The David Campos Ballet says farewell due to the economic crisis after a 25 year-trajectory

Terrassa (ACN).- The David Campos Ballet company, famous for combining classical ballet with contemporary dance elements, is the latest victim of the economic crisis that is asphyxiating cultural projects in Catalonia and Spain. This crisis is particularly harsh on classical dance, among other artistic disciplines. On Sunday, the company created and directed by David Campos performed its last show on stage, after 25 years of work at an international level, having toured worldwide and performed in some of the globe’s most prestigious theatres. For its farewell, the David Campos Ballet presented ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ in the Unnim Cultural Centre in Terrassa, in Greater Barcelona, away from the glamour of Europe’s top concert halls. Campos emphasised that the company is not shutting down business because he wanted it to happen, but because of “the economic context”, which has not offered any other alternative. The ballet director lamented that dance is “the last echelon of culture” in this country, and is treated as a “minor and secondary” art. Campos vindicated classical dance for being “an active genre” that fills up theatres, which has a “rejuvenated audience” and “is not a museum piece”. Campos, who has already spent 10 years abroad because of a lack of opportunities in Spain, stated that he has not closed the door on any alternatives. However, he would prefer to stay and help to change things in order to shape a brighter future for dance and ballet.

On Sunday evening, the Cultural Centre Unnim in Terrassa was packed with people to see ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ by the Ballet David Campos, a dance company that has performed on several occasions at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu and has toured worldwide. However, many of the attendees were not aware they were witnessing the last performance of the ballet company, as David Campos preferred a quiet farewell.

However, Campos has told the press the reasons for abandoning the stage, which are solely financially-related. Campos deeply lamented the lack of financial support from public bodies for classical dance, which has caused one of the few stable ballet companies in Spain is obliged to step down from business.

Campos lamented that dance is still considered to be a “minor” genre, despite the fact that “it is a product that works”, which “fills up theatres” with an audience that is younger year after year. Therefore, according to him, “dance should be treated with greater esteem”. For the ballet director, in the current context of economic crisis, “cultural funds need to be better distributed”, “supporting what works” and “forgetting about ‘the coffee for all’”, consisting of not prioritising and offering (or not offering) the same amount for all.

The ballet director vindicated the work done by his company in the last 25 years, bringing classical dance “to the extreme”, adding images, technology and visual effects to their shows with the objective of attracting new audiences. Therefore, he was especially sorry that they have been obliged to shut down their activities now that there is a growing attention towards classical dance, particularly among the younger audience.