GRUP DE DANSES PORTITXOL RELEASES ITS THIRD ALBUM
The show was recorded live during the Fogueres 2023 in Xàbia.
The Grup de Danses Portitxol, a group dedicated to the preservation of Valencian songs and dances, has released its third album – “BONA GENT” – which was recorded live last June during the Fogueres de Sant Joan festivities.
Recorded on June 18th in the Plaça de l’Esglesia in the heart of the historic centre with the collaboration of the Grup de Danses Font Santa de Teulada, the work tells the story of the passage of Sant Vicent Ferrer through the lands of the Marina Alta and of the miracles he performed whilst doing so.
With this new project, the Grup de Danses Portitxol continues its work of preserving the traditional music and dances that have been also been performed in Xàbia and in the Marina Alta. Its main objective is to enhance and promote those customs and traditions handed down by the ancestors as well as recover the dances and songs of not only the Marina Alta but also of other regions across the Valencian land.
Some of the groups members have doing so for more than 50 years, working under different names to write the history of traditional music in Xàbia, the dance section supported by a large group of musicians who have been learning and improving their musical skills at the group’s training workshops to continue its aim of preserving these cultural treasures.
The dance school has developed a large group of dancers who perform a variety of tasks, including showcasing traditional dances in the street and hosting workshops to learn them as well as giving life to the Colla de Nanos, the mythical big-headed characters who participate in the parades and ritual dances, always accompanied by the dulzainas and drums of the Colla Portitxol. In 1998, the group began promoting the dulzaina and traditional drum by forming a school that became the Colla de Dolçaines i Tabalets that plays the traditional instruments in the street.
The Grup de Danses Portitxol organises activities on a regular basis, including the Dansà del Carrer Nou which have been danced continuously since 1992, the Encontre de Rondalles since 1992, the Danses del Corpus since 1998, the l’Aplec de Danses Tradicionals since 1998 and the Tradidanses since 2014, along with collaborative performances by Pep Botifarra, Vanesa Muela, Josep Aparicio Apa, the Germans Penalba and more.
As for stage shows, since 2006 the dance group has been trying to fuse traditions with new stage interpretations, including l’Escenografia (2006), (2010), Variacions (2012), Cantant i Ballant a Estellés (2013), Vestir i Cantar a l’Antiga (2016), Poetes Nostres Balls Nostres (2017), Un Tresor Heretat (2019), Botifarra amb Colla (2019), El Dolçainer del Portitxol (2022), Cançons de la Marina (2022) and Bona Gent (2023).
