La Strada Festival

Streets and squares become a stage again

Celebrate with the French Cie Dyptik and their production "Mirage" in Graz, Weiz and Stainz

(Bild: Ronny Jannsen)

Current issues have always played a major role at La Strada. And so this year's motto is "You can laugh, cry, think, but also simply celebrate". The festival from July 26 to August 4 shows how this fits together.

La Strada actually began on June 1. The multi-year project "Signal vom Dachstein" was bundled with an exhibition at Trautenfels Castle. The world premiere of "Dachsteinklang" by Marie-Teres Härtel on 2 June in Ramsau will also be included in the current festival program; the work can also be experienced in Graz (31 July), Stainz (1 August) and at the new venue Deutschfeistritz (2 August). Also new on the La Strada map are Gratkorn and Kalsdorf, while Graz, Stainz, Weiz, Leibnitz and St. Stefan ob Stainz are back on the bill.

The artists of "Signal vom Dachstein" at the opening of the show in Trautenfels Castle

(Bild: Nikola Milatovic)

Until November 3, "Signal vom Dachstein" is presenting projects by the participating artists, including Härtel, Christoph Huber, Katharina Pfennich, Christoph Szalay and Stefanie Weberhofer. The La Strada productions by dancer and choreographer Valentina Moar "Ice - Utopia", which deals with the melting of glaciers on July 30 and 31 at Dom im Berg, and by Kunstlabor Graz, which will give a foretaste of its premiere next year in Ramsau am Dachstein (August 4), are also aligned with this.

Opening this year in the Landhaushof
Another new feature is that the opening (for scheduling reasons) will not take place in the opera house, but in the Landhaushof. Under the title "Mikado", the Collectiv Sous Le Manteau will be telling little stories of breakdowns there from July 26 to 29. The opera will of course also be staged, where Baro d'evel will be showing "Qui som?" from August 2, an international collective project that attempts to make something positive grow out of even the greatest destruction.

Baro d'evel tries to filter out the positive from the current crises

(Bild: Salvador Sunyer)

New circus is of course part of La Strada: This year, the Copenhagen Collective, Cirque Aïtal with its tent village in the Augarten and Circ Rondini with its performances for the whole family can be experienced. For the youngest La Strada fans, the Zitadelle Puppet Company will also be back.

(Bild: Zitadelle Puppet Company Berlin)

Joan Català, Cie Dyptok, the Green Line Marching Band, Cheptel Aleïkoum, Frazer Hooper and Adrian Schvarzstein & Paolo Martini will be performing classical street art. 

Elli Papakonstantinou & ODC Ensemble will be performing a special chapter. They will be presenting their music theater project "Die Gütigen" on the site of the former Liebenau penal camp (Grünanger).

Wishing wells and nets
Patrick Dunst and the Mezzanintheater open an unusual wishing well on Karmeliterplatz in Graz, Effeto Larson relies on swarm intelligence and Galmae spins nets that are deconstructed again together. Boukje Schweigman and Johannes Bellinkx then use a special suit to put visitors in an uncomfortable position.

100 years of Caritas are celebrated with the exhibition "A good life for all" in cooperation with the Graz Academy and Caritas Styria at the Museum of History. And you can also celebrate carefree at the traditional Market Place on Kaiser-Josef-Platz and at Open Dance in Kaiserfeldgasse.

La Strada is offering 145 performances this year, 105 of which are free of charge. There are also eight workshops on the program. You can find all the information here.