Torrecilla de Alcañiz this week turns its tower, its hermitage, its squares and its streets into stages for dance, circus, theatre and music. Art leaves the usual spaces and is integrated into the daily life of this town terolense, which celebrates from August 17 to 23 the third edition of LATA – Artistic Laboratory of Torrecilla de Alcañiz.
Artists from different places live during these days with the inhabitants of the municipality and create proposals designed specifically for Torrecilla. The project expands its programme this year with three shows, a citizen choir and an open-air exhibition.
LATA was born in 2024, is artistically directed by Daniel Esteban Lorenzo and has the support of the Torrecilla de Alcañiz City Council. Its objective is to bring the processes of contemporary creation closer to the rural environment and put them in direct contact with its inhabitants.
Circus, theatre, dance and music are integrated into the life of the village for a week. The artists live and rehearse in Torrecilla and work with their spaces and neighbors instead of arriving with shows already closed.
LATA faces its third edition after two years with sold out seats. The project has also received the CREAR Award for the best artistic proposal of Aragón in its first edition and the CIT Award for Rural Innovation in 2025.
VERTICAL DANCE IN THE CHURCH TOWER
One of the central moments of LATA 2026 will come on Saturday night. The tower of the church of Torrecilla de Alcañiz will become a vertical dance stage with an intervention that will combine dance at height and live music and that can be seen from the Plaza de la Iglesia.
The program will also incorporate a choir made up of inhabitants of the town, singers and musicians participating in the festival. After several days of work in a vocal creation laboratory, the group will share the result on Saturday in a concert open to the public in the Plaza de la Iglesia. The intention is that citizens stop occupying only the place of spectator to also be part of creation.
The program will begin on Friday, August 21, at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., with a theater, circus and puppet show in the hermitage. On Saturday, August 22, at 9:00 p.m., the activity will arrive at the Plaza de la Iglesia with the choral concert and the vertical dance on the tower, to end with a DJ.
On Sunday, August 23, at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., the Pradé will host a creation of acrobatic dance and live music in tribute to the women who went to fetch water from the village fountain.
During the week you can also see an exhibition of natural sculptures by Sheila Andión. The pieces, made with natural elements from the Torrecilla environment, will be distributed through different streets and public spaces of the municipality.
A PROJECT BORN IN TORRECILLA
LATA started in 2024 with 12 artists and around 240 spectators. The second edition brought together 25 local, regional, national and international artists and exceeded 800 attendees between the shows, the concert and the exhibition.
The 2025 edition also generated around 4,000 eurosof direct spending in establishments in the town and had an impact on the press, radio and television. That same year, the project received the first CIT Award for Rural Innovation.
Creations born in Torrecilla can also continue their journey outside the festival. La casa del conde, which emerged in 2024, has subsequently been adapted to theatres, while Replaceta, created at LATA 2025, will premiere from 17 to 20 September at the Teatro del Mercado in Zaragoza.
