Five Days to Dance arrives at the Sant Boi venue
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From 5 to 9 May, the De Loopers company will create a show where users of the Mental Health Network, professionals and members of the public will dance together
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It is a challenge open to everyone, which can be seen on 9 May in the SJD gardens
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To participate, please send an email to ParcSanitari.torrentsdart@sjd.es
From 5 to 9 May, the Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu gardens in Sant Boi de Llobregat will become the setting for Five Days to Dance, the most inclusive show ever held at this centre, a project based on collective creation without prejudice, led by the dance-theatre company De Loopers.
The project invites people receiving treatment in the Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu Mental Health Network, professionals and members of the public to participate actively in the creation of a unique and inclusive choreography. For five days, guided by professional dancers, the participants will be the true protagonists of a dance show entitled Home Sweet Home, which will be presented on 9 May at 3 p.m.
The choreography aims to highlight the concept of home as a space of respect, safety and identity, where everyone can be themselves. In this context, the chair will become a symbol and metaphor for this refuge, and will take on a central role within the show, an element with which the participants will interact.
A trajectory shared with Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu
De Loopers comes to the Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu-Sant Boi de Llobregat site with the project Five Days to Dance, after their experience at the Brians 1 penitentiary centre, where this project began in 2019, thanks to the efforts of the professionals in the Penitentiary Psychiatric Hospitalisation Unit, managed by Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu.
The aim of this community dance project is to transmit and promote values such as teamwork, respect, self-improvement and the fight against stigma in mental health. At Brians 1, prison inmates, professionals and people being treated for mental health disorders within the prison danced together.
Jèssica Morral, social educator at Brians 1 and one of those responsible for the success of the project, emphasises that “Five Days to Dance is a process of transformation and total integration. It's not users or professionals who dance, they are people, without distinctions.”
The De Loopers company was founded in 2003 by Dutch choreographer Wilfried van Poppel and the Basque dancer Amaya Lubeigt. Its mission is to bring dance closer to people of all ages and social backgrounds, combining the performing arts with community participation and emotional education.
Their philosophy is clear: “if people can dance together, they can live together”. In line with this premise, they use dance as a tool to foster mutual understanding, tolerance and respect.
