can rediscover us as something completely new. This company creates an organic experience out of rhythm, percussion and dance, together with hip hop, electronic music and recycled or invented instruments. All of these elements fit perfectly together resulting in an extraordinary achievement: to show something different and new in this type of proposals that have already been performed by different casts, and to achieve this by adding an idea, an argumentative concept. And, as if this were not enough, to make every spectator (literally everyone, no matter their ages or their physical conditions) get involved with the rhythm and dance. The focus is clearly on the rhythm, music and dance. But, as it generally occurs with the shows of El Choque Urbano (Fabricando Sonidos, La Nave and ¡Baila! were the previous shows) there is an idea that is established beyond (or together with) the performance. Instruments attached to big structures appear and disappear from stage while they are being played: PVC pipes that form giant sikus (they are in charge of bass sounds and melodies), plastic conga drums, plates, instruments with strings tensed with tomato tins (they make oriental sounds), bags, containers and bins of every type. There is also a rickety guitar that appears between the garbage. Actors, musicians and dancers (a total of 16 on stage) recite and sing poetry, play instruments and dance. It is impossible to stay still in your seat once all this takes place and the rhythm is settled. In the end, there is a kind of permission to cease to be just a simple spectator, and the public stands up to dance, as if it were propelled, in a scene almost cathartic. And then, Fierro starts to sound with a multiplied rhythm.
Kids Format: A show addressed to everyone in the family where everyday objects become new and funnier instruments. Balls of every type, plastic tubes, barrels, whistles and nylon bags will be the tools for transmission used to start this beautiful journey. El Choque Urbano is composed of young Musicians, Dancers, Actors and Actresses that represent a strong performance where a sense of game and playfulness comes to life that let us remember and value old times and become children again for a little while. One of the main virtues of this theatrical proposal is the commitment of participation with the public, who gets involved with the show by being able to touch, dance and act. The utilised language does not belong to any dialect. Instead, a universal language, which is music, is used. The proposal has 12 artists on stage and lasts 45 minutes. The space can be itinerant, hence the show can be adapted to any given space, being this one of the most interesting things of the proposal. It was created in the season of Tecnópolis Buenos Aires in a sound park designed by El Choque Urbano. This park was a special place for young people to enjoy the act of making music.
HISTORY
2010 - 2011 International tour of La Nave: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, Brazil. Premiere of ยกBaila! in Ciudad Cultural Konex. The season lasted 8 months, it was a complete success. Winner of 2 Hugo awards for Best Choreography and Best Musical Show. It was awarded the Trinidad Guevara Award for Best Choreography. 2012 - 2013 Mar del Plata season. ยกBaila! was awarded with 2 Estrellas de Mar for Best Musical show and for Original Music. National tour and tour in Chile and Nicaragua. Revival of ยกBaila! Second season in Konex: a spectacular success. Staging of the Sound Park in Tecnรณpolis, a space created for people to learn how to play and make music with everyday objects, encouraging recycling and raising awareness with regards to the good use of everyday waste. This musical square continued being developed during 2014 and 2015.
2014 - 2015 El Choque Urbano in concert, season in theatres ND Ateneo and El Cubo. National Tour. Organization of a show featuring an orchestra of wind instruments with 20 grenadiers, performed in a space for 8,000 people. More than 40 performances were delivered with approximately an amount of 250,000 spectators. Somos de las Heras / pueblos petroleros de las Heras, an extraordinary work produced by YPF and carried out in the city of Las Heras in Santa Cruz. There, a show was staged together with more than 500 people native from Las Heras: students, teachers, artists, workers and neighbours, in general, participated in this unique experience. We adapted the Argentine National Anthem and performed it for 500,000 people in Plaza de Mayo and many provinces. Performances were given during 6 months in Milan, Italy, of a show that encompasses the musical culture and choreography from Argentina, such as folklore and tango. It was a phenomenal success.
HISTORY 2008 - 2009 Premiere of La Nave in Paseo La Plaza, plus a national tour. Tickets were sold out. A huge Success. Revival of La Nave which was adapted to be performed in Ciudad Cultural Konex. It was a great and lasting season, adding a second national tour at the end of the year.
2002 - 2003 The company arises from the work that was being carried out in Caturga and that at the same time came from the community theatre group Catalinas Sur. Premiere of Fabricando Sonidos, Theatre La Comedia Buenos Aires. A spectacular success. At the end of this cycle we were invited by Leรณn Gieco to play in his live album Bandidos Rurales, recorded in three performances in Luna Park. This wonderful experience ended in the stadium Ferro Carril Oeste. 2004 - 2005 National Tour in more than 19 provinces. First international performance in Tim Festival in Rio de Janeiro. Revival of Fabricando Sonidos in Theatre Paseo la Plaza, Sala Pablo Neruda. A spectacular success.
2006 - 2007 Summer season in Mar del Plata: Fabricando sonidos was awarded an Estrella de Mar for Best Musical Show. International tour: 30 performances in Holland. International tour in Central America: Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama. Ojeonbu Theatre Festival, South Corea. Tour in Syria for a Corporation.
WORKSHOPS, COURSES AND SEMINARS
Team Building thought for 500 participants: We will subdivide the activity into 8 groups of 60 members each. It is necessary to at least have 8 spaces of 20 m x 20 m with enough space between one another. Every group will be coordinated by 2 teachers of El Choque Urbano and assisted by 1 technician. The activity will last a total of 100 minutes that will be divided into 45 minutes of individual group work and 20 minutes of interaction between all the groups and El Choque Urbano. During the end, the expressive resources will merge creating a great musical orchestra.
WE THINK OF STAGE PERCUSSION AS AN EXPRESSIVE RESOURCE THAT CAN BE AWAKENED AND DEVELOPED IN EVERY PERSON.
SHORT REVIEW OF THE WORK El Choque Urbano provides percussion workshops with recycled objects. It combines theatre, dance and music resources to create unique scenes. The philosophy of creating music with whatever we have at hand can submerge us in a world of infinite possibilities and strengthens the idea that everything is possible with Art. We have the certainty that every person can make music. The activities can be addressed to any type of person or groups from the community; school students, work groups, company members, artistic companies, teachers of any field, risk groups or groups with limited capability, etc. The activity can last from 1 hour to 3 hours depending on the level of work dedication that one would want to undertake. The amount of participants is indefinite: If enough space is provided, we could be able to work with a great number of people. If the number is over 30 people, a division into groups will be made. A particular language and a general one will be developed for every group to acquire an artistic autonomy and, at the same time, so that they can share and complement their resources with those of the other groups and, as a result, attain a great expressive orchestra. The objects to be used are: PVC pipes of every size and tonality, plastic and metal barrels of different sizes, nylon bags and one’s own body as the main axis of the work. The amount of teachers will be determined according to the quantity of participants; 2 teachers for every 25 people. Generally, before and after every activity, El Choque Urbano gives a short demonstrative performance of the expressive resources. In order to maximise the quality of the work, specialisations in music, theatre and choreography can be developed, being directed by professionals in the field. It is an activity with an inclusive environment, encouraging team work, concentration, body rhythm, listening and collective work.
EL CHOQUE URBANO IN CONCERT
Expo Milano 2015 opened in the Italian city under the slogan “Feeding the planet, energy for life.� The Argentine pavilion, which was located in the middle of the central corridor of the exhibition, received a great amount of visitors after the opening that led the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Matteo Renzi, who had a video conference with Pope Francis from the Vatican. The national space was structured as a series of silos that, united, represented a system of metallic gears under which Crisoles was performed. Crisoles is a show of the group El Choque urbano, which was specially produced by the Ministry of Culture of the Nation for the Argentine Pavilion in Expo Milano 2015, according to what was announced in the official website of the pavilion, argentinaexpo2015.gob.ar.
Versatile and Innovative
One of the main abilities of El Choque Urbano is its capacity to adapt its performances to any space. The group has performed in stadiums, theatres, streets, albums, squares, events and parties, captivating the audience with every performance.