La Jornada: El Cervantino turns his gaze to the national scene

The groups Physical Momentum, Ensemble Modern, Camerata de Salzburg, Dabeull Live Band, Grupo Niche and Gratte Ciel are stars of the 54th edition of the International Cervantino Festival (FIC), which has France as the guest of honor and will take place from October 3 to 18 of this year.

The French delegation includes Mohamed El Khatib, La Meute, Chaillot-Teatro National de la Danse, Oliver Normand, Hervé x MazelFrete, Leïla Ka, Novaya, Théo Mercier and François Chaignaud, as well as the collaboration between (LA) HORDE/Ballet National de Marseille and the electronic musician Rone, as announced yesterday at a conference.

The artists who will participate in the meeting come from 29 countries, such as Mike Patton (in charge of the inauguration), Tamara Cubas, the Antonio Gades Company, Kotaro Fukuma, Dab Dance Project, Julian Sartorius, Bangarra Dance Theater and Sordegna Teatro.

This year the program will have 212 performances with the participation of 2,746 artists.

Claudia Curiel, head of the federal Secretary of Culture, reported that in terms of the number of activities and the budget for them, the FIC grows in 2026, going from 30 to 55 million pesos, “because this programming also has to circulate in other states.”

He commented that from this edition the meeting will no longer have an invited state, but will call everyone and for this time the offer of 20 participating entities will be developed: the change “was urgent” because that model “has already been exhausted.”

“In Mexico there is a scene of artists of all kinds (traditional, contemporary, jazz), where the festival will be its main showcase and not only be receiving the best international artists,” added the official.

In this edition, five compositions for string orchestra were commissioned from Valeria Valle (Chile), Eva García Fernández (Argentina), Jimena Maldonado (Mexico and the Netherlands), Tigrio R. Witrago and David Téllez (both from Mexico).

Curiel explained that the festival was brought forward at the request of Guanajuato, although the three weekends with programming will be maintained.

In her speech, Delphine Borione, French ambassador to Mexico, recalled that last November President Claudia Sheinbaum and the French president announced a great Franco-Mexican party to celebrate the two centuries of diplomatic relations between both nations. He also highlighted the offer for this Cervantino of a “wide scope of aesthetics and artistic disciplines from the most classic to the most contemporary.”

He referred to presentations such as that of (LA) HORDE/Ballet Nacional de Marseille, which together with 16 Mexican dancers will offer a show created especially for our country; to Émilie Rousset and her Family mattersa project based on testimonies collected in Mexico and France about the limits of our justice system, and Leïla Ka, who will develop the choreography Maldonne about the violence suffered by women.

Borione highlighted the piece Noireby Novaya, which will be presented in Spanish for the first time and which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Festival last year for being the best immersive work.