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HISTORY OF THE GROUP:

The group ALIMARA was born in 1975 created by people  related to the University of Valencia. Its task since then, has been the recovery, research, preservation and performance of folk music, dances and songs (many of them have been recorded in several albums) as well as traditional customes and garments of Valencia Country from a scientifical and pedagogical perspective aimed to preserve the autenticity of our heritage. We keep on working on research and restoring of other traditional balls, songs, feasts and customes that were on a serious risk of dissapearance

Special efforts have been put in the recovering of National Valencian Dance:   La Dansà. Additionaly to its research and preformance, we have taught the trainers that have successfuly spreaded this dance, and others, at places where it was unfortunelly lost.

We have preformed balls and music and recorded disks of traditional music dance as well as collaborated in cultural acts and civic  campaigns.

SOME FACTS:

During the more than 25 years of its life, ALIMARA  has made over a thousand public appearances on the stages,  squares and streets in our Land, in Spain, Europe, including Rusia. as well as in USA and Japan.

We have performed , recovered and recorded dances and music as well as made courses, lectures and exhibitions on traditional music and cultural heritage of Valencia  Lands.

Of all those performances and facts of our history we could recall some like the following:

ALIMARA becomes a member of Valencian musical society  "El Micalet". The theater and premises of the Society have been our home and place for teaching, and rehearses since then.

Establishment of nowadays instituted  Dansà a la Mare de Déu at  Valencia.

Recovering and performance of the Dansa of La Moma one of most brilliant barrocan dance of The Corpus Christi  Feast of Valencia.

Two shows on Valencian folk-music for the nation-wide broadcasted TV program "La Banda del Mirlitón"

At Teatro Principal of Valencia the group acted in the presentation of the disk of the group Al Tall "Deixeu que rode la roda".

 Lectures on Valencian musical folk-lore in the theatre of El Micalet.

Release of first album: Cançons i danses del País Valencià (Songs and Dances of Valencian Country)

Dansà in Sant Vicent Street of Valencia.

More of 20.000 people visited the group's exhibition on traditional customes: Aproximació a la indumentària tradicional del País Valencià  on The National Museum of Pottery at Valencia.

Performance for Season Opening of Teatro Principal de València

Cooperation at the presentation  of the disc of the group Al Tall "Quan el Mal Ve d'Almansa" .

First preformance of show Faena i Festa on Micalet theatre.

Launching of disc Cançons del pla i de la muntanya

Mainz (Germany)   invited by the Municipality.

Launching and release of disc A l'aire de la Terra

At New York city, six performances organized by the Spanish-American Chamber of Commerce..

Lyons (France) , unto the Spanish colony  in that city.

October 9th  the show  La Dansà, Ball dels Valencianswith the cooperation of several folk dancing groups complemented with a exhibition of old customes.

Show of Traditional Customes  at  Internacional Trade Fair of Valencia.

Edition of the disc Les Noces (The wedding)

Research prize for the the project of  the show Les Noces.

First appearance of the show Les Noces  (that relates the dances, music, customes and atmosphere of the relationship of a young couple in the old days)

1984

Performances at Theater Season in the Old Roman Theatre of Sagunt

 Festival Internacional de Folk-dance held in Ferrol (Galicia, NW Spain)

Festival Folk-dance Festival of Old Aragon Kingdom.

 Courses on traditional dancing for primary teachers.

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1985

Research Prize from for the project to recover an old popular musical play  "El Ball de Torrent "

 Tour in Japan as part of a cultural ambassy of Spanish Goverment.

In Antwerp (Belgium)Europalia'85, representing officially Valencia Land

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1986

First performance  of recovered play  El Ball de Torrent at  Valencian University.

 10th Aniversary of the group foundation was held with an antological exhition and lectures on traditional dance as well as several performances.

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1987

 Representation of The Ball of Torrent at Teatro Principal.

  Tour on old USSR (Moscu and Minsk)

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1988

Tour on Greece , at Ioanina, Athens, Pireo and others towns.

Mainz (Germany), at10th anniversary of brothertownship of Valencia and Mainz. 

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1989

Two photografical exhibitions, "La Dansà i el Ball en la Festa" and "Vestir la Festa i la Faena".

Performance at the 750th anniversary of foundation of Kingdom of Valencia.

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1990

Pre-show of the play Carrer Major (Main Sreet) The play depicts the life of a street at a traditional village of the middle 1800´s by means of their balls, songs and customes.

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1991

First show of Carrer Major at Teatro Principal de Valencia;

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1992

First performance of the lecture-show A la Moda Valenciana

 

Sevilla '92- World Exhibition. Performance of Carrer Major.

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1993

Performance at Laussane, Switzerland.

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1994

Edition of the disc Faena i Festa (Balls for work and feast)

Fist appearance of A la Moda Valenciana (In Valencian Fashion Style)

 

International Exhibition at Mie (Japan)

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1995

A show for  the TV program "Passarel·la"

Performance in the Castle of Viñuelas at Madrid.

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1996

 

 First  Dansà of Russafa Quarter at Valencia.

With the contribution of the group "Lo Rat Penat", showing all the world that compose the ritual of La Dansà, in the Palace of the Music of València.

 

Several performances of  El Ball de Torrent, with the participation of other folk-dance groups including people from Torrent village (more than 60 people involved on the stage) were held, at Teatro principal, Fira de Juliol and at the town of Torrent itself.

 

 December 21, we organized the first Sarao in the Teatre del Micalet  (Sarao is a informal meeting where people is invited to participate freely  to dance, play or sing, in the way of traditional old country festivals)

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1997

A complete season cycle is held in Saraos: spring, summer, autumn and X'mas

 Special preformance at the Monastery del Puig.

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 1998

Performance of the show A la Moda Valenciana on the benefit of Amnisty International. 

We organized Danses to contribute to the civic campaigns to preserve Valencia´s Botanical Garden and  countryfarms  at Valencia outskirts.

 Performance in the festival to Valencia patroness  organized by Bancaixa Foundation.

May 30 We  undertook  a tradition lost in the city: the songs  of May

 In July shows in The Aran Valley (An occitan county in Spanish  Pyrenees)

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 1999

Exposition on traditional costumes in Alboraia.

Recovering of tradition of May's Songs at Beniferri.

We reproduced  a traditional " tin-pan-serenade" in Old València

Acted for the appointment of the Queen Of May of the "Falla" Ciscar-Borriana, with a "Sarao" in the Gardens of the Palau of the Music

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2000

25th anniversary of the Dansá of Valencia.

Dansà in the cloister of the University to commemorate the 25 anniversary of Alimara and the 500th  of the University. 

 First appearance of spectacle "de la Festa la Vespra" to benefit of a NGO

Performance in Azpeitia (Euskadi)

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2001

At TV, special program nation-wide "Sabor a Ti".

Contribution to the  Schools in Valencià Feast.

 Exposition of traditional Dressing .

At traditional Feast of Last Sunday of October we dance  for "l' Aplec" at El Puig

X'mas "Sarao" at refurbished  Micalet theater,

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 2002

 Fragments, a multimedia show composed offragments and live performances of several of  our spectacles.

Folk-dance festival of Coria 

 Participation at homage to Joan Fuster at his home village, Sueca