In the same way that from time to time there is the happy circumstance that in the middle of the Opera Square you can enjoy free of charge plays such as Otello2026 starts with a beautiful and atypical proposal for lovers of music and culture: the representation of 7 free ballet performances at the Juan March Foundation (Calle de Castelló, 77) in Madrid.
It is Les Ballets Espagnols de ‘La Argentina’, two ballets with music by Isaac Albéniz and Julián Bautista, premiered by Antonia Mercé -LaArgentina-in the avant-garde Paris of the 1920s.
The performance to be staged at the March, directed and choreographed by Antonio Najarro, is based on the original costume and set designs that are preserved thanks to a donation of graphic material, books and scores that the niece of ‘La Argentina’, Carlota Mercé, made to this institution in 1988.
About the show, Najarro draws a line between the two periods through “the sensitivity and aesthetic richness that dazzled the Paris of the avant-garde. Each fabric, each line, each detail, each pattern, connects the imaginary of the time with a current stage sensibility”.
The role of ‘La Argentina’ in Spanish dance
Antonia Mercé played a decisive role in the stylization and diffusion of Spanish dance during the last century: in the 1920s she founded the company Les Ballets Espagnols and brought together the most important Spanish musicians, playwrights, designers and dancers of her time.
This allowed him to generate his own repertoire aimed at a foreign audience, based on popular languages and the imaginary of the country, which successfully traveled to theaters in Europe, Asia, America and North Africa.
” I have banished the rudeness from Spanish dance , to leave its primitive beauty and stamp it with the seal of its special significance and color”, wrote the artist. Not in vain García Lorca defined her as “creator, inventor, indigenous, universal” of Spanish dance.
Free tickets for the ballets in Madrid
There are several ways to get a ticket. The first one is by participating in the raffle of 200 invitations through the website on January 5 between 9 am and 12 noon. Prior registration is required on the Foundation’s website and a maximum of 2 tickets per person can be requested.
Another option, if there is no luck in the draw, is to pick them up one hour before the event at the box office (one per person). Once sold out, 110 tickets will also be distributed to watch the broadcast of the event from the Blue Room.
Performance schedule
The ballet performances will take place between January 10 and 17 on the following schedule:
- Saturday, January 10, 12:00 noon
- Sunday, January 11, 12:00h
- Monday, January 12, 18:30h
- Wednesday 14 January, 18:30h
- Friday 16 January, 18:30h
- Saturday 17 January, 12:00h
- Saturday 17 January, 18:30h
Upcoming performances
The show is a co-production with five other institutions: the Teatro de la Zarzuela, the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, the Teatro de la Maestranza, the Auditorio de Tenerife and the Festival de Granada. For this reason, until January 2027 it will be on tour in the following cities:
- Tenerife Auditorium: June 5 and 6, 2026.
- Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada: July 11, 2026
- Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía de Valencia: October 23rd and 24th, 2026
- Teatro de la Zarzuela of Madrid: December 10, 11, 12 and 13, 2026
- Teatro de la Maestranza of Seville: January 30, 2027