Roma/Italia

El 4 de mayo aterricé muy temprano en el aeropuerto de Barcelona. La primera voluntaria que conocí fue Bruna; pasamos toda la mañana hablando de todo muy espontáneamente y de repente fue AMOR! Unas horas más tarde llegó Matthias y tuvimos nuestro primer almuerzo entre voluntarios. Lentamente llegaron los demás y sin que yo me diera cuenta ya era noche, parecía que los conocía desde siempre, ni siquiera sentía el cansancio del viaje hasta el camping de Pineda de Mar.

Los días siguientes fueron muy relajantes: poder hacer todo con calma, despertarme con el sonido del viento, hacer yoga y luego desayunar al sol en medio del pinar. Empezamos a entender en qué consistía nuestro rol como voluntarios del festival. Mi equipo está a cargo de la gestión cultural, Mihaela me enseñó cómo escribir las newsletters, los programas, y cómo debemos editar las publicaciones en las redes sociales. Me parece un ejercicio muy útil para escribir o para aprender idiomas, con la práctica el pensamiento toma vida y las palabras comienzan a salir solas, y por fin he empezado a recordar dónde van los acentos en la gramática española! También pude leer algo sobre los artistas presentes en los días del festival y el programa ha quedado cada vez más claro.

Lo que inmediatamente aprecié es el enfoque del trabajo: ser eficiente pero hacerlo con un buen ánimo, cada cosa a su tiempo, disfrutando del sol, la música, la meditación y las comidas preparadas con amor por María y la ayuda de todos, sentirnos unidos y conectados incluso en momentos de pausa. La verdad es que no estaba acostumbrada a todo esto, siempre he hecho las cosas con prisa y en la prisa no hay pasión, no hay cura. Me parece que mi cuerpo también ha recuperado la conciencia esta semana, como si hubiera despertado y me siento saludable. Me da mucha energía conocer gente diferente, escuchar sus experiencias, emocionarme por encontrar los mismos valores en otra persona. En un momento pensé: ¡esta es la vida que quiero! 

La danza es mi momento favorito del día: no solo porque el movimiento y el diálogo mudo entre los cuerpos simpre ha sido importante para mí, sino también porque me encuentro perfectamente en la línea de los discursos de Ana, conceptos que van más allá de la danza, algo que es aplicable a todo en la vida. 

09/05/2022 - 15/05/2022

Los primeros días en Barcelona fueron emocionantes, no recordaba lo bonito que era el barrio BORN, y organizar el festival allí mismo lo hizo aún más mágico.

Me gustó mi rol de dar la bienvenida a los artistas y me gustó sentirme importante en la asociación presentando a cada persona al micrófono con todo el público en la plaza.

el final de las cosas bellas es siempre melancólico para un corazón de crema como el mío, ese último baile tradicional que tuvimos la noche del ultimo dia de Festival es algo que nunca podré olvidar. 

16/05/2022 - 21/05/2022

Ya han pasado tres semanas. Lo sè que no es mucho tiempo, pero cuando se realizan actividades tan intensas, el tiempo se dilata, como cuando éramos niños. 

Para mí fue estupendo formar parte de la organización del festival, pude ver las actuaciones de los bailarines, y sobre todo pude bailar, yo tmb, mirando a los ojos a personas que son casi desconocidas pero con las que siento que lo comparto todo. 

Estos días he tomado algunas decisiones muy importantes sobre mi futuro, decisiones que habría dudado aún más si no me hubiera ido, por eso vuelvo mucho más rica de amor y energía para asumir más retos.

Sleeping in bungalows on a campsite like we do now for the first week reminds me a lot of the summers of my childhood. It was a yearly tradition for me and my family to go on road trips to the northern part of Finland (Lapland) in the summer, and sleep in similar constructions.

However, this experience is completely different from my previous experiences: I am on a campsite not in Finland, but in Spain and most importantly not with my family, but with a bunch of new people from different countries. And I am working as a volunteer, not on a holiday trip.

I have participated in volunteering projects before, but this is a completely new experience for me when it comes to not only the work but also the dance practices we have had almost daily. I have never included myself in dance even though I have always had the interest for it. I am beyond happy to finally try it out in such an inspiring atmosphere.

Being a part of creating the festival has been really exciting for me as well, because personally I love attending to social events. As a creative person, I love the concept of bringing artistic people together and therefore I am looking forward to see how the actual festival will turn out!

SEMANA 2

It was finally time for us to move from Pineda de Mar to Barcelona. I truly enjoyed our time at the campsite next to the beach, but I was also more than ready to explore the vivid citylife. 

However, the second week was still full of work and therefore we did not have a lot of free time to explore our surroundings. We had a lot of preparing to do before the festival, and at times I was rather tired. But I think we worked together really well as a group for a common goal, and in the end all the work was worth it: The festival turned out to be better than I could have ever imagined. The dance performances were impressive, the atmosphere was very inspiring, and I feel like we volunteers connected as a group even more on a deeper level.

SEMANA 3

The festival was over. For the last week, there were only a couple of days of post-production work. These days were intense, but after we were done with it, we were free for the rest of the week to explore the city. 

By the first look, I truly enjoyed how alive the city is: There are all the time performances on the streets, and people hanging out or doing sports in the park. I feel like this city never sleeps and one surely never runs out of things to do in Barcelona. During these free days, I for example visited Park Guelle, La Sagrada Familia, contemporary art museum, vintage stores and multiple bars and restaurants.

As the main feeling, I feel grateful. The whole experience was super rewarding for me not only on a professional level, but also for my personal growth. I felt all the emotions, I got to share my life with the new people I met and I learned about them as well. For now, I will continue my life with one more enriching experience, which I will surely remember for the rest of my life. I want to thank TUDANZAS and every person involved, the project would not have been the same without each one of you.

Turin/Italy

Birds migrate to other countries

Just like the birds, we have migrated. In fact, we are a nice group of volunteers from different countries and we are learning to move together. 

These first days have been challenging: as much as I can adapt, changing location and sharing it with people I don't know is tiring, but it can be a path that leads to great satisfaction. I am in the photo team with Bruna and Amaury. I get on very well with them and I think it's a super collaborative and heterogeneous working group, and I like it because of that. Actually, we also do a lot of other things like yoga and dance. Yesterday, for example, for the daily half-hour yoga we followed Maria - thanks for cooking for all of us! (: - and it was very interesting even though I had the sun right in front of me, which is something that really bothers me because my eyes tear up so easily. This is not important, but every now and then we can also talk about things that are not important.
But back to important things, I would like to mention the dance activity because against all my expectations I really enjoyed it. That's why expectations are not always a good thing. Then the other day Diogo and I helped Maria a bit in the kitchen and I also spoke a bit of Spanish that I had invented on the spot. It worked. 

Well, I realise this kind of summary is very confusing, but at the moment I feel like it represents me a lot so I won't change it. Maybe next week it will be clearer, who knows. 

I'm super excited and curious about all the things we'll have to do !!!

SEMANA 2 (09.05.2022) 

Birds Communicate Using Sounds and Colors

An other interesting fact about birds is that they use sounds and colours to communicate, by altering their position, birds can indeed expose or hide certain colour patterns. They also use specific movements and postures depending on the message they want to convey. 

This was to give an idea of how I think the festival went. It was full of music, sounds, colours, movements: all the artists and all of us volunteers made the best use of every element to make the communication effective and make the performances work. The first few days of this week were certainly quieter, we were still in Pineda de Mar and the festival had not yet started. We had time to work on both the final preparations for the festival and our group performance. I like creating with these people. 
Then, on Wednesday we said ciao ciao to Pineda and moved to Barcelona, and I was a bit sad because here we are no longer all together in the rooms and we don't have a common space entirely of our own, but it's ok. 
The festival was definitely an interesting experience. I was mainly in charge of photos and merchandising so I got to practise my Spanish and Catalan a bit. The first day of the festival was much more chaotic than the next two days. Around me I felt a lot of agitation and confusion and it was only from the second day that I realised how to be actually productive and efficient in that context. The last two days were in fact much better for me, despite the fact that there were more things to do and therefore more things to be constantly attentive to. Also, I reallly felt group support and that was useful and needed. I think I really managed to contribute to everything there was to do, so I am very satisfied!

SEMANA 3 (16.05.2022) 

Migratory birds remember more and better than non-migratory ones

I think it is a bit like that for us too. The experiences one has while travelling are always the most permanent. 

This past week, we finished the last of the work related to the festival, but above all we dedicated ourselves to exploring Barcelona. Honestly, I don't like the city very much. I find it far too chaotic, perhaps also because we arrive directly from the peaceful Pineda. But all in all it is fun, for a few days: you often find yourself in unexpected situations. Of these last few days, I especially liked seeing us in a slightly different context, certainly more touristy and more worldly. I have had pleasant surprises. This week I also got a haircut together with the amazing Donatella and it was an extremely sudden and spontaneous decision. I am very happy. Surely this project has provided some lessons for some of us, and I am sure we will all remember it all for a long time. I am grateful to have taken part in this project and to have thus got to know so many beautiful people (you are all beautiful, kids!! un kiss). 

Le Mans / France

04/05/2022-08/05/2022

When I came to spain i didn't had that choc that I had when I was in Poland. A lot of words are french and I can guess the signification of some spanish words even if i don't speak spanish.

The volunteers group is amazing, i discovered interesting people and we have a good group dynamic. On this first week i was focus on the pictures for the festival and since I have my own camera, it was very nice to practice for improve my skills.

I discovered the beaches and hills of the city. For the hills it was very hard to climb but i'm so proud to did it and I had a beautiful view on the sea and old houses. For the beach it's not like the Atlantic coast in France, the sand is better here.

It was Amaury alias Buushido, see ya !

09/05/2022-15/05/2022

Hey it's me, Buushido, i'll tell you how was the festival, I took a lot of pictures and I improved my skills with my camera. i met a lot of artist and I even send some pictures to the band La Portena y los piratas that they reused for their story on instagram. The festival was hard and intense but we did it. 

16/05/2022-21-05/2022

On this last week I enjoyed barcelona, I was in the park guell, I visited the olymlpic village, the beach. On the last day before to leave with some others people we hiked the moutain of Montserrat, at 50 km from barcelona. The satisfaction on the top was very intense

Potenza/Italia

"Confiar: en ti, en la vida, en lo que simplemente es." 

Hay una infinidad de formas en la que el Universo me sorprende. 

Esta experiencia como voluntaria en TUDANZAS es una de ellas.

Muchas sensaciones he experimentado esta primera semana. 

Lo que más disfruto son las clases de danza contemporánea y hacer yoga en la mañana, actividades que me ayudan a mejorar la conexión con mi cuerpo, mi mente y mi alma.

SEMANA 2 

"Dejar un poco de ti en otras personas y sentir que lo has regalado al Mundo."

Los días del Festival Social TDZ han sido una expreriencia increíble para mi. Muchos artistas de diferentes lugares de España y de otras partes del mundo nos han regalado emociones únicas y magicas. He tenido la suerte de estar en el equipo de Gestión Cultural durante el Festival Social junto a Mihaela, Silvia y Bruna. 

Los 3 días del Festival han sido intensos y placenteros a la vez. Me considero una persona muy aforunada y participar no solo en la gestión cultural sino también en algunas actividades juntos a los artistas ha sido un regalo para mi. 

Disfruté mucho estos días y las emociones vividas han sido muchas. 

SEMANA 3 

"Todo principio tiene un final y todo final tiene un principio."

En esta última semana como voluntaria en TUDANZAS siento mucha gratitud por lo vivido junto a todas las maravillosas personas voluntarias.

No hay forma de "equivocarse" en este mundo, ahora que ha terminado mi experiencia como voluntaria en TUDANZAS puedo decir que ha sido una gran adventura.

Algunos días han sido más dificiles que otros y eso me ayudó sobre todo a conocer más de mi. 

En estas semanas he entrenado mi capacidad de dar y a la vez recibir, a sentirme más merecedora y más abierta a lo nuevo y desconocido. A mostrar mi vulnerabilidad y a no sentirme menos por eso. 

TUDANZAS para mi ha sido una maestra en esta etapa de mi vida y ahora con más conciencia, nuevas herramientas y aprendizajes sigo mi rumbo hacia la libertad, la confianza, las ganas de crear y atraversar la incomodidad para seguir viviendo, amando y experimentando la vida, mi vida. 

Gracias Ana por haber confiado en mi, por tus palabras y tu energia y a todo el equipo TDZ por esta valiosa oportunidad. 

¡Nos volveremos a encontrar!

Gràcies.

Lipiny/Poland

Week 1

In the beginning I didn't clearly know what to expect, but what could possibly be wrong  with spending 3 weeks in Spain, in May? 

My first volunteering project abroad was quite interesting, but also very challenging and demanding. As an introvert it's always very difficult to deal with so many activities, conversations and workload, but I'm so happy to be sharing my life with people I met here. They make all the struggles seem like a walk in the park (although dancing sessions are pretty intense). 

Times like these are very reminiscent of my careless childhood that I spent with friends, laughing and playing for days, from sunrise to sunset. The idea of 'boredom' was not known to me then. It seems like this experience is very similar to the times I so dearly miss in everyday life.

Food, sun, palm trees, dogs, sand on the beach - very simple, yet very precious things here make me realize how lucky I was to be chosen to be a part of this project and upcoming festival. I'm positive that every single one of us will make the festival special and unique. I already made great memories that I will cherish in the future and I'm eagerly looking forward to create many more :)

Week 2

Safe to say this was really difficult experience. Not only because of the different dynamic of living in the big city, but also of the pressure I always put on myself trying to do my best. I had mixed feelings during the festival itself, but in the end I was very relieved that we managed to pull it off and make it happen, especially after difficult covid years. I was fully committed and that's what I also felt from every other person in this project. We wanted to do our best and I'm quite positive we did just that, despite obstacles and setbacks we faced. 

Together, we are powerful and we are able to accomplish anything while enjoying our own company - this feeling is going to stay with me for a long time. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone that I met during this project, they are amazing people :)

Now it's well deserved time to enjoy this city and its' treasures with my friends - roll out!

Week 3

Last week of our project was nothing short of amazing. So much fun we had together! These times are going to stay in memory forever. Once more I felt incredibly grateful for being a part of this project, but most importantly - a part of this group of awesome people. Special thanks to my partner in crime Matthias aka Jason, without whom I couldn't have done it on my own. 

We visited many places - (Taco Bell included), museums, parks and more - had dinners and breakfasts together in locals around town, walked hundreds of kilometers - only to live in those moments together. 

Only now I feel deep sadness that it all ended, but inside I know people I shared my life with for 3 weeks are going to be with me, whatever I'm going through in the future. I will miss every single one of you, but I sure hope we can meet once again :)

Bourg-en-Bresse/ France

It's already been 3 days since I left my little town of Bourg en Bresse to go to Spain and more particularly to Pineda de Mar and the Tudanzas team. It is time for me to find my balance in this new environment full of resources. Only 3 days of work and experience with the Tudanzas team and so much new discovery. To begin with, yoga and meditation are two new practices that for the moment give me peace and relaxation. Then I was also able to experiment with vegan food! A great discovery thanks to Maria, what an excellent person you are! Varied, new dishes, full of energy and flavour. Finally, I was able to try my hand at dance, more particularly contemporary dance, which was not completely unknown to me because my mother practices this dance. A type of dance that allows you to share a lot of emotions in my opinion. A very nice experience for the moment. I can't wait to discover more and to share more moments with this team.  

After a peaceful week in Pineda de Mar, it is time to leave the tranquillity to reach the city of Barcelona and start the 3 days of the TUDANZAS festival. 

Wednesday 11th May we close our bags and start a long day to reach Barcelona and our wonderful hotel that we will discover in the afternoon. A hotel of an irreproachable cleanliness, with a bewitching smell, a place of serenity and peace...

Thank you to this bnc sport hotel which will accompany us for the next 10 days. 

Anyway, now it's time for the festival! 

We don't know it yet, but it's the beginning of an incredible 3-day festival! 

Incredible by its performances, by its artists, by its joy of living, by its sharing, by its emotions but also and above all incredibly intense.

I am so grateful to have had the chance to discover a contemporary art festival but especially to have discovered all these incredibly talented artists! 

I am so grateful to have worked for 20 days with this incredible volunteer team. To have shared with them, laughter, tears, fatigue, joy, culture, stress, food, wine, champagne, beer and many more! 

After 3 days of intense work with the team, it is now time to rest and discover the city, its monuments, shops, alleys, beaches.

It's time to enjoy, relax, before an imminent return to France! 

Spain closes for me a beautiful year abroad, from Greece, to Spain and Poland! So many great experiences that are coming to an end and leaving room for a new start! 

In September, I'll start studying again for a master's degree! 

Thank you to my team of volunteers! Thank you TUDANZAS for this adventure!

Vila Nova de Famalicão/ Portugal

Expectation is a tricky thing. Even when you prepare yourself for a volunteer project in two days and you think you don't have any, they start to act behind your back and catch you. 

All of us take what we know from past experiences and what we imagine a specific city, project or person will be and create a determine expectation. When such expectation escapes our preparation, organization and anticipation, we close ourself's. Put our armors to be ready for any thing that destabilizes us, instead of welcoming the unbalance - because maybe the our unbalance is the balance. I probably have written more than three texts about expectations and it's effect on me, and only now I'm getting aware of it's potencial. 

 Last Wednesday we finally arrived in Barcelona, we left the calm nature bubble of Pineda de Mar and we arrived in the colorful big city. 

So many things to do! The festival started two days later, and I have to say, it tested my limits, as all the first times it was scary but also exciting. I had the luck to have the best team mate by my side (love you Diogo) that supported me in some stressful times.

In the interviews to the artists we were used to ask three words and emotions to describe their experience in the festival, mine are: limits, friendship and arte!

Vila Nova de Famalicão/ Portugal

This week I better understood the importance of team work. The week of the festival was an intense experience for most of us, but because of my work and team I felt at ease. It allowed me to use my skills to better organize and prepare my work. And with Sarah, my work wife, I could express what I was feeling and thinking without any fear. It's a great experience when you find someone that makes work feel like a pleasure and an easy task. 

Of course it wasn't like this all the time. There was one day were he "clashed". We were both tired and were dealing with our own stuff - we are people. But the difference was our connection and trust in one another. It's not something you can easily find in a two week experience. And when you find it, I hope is a connection that will last. For that, thank you Sarah.

Vila Nova de Famalicão/ Portugal

All things must can to an end. And it's always bittersweet. We are happy to be going home, to our families, our food, our comfort zone, our language. And on the other side, it's known that you will never see the gang all together like this. Sharing the same hostel, the same context, the same city. For one moment in our life's we converged to this point, in Barcelona, and today we will diverge again, like light hitting water.

We learned from each other. I know I did. To let myself go and enjoy the moment - even if you are not totally disconnected from your world and problems. And thats the objective, to find the balance and be one step closer to your true and free self.