Anna Rubirola
Anna Rubirola is a choreographer, performer and teacher based in Barcelona. Her artistic practice focuses on creative processes in which the body acts as both engine and trigger, and on how this body enters into dialogue with other elements, languages and scenic devices. She is part of the collective Big Bouncers, together with Cecilia Colacrai and Mireia de Querol, with whom she has created pieces such as Big Bounce, Doppelganger, I see a Spider on the wall, OVNI, Jungla, Si estiguéssim soles a l’univers and Plata. The collective has been recognised with the Aplaudiment a la Creació Emergent dels Premis Sebastià Gasch 2015, a nomination for the Premis de la Crítica 2018, and the Critics’ Award for Best Street Arts Performance 2024.
Over the years, Anna Rubirola has combined her own creative work with collaborations with artists from different fields, as well as with an intense pedagogical practice. She has worked as a choreographer with creators such as Pere Faura, Joao Lima, Maria Montseny, Mira Calix, Alexander’s Annex, Oriol Roca and Vrak’ Trio, and as a performer with Àlex Rigola, Erre que Erre, Sol Picó, Iliacan, Búbulus, Array, F. & C. Ben Aïm, Julyen Hamilton and John Jasperse. Since 2015, she has run the creative space La Visiva, and since 2016 she has been a regular teacher at the Conservatori Superior de Dansa de l’Institut del Teatre.
An important part of her trajectory has also been oriented towards creation for children and family audiences. She directed the piece Poruszony Las for the company Pryzmat, in Olsztyn (Poland), and also Plàncton, a dance performance for children and family audiences that is still touring and has already surpassed 200 performances.
Kaamos
Residencia julio de 2026
She now arrives at El Canal with Kaamos, a dance piece for family audiences based on the idea of darkness as a container from which anything may emerge. The word kaamos refers to the polar night, the winter period during which the sun does not rise above the horizon in regions above the Arctic Circle, and can be interpreted as “dark time”. Only from darkness can phenomena such as the northern lights be contemplated, and here they become a source of inspiration for making shapes, colours and transforming bodies appear and disappear.
The project continues the creator’s interest in scientific themes, initiated with Plàncton, and focuses on the phenomenon of the northern lights as a poetic and physical trigger. Night acts as the framework from which unexpected phenomena may arise, while the idea of collision or impact —also present in the physical explanation of the polar aurora— serves to explore how light, colour, shape and texture can emerge from impacts between bodies or materials.
Artistic credits
Direction: Anna Rubirola
Choreographic assistance: Mireia de Querol
Performers: Ariadna Grau, Elena Lalucat, Vasilis Maltempes, Dory Sanchez
Original music: Oriol Roca
Scenography and lighting design: Judit Colomer
Technical coordination: Álvaro Castillo
Production: Rita Stivala
Production support: Biel Martínez and Ariadna Grau
Distribution: Caroline Giffard
Scientific support: Irene Lapuente
A production by: La Visiva / Anna Rubirola
Co-production: Mercat de les Flors and Teatre Municipal de Tarragona
With the support of: Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, Roca Umbert Fàbrica de les Arts, NunArt, Fabra i Coats, El Canal Salt.
annarubirola.com
Kaamos stems from the desire to create a piece for children in which the idea of experience and event is central. The proposal values surprise and fascination, so present in childhood and so easily eroded over time. Theatre is understood here as a space for sharing collective sensory experiences through light, sound and movement, and for reclaiming theatrical experience as something essential for human beings, especially during childhood.
The project is aimed at children between 8 and 12 years old and unfolds in dialogue with different fields: dance, light, sound composition, scenography, and also a pedagogical dimension linked to physics and the moving body. During the research period, the dossier even foresees possible developments in the form of workshops that connect scientific knowledge and bodily experience.
The residency at El Canal is part of the project’s 2026 creation phase, within a shared calendar that includes spaces such as Roca Umbert, NunArt, La Visiva and the Teatre Municipal de Tarragona. El Canal appears as a residency and support space within the research and writing process, and the piece is supported by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, as well as co-produced by the Mercat de les Flors, the Teatre Municipal de Tarragona and La Visiva / Anna Rubirola. The premiere is scheduled at the Mercat de les Flors on 27 December 2026.
