Esencia Is Born in Barcelona: World Premiere at the Teatro Tívoli

Forty artists on stage and eleven performances: Joaquín Cortés's most personal work opens at the Tivoli to a standing ovation from the press.

On 11 May 2017, after three years away from Barcelona’s stages, Joaquín Cortés premiered Esencia at the Teatro Tívoli: eleven performances and an ensemble of forty artists, including Spanish classical dancers, ballet and contemporary dancers, seventeen musicians and cantaores.

The score, composed by Cortes alongside the Carbonell brothers, fused flamenco with salsa and jazz. Specialist critics were unequivocal: “Joaquín Cortés triumphs at the Tivoli with Esencia,” praising moments of great intensity and the quality of the ensemble.

Nobody knew it then, but that night gave birth to the work that would still be touring the world a decade later: a summation of an entire life in dance.