Max Awards shine a light on Basque creativity

The Max Awards, created by the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors ( SGAE), were held yesterday, June 18th, in Seville. The awards are granted every year for the best performing arts and theatre in Spain. In this 21st edition, four of the awards went to Basque artists: the companies Kulunka Teatro and Ertza took the Best Play (Solitudes) and the Best Street Show (Meeting Point). Bilbao playwright Borja Ortiz de Gondra and musician Luis Miguel Cobo also won awards. Thirty-seven works were in the running  in the 19 awards categories, nine of them Basque.

The Max Awards, created by the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors ( SGAE), were held yesterday, June 18th, in Seville. The awards are granted every year for the best performing arts and theatre in Spain. In this 21st edition, four of the awards went to Basque artists: the companies Kulunka Teatro and Ertza took the Best Play (Solitudes) and the Best Street Show (Meeting Point). Bilbao playwright Borja Ortiz de Gondra and musician Luis Miguel Cobo also won awards. Thirty-seven works were in the running  in the 19 awards categories, nine of them Basque.

Solitudes, a theatrical production by Kulunka Teatro, using masks and no spoken words, was awarded Best Play, and Luis Miguel Cobo also garnered an award for his musical composition. Also up for competition in the same category was Ultimo tren a Treblinka by Vaivén Producciones, whose director, Mireia Gabilondo, from Guipuzcoa, was also nominated for the Best Director.

On the other hand, Meeting Point, by Ertza, was awarded for Best Street Show, sharing a nomination with another Basque work: Topa, by Kukai Dantza. Iñaki Rekarte, who also dances with Kukai, was nominated for Best Leading Actor, for the play Soka. Although this year Kukai Dantza didn’t take home any awards, the company was the grand winner at last year’s Max Awards, with a total of three prizes.

Finally, the playwright Borja Ortiz de Gondra won Best Playwright, for Los Gondra (a Basque story). The play was featured at Madrid’s Centro Dramático Nacional, with support from the Etxepare Basque Institute.

The star of the evening was dancer and choreographer Daniel Abreu, clinching three awards for La desnudez (Best Choreography, Best Male Performer and Best Dance Show). The 21st edition of the awards was marked by freedom of expression. Year after year the Max Awards have become benchmarks in the field of performing arts.